Sorry for the TMI but litterially what do you do when your DD has a poo stuck half way out and is crying that it hurts?

[LizziePizzie]

She started having constipation last night. She did 2 sets of marble poos in the potty in the evening (she is normally a morning pooer) so she is still actually 'going'.

However this morning, she told me the poo was coming, sat on the potty, then started to cry as the poo was so hard and she couldn't squeeze it out heself. She didn't want to remain on the potty so I lay her down and tried to get it out by massaging her bum but she was not happy!

I have given her some lactulose and will do again later tonight, but literally what do you do with the immediate problem of getting the hard poo out of her, when it is half way out already - looking at me - smiling!

dd2 has had this once or twice, and I tend to just stay with her, massage her lower back, try and get her to relax as much as possible, distract her with 'take your time' noises and stories, etc.

Lactulose should help though, and lots of water to drink - hopefully won't happen again tonight!

I don't know but was wondering this myself during a very similar situation yesterday. Mind if I wait with you til someone comes along with an answer?

A paediatrician told me that vaseline right round where the poo is coming out to aid it to slip out could help. Or to sit in a warm bath and encorage a poo in the bath.

If she is beyond being able to push (with your support and encouragement, hand-holding and story-telling/singing) then you might need to give the poo a pull.
Even if it just breaks off, you will then be able to get her up and moving around, which will usually encourages the remainder to get into a better position.

Sorry, TMI. Had a similar problem with DD when she was small and it was horrible.

This happened once with ds. It was something I had never considered before! I just tried to calm him down and let him do other things for a bit, though he was upset, and eventually it did come out, by itself, and order was restored.

Better if they are relaxed I think so try to distract her, make sure she is wearing knickers etc to catch it when it emerges and try and stay calm (I wasn't terribly calm!!!)

DD had this, I had to (sorry - TMI alert) get a cotton bud and 'pick' the middle out of the poo so it could collapse, her bum was so sore and red it was horrible for her. I rubbed Sudocreme around where her bum was stretched round the poo, not sure if it helped or not but it did seem to.

Had this lots with DD and had to adopt mmmcoffee's approach, but wish I'd thought of a cotton bud instead of using my finger [vom]

In hind sight - not sure i should have posted this at lunch time!

I did, like you say Mmmcoffee break off what I could with toilet paper. I might try vaseline VivaLeBeaver - thank you for that tip.

Piffpaffpoff hope these replies help you too.

ky jelly would be better then vaseline

I have been there! We were in the changing rooms at the swimming baths (luckily v quiet day and we were only people there) and I just had to pull it out. If she has been this badly constipated, then the muscle walls of her bowel will have stretched and maybe torn, so you need to keep up the Lactulose for several weeks to keep her poo soft while her bowel muscle tone returns. DS's swimming pool incident was just before new year and this his first week without Lactulose. He started in 10 ml twice a day fora month, and we have gradually been reducing frequency and dose since beginning of Feb.

All v useful thanks lizzie. DDs eventually came out of its own accord after a lot of crying and hopping around on DDs part. So traumatic for everyone though!

if you can lift her put her in warm water in the bath, that will work

Glycerin suppositories - great things, they help soften the hard 'cork' which when removed allowed everything else to follow .

Also, top tip: do NOT stop whatever constipation-busting method was successful for you as soon as you have a good result - keep going and only reduce prune juice/lactulose/senna/fresh orange juice gradually while making sure they get lots of fibre (fruit and veg) and enough to drink.

Pear juice very good and syrup of figs

Get some bubbles for her to blow while she's sitting on the potty for next couple of weeks...encorages labour like breathing to relax her muscles.

Got the prune juice, and day 2 of the lactulose. Thanks for the advice not to stop even though the symptoms stop. Might try and up her fibre intake too.

Unfortunately she was quite upset when I left for work today so hope there is no underlying anxiety developing there...

FYI - with 2 5ml doses of lactulose, my MIL informed me that the day after she "certainly doesn't have constipation any more!" We had a couple more marbles later on that week, but nothing like that episode, so I am just making sure I manage her diet atm and will take her to the doctor is she has another bout of not being able to pass the poo.