Daughter Has Had Only 2 BM in Last 17 Days

My daughter had a problem with this too. She didn't like to have BMs. Her doctor had told me to give her some molasses (I'm sorry I don't remember how much) in her chocolate milk and it seemed to help her. I can remember doing the suppositories and that was not much fun!

Hi-

Just like the other mom said, get Miralax! It's the best thing ever. My daughter had constipation for her whole first year of life and the pediatricians I saw never mentioned this. Another mom told me about it and it works like magic and she's no longer in misery from it. You can get it by prescription or over the counter.

Good luck!
D.

Hi K.

All three of my kids have had BM issues at some point. I think I am finally past it with my 3rd. I have used both mineral oil(my kids don't mind it!) and prune juice-again they like it, go figure?! With my son, we would do one day juice, next a dose of oil, repeat. About every 3-4 days I had him sit on the toilet and told him he had to poop. I also could tell when he would need to go b/c he would get all jumpy & couldn't sit still for a minute. Each time he would willingly go but it would be frustrating b/c he wouldn't go on his own. On Sunday he went by himself at a party so I think I may be on the road to recovery! That isn't saying it was so easy, I have had to hold all 3 down, with them screaming and pushing in on their tummies to get it out. I am glad I am past that and hopefully yours won't be as traumatic. We have also used suppositories & enemas a few times and they worked almost immediately. They do hold it in out of fear & apparently both my hubby & I were the same, I guess it a phase? I don't know how much damage it causes other than promoting fear & I am sure their tummies must hurt. I wish you luck!

C.

My daughter (just turned 5) has dealt with chronic constipation. She is now on Miralax per the doctor's advice. What sent me to the doctor was that she kept having small bowel movements in her pants throughout the day. They said she has stretched out the rectum and the nerves have lost some sensitivity so she goes without knowing it. I am working on the right dose of Miralax for her but they said the process of her rectum getting back in shape will take some time.

All I can say is MIRALAX MIRALAX MIRALAX! I don't mean to "yell" it but my son went through this for several years!! We saw specialists(very traumatic since most visits include a finger in the rectum!!) It takes a while to retrain their systems just like Sue posted but it will work. My son had to have a full dose daily then once it seemed to be working for a while we would try to wean him off of it. If he seemed to backslide we would up the dose back to full dose. What happens is the longer they are backed up the longer their system is stretched out. Once it finally gets emptied it takes a long time to shrink back to normal size. During this time you need to make sure he does not backslide as it will delay the process all over again. Good Luck and if you want to talk please send me a private message.
Y.

Hello K....there's nothing more frustrating about a child not being able to go to the bathroom:( ....suppositories are not good if you keep giving it to her....and she will be in a bad mood...my son had potty problems...it could be stress also...so I gave to my son 1)prune juice...or 2)Karo syrup....it helped alot:)keep me posted:)____@____.com

Call a doctor who deals with digestive systems, I forget the name sorry. My son when little had a similar problem we gave him a bunch of stuff like you did. He had no problem in the end and the doctor said don't give him anything and he went back to normal. Ask for a specialist don't want any longer.

I edited since reading your updated post. Call a specialist, some doctors just don't know.

Hi K., My 3.5 yo son has had hard bowl movements since he was a baby, even though he was breastfed. I hide 2 tablespoons of mineral oil in his morning milk. It is flavorless so he doesn't even realize that it is in there. Talk to your doctor about it. My pediatrician said that it would not prevent or hurt nutrient absorption. It's the only thing that will work for him. You mentioned that you were giving your daughter more fiber. Make sure you increase her amount of water or else the added fiber will make the constipation worse. Good luck!

PS - I thought I should mention that Senokot did NOTHING for me after I had my 2 children. The hospital prescribed it for me, but it didn't help me at all.

Hi K.,

We had the same situation with my son when he was 4 years old, too. We even had an XRay taken and it showed how backed up he was. The doctor told us to give him MOM (Milk Of Magnesium)... which I think that Is what you are giving to your daughter, and prune juice. Ask the doctor if it would be safe to give her a Jr. enema. I remember the anguish my son went through and can just imagine your little girl. Also, rub a bit of vaseline at the opening, so it wont feel as painful. Hope this helps.

B

Hi K.-
I have 4 children 2 of which have had bad constipation problems ever since they were little (now 9 and 7)I have done just like you gone to the doctors and they say try this and try that. The thing is the longer this goes on the hard it will be for her to go. Like you said she is afraid to go now. They only thing I have found that works is Mycolax. Which you can get over the counter now but it also still comes in prescription (which is cheaper for me) The trick is I have to triple one daughts dose and double the other and don't give up for as long as she has been backed up (which is hard to tell at their age) will be as long as it takes to get her regular. If her stomach is hard there is old bm in there and a suppository or the other med's that you have use only get the lower more recent bm out of her stomach but using the mycolax and using it for at least 6 months will clean her out and make it so she is not afraid to go and hopefully stop her problem before it gets as bad as mine 2 did. Also after getting very fustrated I went on the computer and read that sometimes milk can cause constipation. With one of my daughters I had been giving her the mycolax for almost a year and it was helping but not great, once I took milk out of her diet she is now finally going 2 to 3 times a day. What is what she needs to do to clean out all the old backed up bm's. I hope this helps I understand what you are going through-been through it for years now and finally I feel I am getting somewhere but for some reason it took years for them to tell me about Mycolax. I think so many people think I am crazy and that I need to just change their diet and add more fiber-but both eat very healty and do have lots of fider in their diet. I also been told that maybe they have two much fiber and not enough fluids. Nothing seemed to change their problem. Until the Mycolax-but just remember it takes awhile to fix-I have been told at least 6 months. They do get relief with in the first few days but to correct it completely don't give up! E-mail me with any other question or just for support-I know how frusting it is. Thank you-D.

My 4 year old had the same problem until recently (I researched it online and figured out it is endocopresis). It has been a year long battle for us, but he hasn't had a problem in months. I had to drastically watch his milk intake. He loves milk, and would drink it all day. So, I had to start forcing him to drink water instead. Well, he would be allowed 2 glasses of milk a day, the rest had to be something else. I also started adding benefiber powder to his milk since he didn't eat enough fiberous foods. When we did have that problem, we would give him Miralax. It worked well, but took a couple of days to work. Of course, then he would have diarrhea for a few days. That was fine though because that was long enough for him to learn that poop didn't hurt. Another thing I have done is watched his food intake. He cannot have anything constipating- bananas, etc. Also, multivitamins are constipating. So watch out for those. Good luck! It is a long battle, but needs to be done for her sake.

K., when our then 3 yr old was holding his poop, he would get constipated and then wouldn't go because when he did it would hurt, and then you get a big viscious cycle. My doctor gave us the recommendation to give him Mineral oil so that it gives them some laxative ability, but it also makes the poop slippery and they can't necessarily hold it and it doesn't hurt when they go. He said that holding it or constipation will make their bowel enlarge and can cause problems later. So we were to give it to him for probably 3 mths, to give the bowels time to go back to normal size and keep him more regular. It worked and you can't overdose them on it. You just give them doses twice a day till they go and then keep it at that dose (unless they go too much, then decrease it a bit). their body doesn't absorb it, so there's no harm there. Mine would take it straight, but if they don't you can mix it in a drink or pudding, since it's really oily. The sort of have wet farts while on it (and you might have some underwear stained a bit yellow from the oil) but it usually keeps them much more regular.

Hope you can get your little one back on track the poor thing! I am sure she's miserable!

My daugher had similar problems and she is the same age. Her urologist gave her miralax, you mix it with any non carbonated drink and it worked wonders, she never knew she was drinking it and she became regular again and we keep her on it just to keep her regular. It is easy, tasteless and worked wonders for us, ask your peditrician about that. My two year old also had problems and the urologist put her on an over the counter medication that did not work, so we used the miralax and it worked on her too.
M.

hi kathy, did you try home remedies? one is every morning before breakfast give her one apple not apple juice to eat. If this does not work she should eat 2 cucammber and one glass luke warm water. or you can also try broil one packet of parsley squeeze a lemon and she should drink it.(this is the worst taste but it is working). also you can make masaj around her belly button with your palm and you can puy a hot towel. hope it helps.

My son is only 9 1/2 months old but I've tried giving him warm prune juice and that works! Something w/it being warm seems to do the trick as my sister told me that's what they gave her when she was in the hospital after delivery when she was constipated. Also, maybe try Karo syrup(darkest one). You can find that in the baking aisle at the grocery store. Also, I give my son yogurt every day and that seems to keep him regular? Good luck! It's so stressful when they don't go b/c you know they are in pain!

Based on what you have said and your childs appearance, I would say take your child to the emergency room right away.
J. B., RN
Life Coach :)

If you are still concerned, I'd take her back again.Or I'd atleast call and talk to the nurse.
Is she drinking enough water? The thing I do to get my kids to go is mix pureed baby prunes into chocolate pudding. I kind of do it on a regular basis to get them moving if thier poop seems hard.
If all your doctor is doing is giving her things to make her go when she can't, and not helping you to prevent, I'd get a different Dr.
But follow your guts, if you feel like anything at all is wrong. Take her in right away.

I say try MIRALAX. It's sold over the counter now you don't need a prescription. It still helps my son (5) and I think it would definately help your daughter. It won't give her diahrea but it will help soften the stool so it's easier to come out. And keep her regular assumed it's given regularly. Pooping should not be painful especially for their little tushies.

Try it. Good Luck!

Hi K., This may be totally unrelated but when my son was 3 months old after very regular BMs he began to have severe constipation issues that were unrelieved by any constipation medicine except suppositories. We finally discovered that he had developed a milk allergy. I did some research into this and found out that this is an often undiagnosed reason for unexplained constipation in children. Once we cut out the dairy which is in MANY, MANY foods the constipation went away and he is very healthy. He also had Eczema which cleared up. By the way, a Gastro specialist diagnosed it. Don't know if this helps but figured I'd mention it. Good Luck!

Oh K.,
I can only imagine the pain that your daughter must be in! Yes, this can cause a lot of damange to her instestines and bowels. The "back up" that is sitting in there will harden and can cause very bad things to happen to her organs. There is a whole calcification process that can happen.

I do nutritional consultations for familes and have an excellent product that will naturally stimulate the bowels. I used this product on a daily basis as I had issues when I was pregnant.

I would be more than happy to discuss other nutritional things that can help her go and to help keep her regular once she gets past this hurdle.

I am so sorry that you are going through this.
B.

One of my 5yr old twin girls has BM problems. She was put on Miralax as well. It has worked. I now give it to her whenever I see she has not gone in a day or 2. I have also used the mineral oil as well.

I have just started using the Benefiber in her juice/water everyday so I do not have to use the Miralax forever.

Talk with your doctor about Miralax.

Just wondering what her diet is like. Have you tried cutting back on dairy, increasing vegetables, fruits, prunes, prune juice, etc? Sometimes the little things can help.

Is she trying to hold it in? A friend's daughter was trying to hold her BMs in and of course became more constipated. They had to use a medication along with a lot of gentle encouragement but after a time she was back to normal and was able to avoid the meds. I think in her case she had to also stop drinking milk completely.

Good luck, I hope your poor girl feels better soon.

K.,
I am sure things have been resolved but I want to share what worked for my niece and what is continuing to work. Her pediatrician suggested corn syrup - I believe it was 1 or 2 tbs for about a week and this did seem to get things moving after several days. My sister is a nurse and of course was very concerned. After things started moving - she decreased the corn syrup to half the dose and then eventually stopped it. She now gives her daughter 2-4 ounces of organic pure prune juice in 4 ounces of water EVERY morning to keep her regular. You have to get the prune juice at Whole FOods- the regular stuff at Jewel is not concentrated enough. Any questions, let me know - good luck!!!!!

Hi -

My 2 1/2 year old daughter has the same issue. She decided that it hurt and that she wasn't going to go anymore so she holds it in. After talking with our doctor and trying mineral oil, sitz baths (but she won't put her butt down) she was put on a prescription medication. We have now been on it for 2 1/2 months and it has helped, althought she does still try to hold it in. The one thing that did help when she was backed up - besides the suppositories or enemas - was exlax (per the doctors suggestion. We gave our daughter 2 pieces and within a couple of hours she was ready to go. Hopefully this information helps. It's a long and tough road if you don't catch it in time. My doctor tells me that she will be on this medicine for at least 9 months, but my daughter is still very young so you may have better luck.

Hang in there.

We went through this a few months ago. Stop at walgreens and get a bottle of mineral oil. We put a tablespoon to 1 1/2 tablespoon in my daughters drink before bed (she never had a clue) within 2 days she was normal again. Even at 2.5 she knew the times she went it hurt that bad so she would hold it and man when she went she would cry and really go it would go soak all over everything. My doc told me to use it for a few weeks till she was regular again. Do you give your daughter whole milk? If so stopping that will help a ton too.
Good luck
Jules
____@____.com

I'd see a GI doctor. I beleive my GI doctor at Rush Copley sees children. His name is DOctor Zaidi. He's really nice and very practical. The reason I mention this, is that as a young woman (31) I have suffered with bouts of constipation for most of my life...although never to the extreme that your poor daughter is, and it probably what caused me to end up being diagnosed with diverticulosis this past winter, after ending up in the hospital with a severe intestinal infection. My point being is that maybe if someone had taken me to the doctor when I was young I may not have ended up with a disease that normally strikes people over fifty or sixty. And beleive me I got plenty of fiber growing up, because I am the spawn of hippie parents LOL. The other thing is this...have you switched from a non-floride to a floride toothpaste lately? When I switched my son last year, he became severely constipated by even the slightest amount being swallowed, after we stopped his bms resumed to normal. Now he is able to much better about not swallowing any, and does much better at spitting it out...so the floride toothpaste is fine. Does she have any allergies to anything? I hope this helps, and I hope your girl feels better soon.

You might want to try backing off from the fiber a little bit, and see if anything changes. Some people can become constipated when they have too much fiber too - balance can be everything. Also, I don't know what she is eating, but I'd make sure that she's getting a yogurt snack each day, as the live bacteria in the yogurt helps promote healthy digestion. Then again, you might already be trying that. If so, I'd probably get a second opinion.