Please help- my three year old has gone from being totally clean/ dry to extremely distressed and incontinent in the space of a week :-(

[Taxpanicmum]

....all because he was constipated for two days. Honestly I am feeling hugely stressed and upset ( for him but also for our whole family as we were due to have a much needed and rare weekend away tomorrow which I now feel like cancelling).
He normally has no issues with toileting whatsoever, eats and drinks well and healthily, he went to a party on Saturday, spent four hours running around probably got a bit dehydrated and eating junk and now this.
He has spent two and a half hours on and off the loo tonight, literally screaming in his desperate attempt to 'hold it in'. However he pooed into his pant a small amout earlier involuntarily and the poo was soft, there would be no issue with him passing it now.

Feeling so stressed and just had a cry. We have had such a rough ride with him and now this ( selfish cow of a mother emoticon).

Any help, positive stories or anything welcomed.

Hi, poor little chap it's horrid when they get constipated.

From what I have read, if he pooed a small amount of soft poo involuntarily, that probably does not mean he is no longer constipated. (although people often think this). in fact it probably means he has a large ball of hard poo in there, which soft poo is building up behind and leaking around. so he probably needs some help ie movicol or similar to get that hard poo out.

Hi mini

Thanks for the reply. I should have said, we did take him to the GP who prescribed laxatives. She also checked his tummy and said that the poo was not 'backed up' so in theory after he pooed quite a bit on the Wednesday ( which was boulder like) things should have settled. I did manage to get him to the loo yesterday just before he was going to poo I his pants and it was a normal shaped and textured poo!!

Ah ok good that he's back to normal poo wise. Maybe search for poo withholding on MN and see what comes up? Sorry I don't have any better advice, hope he gets better soon.

Can you give him dried apricots and avoid processed white wheat to ensure his poo is ok.

My 3yo does this. Its nothing to do with hardness of poo, he just holds it in sometimes. It is awful to see them so distressed, especially over something you know is easily solvable.

My hv says it is common and there is not a lot you can do apart from being encouraging and making sure they have fruit/drinks. I tell ds poo goes in the toilet but it is ok to do it in his pants if he's having problems. If it gets really bad I also bribe him out of desperation but even that doesn't work.

This next suggestion wouldn't win me any parenting awards but sounds like you're desperate.

My ds prefers his potty, how about a potty in front of the tv? Or iPad on the toilet? He might 'forget' about the situation and just let it come. I'm just thinking that a potty would make him squat and it would be easier for the poo to come out (bit tmi but iyswim) Good luck

He may have an anal fissure which is a small cut in the bottom caused by the really hard poo. It is a bit like having a paper cut on your bum hole so you can imagine it is really sore when you poo even if the poo is now soft. It will heal if you can keep his poo soft with plenty of fibre and fluids and encourage him to go regularly rather than try to hold it in. If it last more than a few days you can get some cream from your GP. Sometimes Vaseline on there bum helps prior to doing a poo as it helps the stinging.