DD will not poo. She is in pain, what should I do?

[HumphreyCobbler]

She did a painful poo at preschool last Friday. She has refused to poo since. She cries and refuses to push, she says it hurts. I don't think it is constipation as the poo seems to arrive, only she holds on to it. Her powers of retention seem considerable! She normally goes about three times a day and she has continued to eat so is now in considerable pain.

We gave her movical on Monday which caused to to have a small, involuntary poo. Nothing since, despite continuing to treat with Movical. Today she has been in a lot of pain so we switched to lactulose and used a glycerin suppository. No result.

We have been getting her to drink much more, eat a lot of dried fruit, upped her veg and brown rice intake. What else should we do?

Let her sit in a warm bath for as long as possible to relax her tummy muscles, that often helps. Also Linseed or Flax is fantastic, cured my dd's encopresis where movicol and lactulose failed. Hope she feels better soon!

thanks for the advice

she is crying in pain in bed, but still will not try and push out a poo. So frustrating and upsetting.

Will do the linseed, I have some here.

I am reliably informed that I did this at a similar age. I vaguely remember having a frightening experience (to me as a child) on the toilet and I held onto my bowel movements for a week at a time.
Warm baths, fibre, and hand holding and reassurance will help. She may just be frightened to even try to push. You may spend an awful long time next to her but she will get there. Hope she feels much better soon

thanks - I have been watching her make a pushing face but she is not actually pushing. She is definitely frightened to push. I have spent all week kneeling by the loo, holding her hands. I had to stay in preschool today as I didn't think it was fair to leave the staff with this situation to deal with (she is in obvious discomfort) and I will not send her in tomorrow as she is in agony now

Sit next to her when she is on the toilet, reassure her it Will hurt a little bit when i comes out but it Will stop her having tummy ache . She may need to sit there a while with a book and you really praise her when she lets a little bit out.

Google a book you can print out online, you have to look hard for the link that works cos some don't , called i think, Mr poo goes to happy poo land!, sounds crazy, but a good little leaflet to read to her about how poos knock on your tummy or your bottom when they want to come out and how they love to go down the toilet to happy poo land!

Hope it goes well

Didn't have happy poo land in my day..I feel I have missed out!

Jokes aside, I feel for you both..its both frustrating and upsetting. You're doing everything right.

Syrup of Figs really helped our dd - she sounded much the same as yours and no amount of lactulose was helping.

Also try holding her over potty/toilet and bringing her knees up as close to her chest as possible. This may help.

I feel your pain having spent many hours kneeling on the floor trying to help dd poo.

Poo goes to pooland! We have this, you can google it. We have had many conversations about what pooland is like, what you can eat in pooland, whether or not her parents will be waiting in pooland to see their baby poo....

Thanks for the messages

I'm not sure about the syrup of figs - as she is refusing to g, anything like this is only going to make her tummy ache worse.

DS has chronic constipation and sometimes withholds, which of course makes it worse. Agree with lots of tempting drinks, fruit and veg and weetabix/ similar, also warm baths (sometimes poking in the bath, though not exactly something to encourage, at least broke the cycle) and lots of exercise. Movicol is the medication which seems to suit him best. But - in a fit of desperation recently I tried outright bribery, and it was enough to encourage him to be brave enough to try. Has been working well for a couple of weeks though.

My only regret was that the bribe was 15 mins on Angry Birds every time he had a poo!

Lactulose takes a few days to work, keep giving it to her though as it will help - I think it draws extra fluid into the stool so it is softer and not so painful to push out.
Have you given her any pain relief for her discomfort?

I will bear that in mind.

Where does this stop? What happens if she just refuses to go? Would a doctor be able to help/offer any advice other than that I have received here?

I have taught lots of children with fecal impaction, it is really grim and often needs medicating for years I am terrified this is what will happen to dd.

Also, on a selfish note, we are all supposed to be going away for my fortieth birthday this weekend and I can see us having to cancel. Which is a more trivial concern but still aggravating.

Pooing, not poking....

we have given her calpol today

I have tried bribery already may have to up the stakes

Have you any bubbles, get her to blow bubbles on the loo.

I will do that - cheers

it will certainly be a lot more fun than reading a hello kitty comic to her

Could you ring your doctors for an advice call? I'd try bribery too - my DD had a real fear of pooing in the potty or toilet and stayed in nappies a very long time, I promised her a scooter once she started using the toilet. It worked, in the end.

Blowing bubbles relaxes the muscles.

I thought it might be that, I will try it first thing. luckily I have some bubbles to hand.

Movicol or similar to keep the poo soft & then I used to sit by the toilet & massage my DS's feet to help him relax. It did used to take ages just sitting there but after a few times, when he realised it wouldn't hurt, then things got better. Good luck!

Surprised the suppository didn't work, I'd try again. The poo probably IS hard and painful if she's been withholding for a week, but the glycerin should, er, lubricate the exit.

DS had a serious illness when he was 8 and medication resulted in him becoming very constipated. His impacted poo even showed up on an MRI scan. He was prescribed suppositories which although they weren't pleasant to administer - it's never nice to put something into your DC's bottom and we had to buy KY Jelly to make it as easy as possible - they worked brilliantly.

The suppositories loosened and softened the poo and let his body expel it quickly. I seriously recommend them so please give them a try. I remember a nurse on the ward saying that children on whatever medication it was - I can't remember - produce what looks like elephant poo. And it really did. You can buy the suppositories over the counter in any chemist. It isn't nice sticking a bullet shaped jelly thing up your child's bum but it works, it really does.

Try the suppositories and then look at food and diet going forward.

We have used a suppository - one tiny flake of poo came out. Perhaps it will work later - it was a couple of hours ago? She is wearing a night nappy anyway. I will try again in the morning, although i fear DD may not be that enthralled by the idea..

Glad you DS is better MrsPogle.

Thanks for all the advice, I am really grateful