Poo retention 9 yrs

[mellymell]

Hi all

wonder if any of you have any thoughts.

I have a wonderful 9 yr old DS - bright, funny, mad about minecraft. However, he thinks it's perfectly normal that he only does a poo every 4 days. When he does go, he's, not surprisingly, on the loo for ages. As a result of this, we've multiple times when he's literally clogged up the toilet with the extent and size of the poos and my DH has had to roll up his sleeves [TMI?].

We've discussed the issue with him. He does eat fruit and veg, probably doesn't drink enough water, but we do nag him about that. Now wondering whether to go the age old route of cod liver oil or the more modern lactulose (?).

Is this a doctor moment, or do we try home remedies? If the latter, any suggestions?

Mellymell

I would try upping his juice firstly. Simply having fresh squeezed orange juice can help.

DS2 has had a bit of this (not to clogging extent!), and also saying he felt sick a lot at school. Long and short of it was (after 2 visits to the Dr) that he wasn't drinking enough at school; now he is, the feeling sick has gone.

I would take him to the Dr. Given NHS funding, if there's an over the counter remedy, they'll probably suggest it! It can be nice to have back-up, so it's not just you nagging him to drink more, and eat more fruit and veg.