Painful poohs!! Help needed!

[friedfish]

I really would appreciate any advice on this one. My daughter hasn't been for a pooh for four days as she has a 'large' pooh that is being a pain to try to pass and it has now reached the point where she is scared of the pain so doesn't even want to go there.
I have bought her some Lactulose to try to soften things up but have an awful feeling that until she passes this intial pooh it won't make any difference. Has anyone had a similar experience and if so what did you do?

[rubyroo]

go to the gp asap, you don't mention how old she is but my dd started with this at about 3 and we are still having issues at nearly 6. the longer she goes on holding it the more used to holding it she will be and the harder the habit to break. ERIC webiste is well worth a look if you have any further problems but the best thing is for the gp to prescribe laxatives in enough amounts so that she can't hold on anymore. i wish someone had given me this advice 3 years ago!
hth

[katiepotatie]

Poor wee lamb and poor you. Keep going with the lactulose, max dose possible. Orange juice, pears and prunes help too oh and water, water, water. A warm bath and a tummy massage, may help. (our dd would sometimes go in the bath when it was painful) Try and encourage her to go soon. Our DD still has issues 2 years down the line after having extremlely painful poos, and was given mini enema in the end. Try not to get stressed either, that makes it worse for both of you IMO.
I hope it clears soon x

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

I recommend glycerine suppositories (from your pharmacist) to soften the poo from the bottom end and make it easier to pass; be prepared for a mess as leaking before the poo comes is a possibility

lactulose will soften the 'top end' ie more recent poo in the pipeline IYSWIM

and yy get to Dr to sort out long-term

you so do not want to start down the road of constipation

HTH

[katiepotatie]

Forgot to mention, this episode may encourage her to hold on to it, my dd is almost 3, and won't go now because of this, and is now on daily laxatives. If things don't get better asap, go to the gp as
rubyroo suggests

[JollyPirate]

GP as soon as possible anmd ask for a referral to the paediatric continence nurse specialist. Movicol (a ype of laxative) is good if it's a long standing problem as it basically stays with the liquid it goes down with and keeps everything soft. If she hasn't been for several days then as BALD says Glycerine suppositories are good. In the long term though you might need to go down the road of Movicol which will help her lose the association of opening her bowels with pain.

[FlyMeToDunoon]

DD2 had this at around 2 and a half. We would smear vaseline on her bum when she needed to go which helped a bit and as she was not mad keen on fruit and veg we gave her chocolate covered raisins! Horrible and thankfully has stopped now.

[izzybiz]

My 17 month old DS has learned how to hold his poo in, he has suffered from terrible constipation and now thinks every poo is going to hurt.
He goes stiff and crosses his feet to try and stop it, I am giving him Lactulose twice a day to soften his poo so he cant hold it in, once he realises is won't hurt Im hoping he will stop holding it.

Poo troubles are horrid, can make them quite poorly if they don't go for too long, all the other advice is fantastic, best get this sorted ASAP.

[friedfish]

Thank you so much for all of your advice. Have just rushed to the chemist and have administered a glycerol suppository so I'm now waiting with fingers crossed. This luckily is the first time she has experienced this at the grand old age of 8yrs so hopefully it won't happen again. She resists drinking fluids but I will now stand over her to make sure she drinks up!! Thanks again, hooray for Mumsnetters!

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

okay so stand by, you might get a result after as little as 20 minutes

top tips from bitter experience:

avoid

bananas
too much milk
white bread/pasta/biscuits
weetabix

increase

fluids, water is best of course
fruit and veg intake, as much as you can get in her really

good luck

[worrymonster]

My dd had awful constipation between 20 months and 3. "Fluids" was what everyone kept saying. Got through gallons of lactulose, but wasn't that effective. Good luck. She did grow out of it, but still doesn't go every day.