Constipation/witholding in 18mth old- help!

[giraffemum]

DS is 18mths and until 13mths was a regular early morning poo girl. She got constipated once back in Feb, it hurt and she bled and since then has been trying not to go with the result that she can last up to 6 days at a time . When she goes it is a huge quantity and still hurts and makes her bleed because of the amount. She has been on lactulose twice a day for 2 months and has just started on movicol once a day. The movicol worked brilliantly the first two days but she has now not been since Wednesday and she's starting to get grumpy.

She mostly eats well, her diet is good- weetabix and prunes for breakfast, fruit juice, water, loads of fruit and veg, wholemeal bread etc. etc. but just seems to have an amazing capacity to keep the poo in.

Any thoughts? words of wisdom? should I up the movicol without speaking to GP or give it sometime to see if it works? grateful for any insights

Sorry, getting my children confused...DD not DS!!

My DD was the same. It lasted a while but she is fine now. She also took lactulose which softened it a bit but not ehough. We used to put her in the bath after tea which helped relax her and popped her on the potty (which we put in the not to deep water) she would slosh her hands and feet about in the water when she was 'trying' and ot took the pressure off. We has success quite a few times like that.
I know how horrible it is and that people who havent had this problem dont give it the sympathy it deserves.x

try cutting out the weetabix
it is bloody awful for giving all 3 of mine hideous constipation. also bananas do the same.

of course, it may make no difference to your DD, but when I was haivng probs with ds1 and his constipation both of those seemed fairly common causes of constipation in children from what I read on here and elsewhere.

then continue with the movicol and see what happens?

DD had exactly the same problem at a similar age. We found that getting the right dosage of meds and potty training helped. She could let go in the potty and I think the sitting down, knees up, distracted by a book/game method helped. Plus she was clean and dry well before 2 which was a blessed relief. She was ready though and took to it immediately.

For her it was definitely associating pooing with pain as she had an episode of constipation which caused a tear and she started witholding the following day.

Thanks all, so good to know we are not the only ones dealing with this at such a young age. Will definitely try potty in bath- not with big brother in too though!

I will get different cereals and see if that makes a difference, I hadn't thought of weetabix being a problem. I think potty training maybe on the cards too, she is showing some interest so maybe I'll start introducing it in a more concerted way.

Anyone given movicol with milk? it's the only way I can disguise it so she'll drink it but a bit worried it might not be as effective.

how's she doing giraffe? has she erm, "been" yet?

Hello Yesterday, I have great news...she went on Tuesday with much upset and and pain but has been everyday since!

We had a terrible night Mon night, she woke at 11.30 and finally went off again at 3.30 and was clearly uncomfortable and had tummy ache so that was definitely cue for regime change.

I started her on porridge for breakfast and also sitting her on the potty every morning after breakfast and evening after her bath (she would not entertain the idea of the potty in the bath!). Something seems to be working, she's not doing anything on the potty but sitting in that position for 15/20 mins must help get things moving.

I definitely think the Weetabix was not helping so am aiming for a more oats less wheat approach generally. I was already keeping bananas down to one a day and luckily she loves kiwi fruit which also seems to help.

Thanks again all, I certainly wouldn't have thought of cutting out weetabix and was skeptical about the potty idea thinking she was too young to sit still. fingers crossed things continue in the right direction...

that's fantastic! is she still on the movicol or are you cutting it out now?

Still going with Movicol, we are seeing GP in a couple of weeks for a review so we'll discuss options then