Toddler Not Pooped for Over a Week

[Cooki3Monst3r]

Hi.

I'll try to keep this short.(ish)

2y 11month old DS. Still in nappies. Fussy eater. Although can eat a LOT of what he does like. Lots of cereal and milk, banana milkshake (real, homemade), bread, almonds (sliced), pasta, cheese, pate, fruit juice, baby smoothies, sausages , fishcakes , chips .

He has for a long time now not been very frequently opening his bowels. The first time this came to light was when I tried to potty train him by taking his nappy off last summer. He had been showing lots of signs of knowing when he needed to go and interest in visiting the loo / washing his hands.

Anyway, after a couple of days he ended up with compacted constipation and I had to give him laxatives. The size and state of the poo suggested it had been in there a while, so I think it must have been brewing before the nappies came off.

Ever since then he goes just a couple of times a week. Occasionally less often. It will be clear that a poo will be brewing for a couple of days before it actually materialises. Eventually he can't stop it coming and he'll fuss and cry, not wanting to soil his nappy but not wanting the potty either. So I'll hug him and keep him on the potty while he does the business.

I had assumed the constipation was down to his poor diet. But now I'm thinking that actually he might just be holding on. He drinks plenty of water / squash / juice / milk and when the poo does arrive, it's usually very soft.

As of today, he's not had a poo since Thursday before last (10 days ago) and his tummy is huge. He's been really fussy the last couple of days, like you'd expect a poorly toddler to act, saying he's hungry but not eating much.

I'm going to take him to the GPs in the morning. But I'm not sure what it is I need to ask for. It's a long term fix I need. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. Ride it out? Keep the nappies on? Take them off?

Does anyone else have any experience of anything like this and know who/what I should be asking for? I need a referral to an expert - but what sort, psychologist? paediatrician? poo consultant?!

He was born 12 weeks prem, although at this age I don't think that's relevant any more.

Sorry, that wasn't short!! Thank you for reading.

As for dosage, one sachet is unlikely to help much. Why did he say max four per day? The maximum allowed is eight (that's for severe impactions). My three year old is on three per day as a maintenance dose!

I did think that Sea based on what you all said on here. But, tbh, I just thought I'll deal with that in 2 weeks. That's when I'll ask for a referral too - yes, we have a paediatric gastroenterology clinic at our local hospital. This was a locum GP I think, different to the one before. And both men, so let's face it, probably not that familiar with potty training dramas!

My DC is not 3 yet, the packet instructions did say max 4 too. We'll see. Assuming I'll be going back for 2 weeks I'll ask for more / a referral.

My dd is exactly the same - and it's psychological not physiogical. She's been on a repeat prescription of movicol for nearly 9 months now and there's no way I'm taking her off it any time soon! We are just "experimenting" with having Mondays and Fridays off it, so 5/7 days. It needs reducing slowly when you do decide you're at that point, it's not something you can really just use for a fortnight.

Hope he is more regular and comfortable soon. My dd seems to be settling at once every three days or so, but needs the idea planting in her head otherwise she just hangs on to it. We consequently spend a LOT of time talking poo

Seaoflove the OP didn't say she was told to use the Movicol for two weeks, she is to build up to 4 then back to 1 isn over whatever time it takes and then use that reduced does for two weeks. So the child will likely be on Movicol for quite a number of weeks.

Yep another one with a long term poo withholder here, Ds1 has been on movicol since Sept, although now on a far smaller dose. We have had to keep poos soft and frequent (daily/ two days) and he's now mostly over the fear of there being any pain and does his poos without trying to hold onto them. Am stuck with him only pooing standing up in a nappy but trying to stick with the softly, gently approach for now.

Also had the super large poos which just caused even more pain and were awful. I don't think he got quite as far as a mega-colon but I was worrying too about his bowels being stretched as when he did go, the poos looked unnaturally large. Mmovicol has also helped with that though and ds is back to normal size poos