my 7 year old still poops his pants
 

I am a stepmother of five children and am having serious trouble with our seven-year-old. He still poops himself. He is well aware that he does it and always seems to feel bad afterwards but we can't seem to get him to stop doing it. He does this up to three or four times a day! I can't keep up with the laundry! When we go out i wind up sometimes washing his clothes in the sink( gross i know but he can't go around with poop in his pants. some times he lies and says he just didn't wipe good. we ran out of a whole box of wipes in a week. we've tried taking video games away, sending him to his room, anything we could. but none of it seems to work. I talked to my aunt who said it may be a psychological thing. maybe some thing happened to him and he's letting it out(pardon the pun) this way. My husband and i can't seem to figure it out. His mother makes excuses for him, which i dont think is right. she says he's just stressed. I think it's more than mere stress. and beyond that telling a seven year old that he's just stressed only tells him that it's ok to poop his pants. he has been through a lot at his young age. I dont know if it's all of that or maybe something specific. I dont think it's for attention because he tries to hide it from us. my next effort will be to spend some time with him each night and try to talk to him and figure out what's wrong. any advice or related experience on this matter would be greatly appreciated.