3 year old - day 4 of no poo

[Sussexbysea]

Hi all,

Let me give some background on this.

My daughter has been impacted since 2 months old. Seen al the specialists and surprise surprise they give her movicol. Last year she had a clear out and nothing really seemed to get better.

In January we took her off it because she had more accidents than ever more. She went for a poo every day until March. Then she stopped. She goes for a poo every 3 days, but today is day 4.

It’s not movicol she needs as that softens it, I think she holds it in.

Any advice for a stressed out mama??

Will she stay on the toilet to try? Our 3 y old will sometimes not poop for days and it’s because he will always hop on and off quickly and not give it enough time to happen. When it gets bad we will try and offer an incentive such as if you can sit here for 5 minutes and relax you will get x treat.

We’ve honestly tried everything. We’ve tried battling it out with her on the toilet to letting her sit for a second or two and letting g her doing it her way. I’m currently sitting in front of her awaiting the biggest dump ever.

I’m expecting short of a foot long poo.

Did you reduce the movicol slowly and monitor using the Bristol stool chart?
If not, you may well need to go back to the beginning as she may have got impacted again.
Watch the Poo Nurses video, if you haven't already been following that programme, their website is excellent and covers everything you need to know.
Impaction is a psychological as well as a physical problem. M
I don't know why ore importantly it is a family problem. Everybody needs to be on the same page and it can often be a lifetime problem.
Accidents are often due to re-impaction.
I don't know why you say "surprise surprise" about specialists giving movicol. It is the correct treatment for impaction.

Oh sorry, my post got mangled.
It should read that "more importantly it is a family problem"
Thre is an extra "don't know why" in there.
I hope you can figure out how it should read.

www.thepoonurses.uk/

If she's holding it in, then you have a with-holder and you have my sympathy. DS1 did this when he was 4 and we had a terrible few months before we were able to sort it out. We saw the amazing Dr Anthony Cohn and he was the one who correctly diagnosed and then gave us a way out of the hell that is a with-holding DC. I have his book actually, which I'm happy to send you, if you'd like it as we don't need it any more. Best, of course, is a consultation with the man himself. He practises in London and Hertfordshire, if you are anywhere near there? If so and if you can get an appointment with him I recommend it. PM me if you want the book. There is also an online book called Poo Goes to Pooland that helped my DS to understand that poo belongs in the loo!

www.cntw.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2016/08/Poo-Goes-To-Pooland.pdf

One other thing - if it's with-holding then Movicol and/or Lactulose won't help. They work for constipation, but not with-holding and are likely to just make your DC soil themselves (which is what happened with my DS - further distressing him). Get help for with-holding, if that is the issue.

@zafferana thank you for your reply! You are so right about not giving her movicol, she’s purely holding it.

The name of the book would be super handy, thank you.

@endofthelinefinally I say surprise surprise because it’s the go to medicine for any child who is ‘constipated’. There’s no review by specialists before it’s given and never a true investigation of why the child has it.

I personally think (upon reflection) that movicol is not the correct medicine for my daughter and her impaction was caused by infant gaviscon.

My daughter is 3, and we have had a lifetime of Bristol stool charts and monitoring her toilet habits. Please don’t assume I don’t know what I’m doing.

This is it:

@zafferana thank you

Sorry if my post came across that way OP.
So many people get no advice at all and are just left to get on with it.
So many people get fobbed off for years. My frustration is with the system, not you.
I hope you manage to get through this.
It happened to my child and it was a long and difficult process.

eric.org.uk

www.eric.org.uk