Can't poo, Won't poo (not 'proper' constipation tho)

[MerlinsBeard]

DS2 (14 months) struggles to "go" He will strain and strain and eventually pass something small but its soft. Went to the chemist after asking on here about constipation and they gave us lactulose for him. Giving him half the daily dose like they recommended as its not true constipation ie not hard, no blood and he goes every day, just takes him a long time and lots of crying and screaming.

Before we make a DRs appt, wondered if there was anything i could do at home. My feeling is that its anxiety related now so not wanting to send him the other way!!

[PrettyCandles]

Ds was like that for utnil 2y. I never found anything to help, TBH, other than making sure he didn't get constipated (which he was prone to do). But he wasn't particularly distressed about it in general. I think if he's distressed you ought to take him to the GP.

Olive oil helps keep things moving along. Not by lubricating, but by stimulating the gut to move IIRC. We used to give ds olive oil, whether by cooking with it or just by adding a few drops to his food once it had been cooked. Raw is better than cooked. I also cut down on wholewheat, which is totally against the usual advice, but I felt that (a) wheat bran can be quite irritating, and (b) he didn't need extra bulk in his poo as it was generally soft already and extra bulk just made there be more to have to deal with. Cutting down on red meat seemed to help as well - I didn't exclude it, just only had it max 3 times a week. I also never gave him to meat meals in one day.

All these things never solved the problem, they just made it a bit easier to deal with. It just went away completely on its own after an episode of constipation during which I encouraged ds to sit on the potty, in his nappy, while he tried to poo, as I hoped that the posture would help him. Afterwards he always insisted on sitting on the potty to poo. He still strained terribly and was totally overwhelmed by the urge to poo but didn't always pass much if anything.

He's still like that at 5, but better able to resist the urge to go. If the urge fades then he knows he didin't really need, and if it doesn't fade, or it returns then he tries and usually manages a poo. It's always seemed to me to be that he didn't know when the urge was real or not. We as adults can often say to ourselves 'Hmm, I'll need to poo soon' and wait until we really have to go, but I wondered whether ds couldn't make that distinction, and trie dto poo whenever he felt the vaguest need. But, like I said, he would be totally overwhelmed by the urge, so that doesn't quite work either.

Anyway, I hope that something about this sounds familiar to you and that you'll be able to use some of it!

But it does seem to me that if he's distressed about it you ought to see the GP.

[virago]

Read a good suggestion the other day to encourage reluctant "pooers" - give them one of those old fashioned party blower things that whizz out when you blow - it's almost impossible to hold poo in, and blow at the same time!!Might be worth a try.

[spub]

Would second that Virago.
When dd was 3 she got admitted to hospital due to anal fissures and then some complications arising from that called chronic constipation with overflow.
We had a lovely "poo nurse" come and see us at home for a month afterwards to help monitor her recovery and she often used blowing bubbles to help kids to relax and to push out when sitting on the loo.
HTH

[MerlinsBeard]

my ds2 is 14 months tho so blowing bubbles not erally an option !

:Last few days have been better with the lactulose, he has no chouice but to poo if u see what i mean. Found some teeth at the back tho last night, not the nasty molars, think its the premolars (is that the right word) so that could explain things a little