Terrible Toddler Constipation!

K.,

I had the same problem with my oldest daughter who is now 4 years old. When she was 1 and 2 years old she had terrible constipation, I finally switched pediatricians when we moved to Texas and she gave us a prescription for glycolax. It's powder and you can mix it with their milk, they don't taste it. She said it was very gentle and is what a lot of GI doctors prescribe for their patients, they take it for 3-6 months daily and it makes their bowel movements real soft so it actually retrains their colon and bowels and they get into a regular routine. She went every day on it and we continued it for the six months. She has been regular ever since, sometimes mild constipation but she still has a bowel movement every day. It was wonderful. The pediatrician said that when they are constipated so often when they finally do go their stools are usually adult size and their intestine stretch out because of the constipation so it takes a while to retrain their little bodies. Probably more info than you wanted to know, but I know how hard that is to deal with on a daily basis. Hope this helps, H.

I would ask a pharmasist for the recommended dose, or the dr. but we always had great success with Mirilax, and I dont recall having to only use juice, we put it in milk in the morning as I remember (it has been 2 years or so.) I would try eliminating dairy too, and I hear that soy has some of the same protiens or something else (I am no expert, this is just what I heard) that makes it equally hard to digest for some, but maybe lactose free milk, or skip straight to rice milk or something. Good luck! ~A.~

HI K.
What a terrible thing for you BOTH to go through. The best, and safest way is to use non harsh products. I give my daughter a shake a few times a week that is orange fiber and vanilla protein, mixed with fruit. she loves it! and they WORK! It's an Arbonne product, so you know it's safe and no harsh chemicals.
If you'd like more information, please let me know! I'm an independent consultant with ARbonne.
ps they are risk free, if they don't work you get your money back!

J.
www.jennifercaldwell.myarbonne.com

One of our twins was constipated since she was a baby. She had reflux so I had to add rice cereal to her breastmilk bottle, then Karro syrup - she's 5 now! I still, probably 2x monthly, give her a couple of Tablespoons af DARK Karro when she says her tummy hurts (she asks for the brown medicine) because she knows that is what it is, and I always gave it to her in a SMALL dose when she was your kiddos age too.

My DD had lots of food allergies and constipation was definitely a factor so much so that during potty training she was so scared to have a BM.

I would have her tested with a pediatric food allergist. I did the Milk of Mag. but kept upping the dosage until it worked and had to give it everyday for a while. There are meds your doc can give you that are suppose to help. There were a couple times where I had to give her something stronger. And I gave her 1tsp or sp of Benefiber in her mornming milk. It has no taste and doesn't change the consistency of the milk even if she takes a while to drink it.

Good luck. I have been there and it is not easy to see them suffer and no fun at all for them.

Miralax is WONDERFUL. I give it to my daughter, and when in need, I use it myself. It's very, very gentle - no cramping whatsoever. It just helps things along. I can't recommend it enough for children or adults!

Hi K.,
My son will be 2 in June and the Dr. just had us try the Miralax. He was really bad about not going for 4-5 days and then when he finally did, of course he cried because it hurt. He has been on it since last Wednesday, and so far we have had good results. He drinks it everyday, and will have some kind of results with it everyday. He takes a full dose(plastic cap) of the powder. The Dr. said that I can cut his dosage down if he starts having diarrhea. I have tried all the remedies, and was glad to see that this is really working for him. Good luck!

My daughter was on Miralax for over a year before it was over the counter. I would call the doctor to get the exact dosage. My same daughter who is now 7 is having some issues again so now i give her Benifiber and i give her 1tsp a day as a maintenance so it just helps things along. It certainly is not something i would continue to experiement with on my own at that age, why not just take her to the doctor and get it done right instead of trial and error? My daughter was seeing a urologist at the time and they are the ones who prescribed her the Miralax so you might try your regular doc first and see if he refers you to someone. With an xray, they can see how "backed up" she is.

Good luck.

WHITE GRAPE JUICE - works like a charm. You also have to make sure your little one is getting in plenty of physical activity every day - preferably running or climbing, these in particular get the bowels moving. Hope this helps!

I totally feel your pain on this!
We had this problem with both of our kids for several months off and on (more on than off!) at some point between age 1 and 2, but they are quite regular now. Also, our pediatrician told us that it's not necessarily abnormal to go 3 or 4 days between BMs, but if it makes her uncomfortable is the bigger issue.
You mentioned the dietary remedies, but you didn't say how long you stuck with them. It will take several days for a dietary change to take effect, then you have to be consistent with it to maintain regularity. For my daughter, apple juice didn't do a thing, but we did add prune juice every other day, then avoided cheese, bananas, rice and applesauce. If you're giving a multivitamin, check the iron content. Just like the iron in an adult multi causes US to have "slow plumbing," it will do the same for kids. I would opt for a no-iron vitamin.
We also introduced a food supplement called glyconutrients. Within a month (maybe even 2 weeks) my son went from screaming and crying through a BM to not even noticing them. We started them sometime soon after his first birthday. As his diet increased in variety, the problem came back somewhat, but we have added a cup of apple juice (full strength) to his diet daily. Until recently (he just turned 2), if we ran out of either juice or glyconutrients he'd have trouble. Now he seems a little less reactive, though we can't get within 20 feet of a banana without major problems in this area.
When things got bad with him, milk of magnesia worked (sometimes in 2 hours, sometimes in 24 hours)
Also, babies/toddlers won't be able to differentiate between pain caused by a large BM and pain/cramping caused by the act of passing it. If the contents of her diaper don't seem large enough to warrant the fuss caused by passing it, you might be dealing with lactose intolerance. Maybe switch to lactose-free cow's milk for a couple weeks and see if she improves.
Yes, there are prescriptions to treat this, and certainly use them if it gets bad, but in the end you're treating a symptom and not dealing with the problem that caused it. I would stick with dietary management, and be careful not to try too many things at once. Make one change and see it through for at least a week before doing anything else. If a remedy works, stick with it permanently.

Hi K..
I can sympathize with how you feel as a mom watching your little one struggle to have a BM. We never realize how important those are until we can't do them! One of my twins who is 23 months old has been on it for approximately 3-4 months (we are still using what was prescribed to us before it became OTC). I would really recommend that you do let your daughter's dr. know about this if you haven't already. My son's dr. took it very seriously and explained that it was very important to get him regular again for a couple of reasons. The first was when a baby or toddler or anyone for that matter doesn't go for a long time, the poop will get compacted and hard and stretch the rectum. This can cause sensation to go loss. She said it can take a couple months of regular going to allow the rectum time to shrink to it's normal size. Also, when it comes time for potty training as my son will be near very soon, it is imperative to "erase" any memories he has of struggling to have a BM or he will be very difficult to completely train. When we had the appt. 3 months ago, she recommended the Miralx, there is a line on cap that will show you the dosage to use. Like one of the other moms said, the dr. told me to "experiment" with the dosage. If all the way to the line makes him too loose then give him less. If the poop still seems hard to pass then give him more. It is tasteless and odorless so he has no clue that he has had it for these last few months. I give it to him about every other day. I will tell you, it has been a God sent miracle for him and for me. It broke my heart watching this child suffer for hours into days trying to pass the largest wad of poop. I'll admit his diet isn't that great, you can't force a child to eat and swallow that which he doesn't want to so in the mean time, this wonderful, safe, and gentle product is keeping him regular and preventing damage to his body. Again, let your ped. know this has become a major problem but I feel very sure he/she will recommend the Miralx and you can give it confidently, I promise.

My daughter is 4 and she has had the same problem since I can remember. She is currently on miralax and it works well. They just need to drink it with 8 ounces of milk, breast milk , formula, juice, or whatever they like. I use it every day for abou the first week, then about 2 or 3 x a week after that if she starting to be regular again. I also cut out most of her sugar, and give her a high fiber diet.

Ok, my advice is very simple, and believe me it WORKS. That new yogurt that is out called 'Activia', in a green container, comes in bulk at Sam's. IT WORKS!!! Feed it to her. It will clear her out, I PROMISE. You can buy it in the 6-pack at the grocery store to try it out, but once you learn that it works then go to Sam's. This works on big people too. It helps keep you regulaed and DEFINITELY helps with constipation issues.

I understand your frustration, I have a 14 month old who had the same problem once we switched him to cows milk from his formula at a year old, he was highly allergic to milk and even soy (he was on alimentum for formula) the doctor recommended to give him prune juice mixed with apple juice (I found it already mixed by Gerber at Kroger)I started giving him this daily and now every other day and it has helped more than anything else that we had to try. I hope that this helps if not you may want to check and see if she has a allergy to milk.

Hi ask your dr about polythylene glycol... not sure about the spelling. it is tasteless, not habit forming and works like a gem. you can put it right in their milk or other beverage. it is a natural laxative. good luck
K.

have you tried to increase fluids? if so, i would go to a GI doc. peds are great with general diagnosis, but any laxative is for short term. long term can depleat the body of potassium, causing more probs. if its chronic, a specialist should be seen. potassium is for muscles, heart is large muscle. also, straining to have bm causes intercranial pressure and heart rate to drop. chidrens hosp has good GI doc. would havd to ask my ex his name if you wanted it.

We are in the middle of this ourselves. My two year old has had problems since birth. She takes 1/2 to 3/4 capful of Miralax everyday. We took her to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist in Dallas named Dr. Annette Whitney ###-###-####) two weeks ago. They did lab work to rule out any problems with thyroid. Then last Monday she had a barrium enema to look at the lower GI. All came back normal!!! They want to keep her on the Mirlax and have added another over the counter medicine called Acidophilus. It helps with the good bacteria needed for the digestive track to run smoothly. She can in the same day have diarrea and then have a stool so hard we have to manually remove it. All the while she is screaming in pain. It is terrible to see her in so much pain all the time. The beauty of Miralax is that you work with the dosage till you find what is right for your child. The doc says the goal is to have the stool be mushy. They want to wait before doing some other invasive testing. I am so stressed because she is at the early stages of potty training and painful BM will cause them to hold back the stool.

My oldest daughter (9) was constantly complaining about stomache aches. A few times I got a call from the school nurse and I had to go pick her up at school. Her doctor sent her to have an x-ray done and it showed she was backed up. She suggested giving her an over the counter laxitive called magnesium citrate. It's a clear, tart tasting liquid (my daughter doesn't like it, but she knows it works.) Within a couple of hours she was getting it all out. Then her doctor prescribed miralax on a daily basis to keep her regular. She puts it in her water that she brings to school every morning. Once it's shaken up, it disappears and she can't even taste it. Hope you find something that works for you.

Have you tried increasing her liquids? Prune and apple juice are also very good for getting the bowels to move.

I used a couple of table spoons of sweet Karo syrup mixed in water. The kind you use to cook a pecan pie. It sounds bizzar, but it got things moving every time. Be sure to only keep it for 2 hours of less then dump it. I mixed a new bottle or sippy cup each time. My Dr told me to do this and it worked. They also said to try juice, all kinds, water it down if need be and add some sugar. I hope you have some success with this, I know how terrible it feels when your little one feels bad and you can't make it better. Also, I think that all of that "add fiber" advice just makes it worse. That only made things move less for us.

My 4 year old son has always had trouble with constipation. We used to give him prune juice and also karo syrup in his bottles when he was a baby and it usually worked. He got really bad again a few months ago and was going 4-5 days sometimes without a BM. Ouch is right. He became afraid of going number 2 and when he did he would bleed. Who wouldnt after all that anyway! He started going in his underwear again after being potty trianed for over a year. I just got him back to normal after trying the miralax. I just played around with the amounts til I got the right dose for him. I give him about 1/4 of a cap full every other day. I found that every day was too much but that I couldnt wait until it happened again and give it to him. Sometimes I forget to give it to him and I can tell so it is working. I am not sure if this is a good idea long term but its working for right now. Its suppose to get you regular too but so far it has not. As far as what to put it in that is up to your creativity. Its a nasty tasting powder so I put it in his milk or juice and shake it up really good. If you have a slow drinker be sure and keep shaking up the cup. It will settle and she may not get it if she leaves a bit in the cup. That will also help to disperse the powder so she doesnt taste it all at the bottom. YUK. I wish you the best because I know how hard it is to watch your baby in pain. I hope you get some advice that helps. Best wishes.

Hi K.-You might look into this for her, the benefits are different for everyone, however I do know of a friend of mine whose sister struggled with constipation, and after taking Sibu she now has regular bowel movements. Here is the link But if you would like the juice I have it so you would not have to wait for it to be shipped to you -just let me know... Regardless, I hope you find something that works for her and she feels better soon,There is nothing worse than seeing your child hurt! Best of luck. L. www.mysibu.com