Constipation/withholding(?) in 3 yo DS

[Signoritawhocansway]

Can anybody help?

Our DS has consistently been an "every other day" pooer. Over the last few weeks this has slowed down and he is now uncomfortable/in pain, straining with no poo, no leaks and just a bit of wind. He has not done a proper poo since Thursday.

I called GP when he woke up screaming from his nap, and no appointments available until tomorrow's 8am rush. Called pharmacy and have got a bottle of lactulose, and given him a 5ml dose.

Shall I go to walk in/urgent care? Or wait until tomorrow? Is four days too soon to go to walk in? He is uncomfortable, distended and eatng has slowed down. He is a small boy... just over 12kg (was a 27 weeker).

We had this. When stuff is all backed up, I think lactulose will help. It is a slow process moving forward. Drive yourself mad by making poo time a chilled out relaxing experience (sorry) . Blowing bubbles, real or imaginary, while he's on the loo actually gets the right muscles working. Lots of soluble fibre and lots of water. Warm orange juice is supposed to help too. I can't believe we are not at this stage anymore but even now dd, 9, wants a comedy pretend bubble blowing session.
I really sympathise.

And speak to a GP if you have an immediate issue. You are not being a nuisance.

DD age 3 has had similar issues recently (she was also prem and has weak core muscles which I suspect is the issue).

What has helped:

• 2 prunes daily
• use potty instead of loo (better position for children as legs not dangling)
• show her best position to sit (eg I realised she was sitting with legs apart which is not ideal - showed her to put knees further together, and lean forward a bit to "open up her bottom")
• encourage longer attempts, eg DD likes to look through a stack of books when on the potty

For the immediate issue of him being in pain, I would suggest a warm bath or warm water bottle, and then a tummy massage clockwise to help things move.

Thanks. After all that, he's just done an egg. Suppose there must be more to come!

He has had some warm apple juice and a couple of prunes, so I'm hoping this will help. He isn't toilet trained yet (getting there slowly), he will wee in the toilet, but not poo and I do wonder whether that's contributing to the problem.

Again, same thing here about toilet training as a factor. Anything that helps bring his knees up, like a step, will help. Also a potty may be the best thing for poo just now - you could always show him that he's making great progress by taking poo in a potty up to the loo with him to flush away. It's all about making poo and pooing fun. .

Movicol - need a prescription at that age, but works so much better than lactulose. (I don't have shares!)

We had this, and gp was not helpful (said he was doing it to get attention, which I knew wasn't the case, but no way to prove it..).
We had lactulose and it fermented and made his tummy swell, not common, but just check that your DS isn't inflating, and get back to a doctor if it does!
We got referred to specialist when I insisted, who said he was amazed DS wasn't screaming all the time with inflated bowels like that; he gave him an enema to sort this as he felt it was getting too severe (worth avoiding if at all possible!), And a different laxative medicine which wouldn't ferment , to be taken for a couple of weeks to make sure things were back to normal. Even then , the GP tried to tell me not to give this as he saw it as unnecessary.