My friend's two year old apparently had a xonstipation problem for a bit and then the pediatrician advised a diet change so now the diet entails plenty of high fiber foods and flax seed, etc.
But the little one has had so much trouble going, i.e. hard and painful, that now that her diet has been modified and she needs to go, yetshe is holding it in. She stands on her tip toes and dances around because she needs to go but she doesn't want to push . . .
My friend has a 4 year old , this little one, and a 5 month old. She is also giving her a supplement acidophulus.
The pediatrician has told them if she doesn't go soon they will put her on medication and my friend is worried about doing this.
Any ideas?
I have given all my kids acidadophilus and Bifodophilus. The best kinds need to be refridgerated. Just add some to her juice or water and let her drink this helps clean out intestines and keep the good/bad bacteria balanced! I have used it for years myself and on my children. My husband and I have 7 children together, and all have lived with us!
We went through this with my daughter for a while. When we got desperate, we would give her a suppository. That will MAKE her go. Then maybe, if the good diet continues, the cycle will be broken.
Poor little one! Bless her heart! Has she tried increasing her liquid intake, or introducing prunes to her diet? This worked for my son.
I had the same problem with my daughter and ended giving an baby enema (easy to find at the store). Also glycerin suppositories work. Be prepared for a tramatic experience and it will take 2 people. My husband actually was able to give the enema while I comforted and stroked her head. It will make them poop within half an hour and the poo will be runny. Keep her bottom naked and stay with her in the bathroom. This will relieve the immediate problem, then make sure she gets lots of high fiber foods in the diet. Prune juice is great - 4 oz a day works wonders. Good luck!
The Dr. is most likely, on the right course.
My best friends son is 7 yrs. old. He has this problem. They have him on a regiment of fiber suppliments.
It works well, he dorsn't have to take them daily, every 2 wks., and is on a lactose free diet. Of which is pretty easy these days.
On the other hand here are some homeopathics:
Aloe gel caplets or juice just add a little to her drink.
My mom swears by it.
Okra or just the juice off of boiled okra.
Peppermint.
Goodluck
For a 2 yr old its easy to give the glycerin suppositories. You can cut them in half lengthwise. When my son did this, I gave him one. I had him on his back like I was changing his diaper. Lifted up his legs and just talked funny to him to relax him. Popped it in and in no time the poop came on out. You can get them at any drug store.
You might suggest they try a supository - they aren't real fun but it should help. I will take two to get it in and once the child goes then she should feel relief. From there they might try Mirolax. It is an over the counter stool softener that comes in a powder form. Have them ask the pharmisist the dose based on the childs weight. You just mix the powder in their juice (we do it first thing every morning) and it has helped emensly with our bowl problems.
We've used Miralax and it is very helpful. Keeps things soft so the child can get past the fear of pain.
Miralax worked great for my daughter. I told her it was her "poopy medicine" and that it would help her to go. I mixed it with juice and she drank it fine. It doesn't work right away...it takes overnight, but it does work, so she could try that.
For my little guy we do two things: Infant's apple prune juice to help soften things up and nuts for fiber. If he's ever irregular I buy him pistachios (sp?) or cashews and things are moving in no time.
My daughter had the same problem and when she finally passed a bm she was in extreme pain and crying out. We have had her on Miralax and she drinks it fine in her milk and does not have issues going now. Her doctor wanted to see how it was going for her so we weened her off and we had to put her right back on. She eats lots of fruit and veggies but that still did not work for her. When she was really constipated one time the nurse told us we were going to have to use suppositories to release the plug first. Some children stay on Miralax for a very long time and it looks like our daughter might have to as well. I hope this helps.
My step son has had bm problems all of his life as well. He was taken to a pediatric gastrointestinal specialist at Texas Chidrens who prescribed Miralax which was prescription medication at the time. You can now get it over the counter. It is a tasteless powder that you mix with any beverage. He was diagnosed with encopresis. Part of is intestine does not contract properly to move the waste through the digestive system. Eventually he would get so compacted that he would "leak" without even knowing and when he would finally go to the bathroom it would be extremely painful, big, hard and dry.
I suggest taking her to the doctor to see if he has a problem that may need medical intervention. The Miralax has helped my step-son live a normal life.
I saw ear;ier feed them the "P" words, prunes, pears and peaches!!
I would suggest making her drink a bunch of fruit juice...tell her it's medicine if your friend has to! Get fun juice boxes (the 100% juice kind) or any other way she will get the juice in her. Especially if she will drink apple juice or prune juice (maybe a mix of the 2?). I guarantee, after several cups of 100% juice, there will be no holding in the bowel movement! (Also works if you are a constipated adult LOL)
I would ask your pediatrician to prescribe sorbitol. It's a safe laxative to give infants and toddlers to help with their bowel momvements. She may need a strong dose at first but you should be able to reduce the amount she takes after the first one or two dosages.
Hope this helps!
Jen
Fruit juice...lots of fruit juice!
Prune Juice!!!! It works also she could by the Baby Prune dessert and mix it with water and give it to her in a bottle she'll think it's just juice. Also I used to boil raisins in water and then of course wait for it to cool down and then put that in a bottle.I am telling you look out she will God willing be runnin to the bathroom to go because there's no way she could hold it in...it'll be coming whether she likes it or not. I am the mother of 4 my oldest being 20 and my youngest being 8.
Also you may want to see if the child is actually afraid to to poop because she had an accident in her panties, in the tub, etc...
Good Luck!
My boyfriend has told me that when his daughter was a baby she had problems with constipation on a regular basis. Now I don't know whether this pertains to your friends child but my boyfriends doctor had told him that his daughters anus was not propertly aligned with the intestines and it caused constipation on a regular basis. I forgot what the condition was called but his daughter had a operation and after that she was never constipated again. It is not too common but does happen and people never know about it and just grow become adults with constant constipation. If you are interested I can ask my boyfriend what the procedure is called and let you know. Good luck to your friends child. I have two of my own and suffer along with them when anything happens to them. God bless
Fiber is great but we must have enough water to be able to eliminate. Sugar-free candy with sorbitol always worked for my son when nothing else would, but you have to be careful that the child doesn't get too much or they could have cramping. There are plenty of natural remedies at health food stores and over the counter.
The good news is the medication is used only until the child loses the fear of having a b/m. A close friend had this problem with her eldest. He was on it for about two months and that was that. No problems since.
If I'm reading the post correctly, she isn't constipated anymore, but is holding in the poop because she is afraid that it will hurt as it has in the past. Does your friend have a portable potty? Maybe she could sit the potty in front of the t.v. and pop in a favorite video. Maybe her daughter will be too busy watching the video that she won't think about the poop possibly hurting. Or, if she has a portable dvd player she could set this up in the bathroom. Maybe role play with a doll. The doll is afraid to go poop because it will hurt but Mom and daughter talk to the doll saying it won't hurt anymore. The doll finally decides to try and poop and guess what? It doesn't hurt. Mom is so happy! Now it is time for her daughter to try and poop like the doll.
I'm sorry your friend is going through this. She must be so worried!
Hi G.,
It is important that the child go immediately. If the stool gets too hard, it can tear the rectum(called a fissure) and cause slight bleeding. Not dangerous, but painful. My DD had the same issue because it was so hard to go, then when she finally did, it really was painful. With prunes and juice daily, I kept her bowel movements really soft for a couple months to get her accustomed to having a daily b/m and to let the fissure heal. The dr. gave her an enema in the ofc because she was impacted. I applied A&D ointment several times a day so the area would not burn when she pottied and would encourage healing. HTH, C.
ps. Jhaug is right about the damage that can happen if the condition is ignored. We too used milk of magnesia to keep the stool runny so she would get past the fear of pooping, then kept her system running smoothly with prunes.
my pediatrician told me to give them pear juice or apple juice and this acts like a natural laxative and makes the poo soft.
When my daughter starts to say her belly hurts, then i give her a little benefiber in her milk(because it has no taste and no grit, she can't tell the difference)and it makes her go.
If your friends child has trouble with constipation, and pushing is the hard part the child may need a stool softener to make it not hurt she can mix this in a little applesauce.
It is important that she make it as easy as possible for the child, if she continues to hold it in, she can get backed up and that will cause colon problems not to mention potty training.
My son behaved very similarly at the same age, and he became afraid of pooping because it was so painful. He got to the point where he would hold it for up to 8 days, then disaster would strike when he could no longer hold it. I ended up taking him to a "poop doctor" (our personal name for her - a pediatric gastrointestinal specialist), and she did a complete bowel xray to rule out any obstructions or physical problems. It ended up that it was behavioral due to so many medications causing constipation. The solution was to make him take a load of milk of magnesia everyday for an extended period of time (a few months or more, I cannot recall) so that his poop was totally liquid the entire time. This took the fear of pain away. After the several months of liquid poop, we weaned him off the Milk of Magnesia so that his stools slowly became more solid. This regimen was very successful with our child. We were told by the poop doctor that without intervention treatment, if a child continues to hold the bowel movements internally, nerve damage occurs and the child will permanently lose that sensation of needing to evacuate. So this is a problem that your mom friend definitely should talk to her pediatrician about.
A long warm bath and an enema is far more gentle and preferable to medication for constipation.
