Toddler constipation/withholding

[Vicky1989x]

My DD is 2 yo (28 months) and she’s been constipated since a newborn. She’s on movicol daily and her stool isn’t hard anymore but she still poops ‘weird’. She stiffens her whole body and crosses her legs (pic attached) - at first I thought she was doing that as it was comfortable for her but after doing research it appears she’s withholding. She’s been doing this since she was around 9 months old.

She also goes 3-5 times a day and it’s not hard but not a lot either and there’s always poop in her butt (TMI sorry) so it appears she’s not finishing. She also freaks out and makes me change her immediately even if it’s a tiny bit of poo. I’ve tried getting her to squat but she refuses. Anyone have any experience?

FYI I haven’t started potty training yet.

I had this with DD2, she used to cross her legs and arch her back to try and stop the poo coming. 6 days was her record🤦‍♀️ All started at around 18 months, she’s 5 now and still holds on as long as possible but no leg crossing anymore, goes twice most days, so much more normal.

How soft is your DDs poo @Vicky1989x ? I found we had to make it really soft, softer than a normal poo should be. It needs to be too soft for them to hold. You might need to up the amount of movicol.

If she has memories of painful poos then it can take a while to forget.

If there's always poop in her bum then it sounds like she's still constipated. The excess poop comes out around the compacted stuff and she won't even know it's happened. I'd go back to your GP and make sure they know this. We ended up at a specialist with our DC many years ago and it turned out the GO hadn't prescribed the use of movicol correctly. They need quite a high dose over a number of days to completely clear out the colon and then a maintenance dosage until the child is able to poop by themselves without any issues.

I'd recommend you look at the resources on the ERIC website & listen to their little podcasts. It may well be that you need to disimpact her (agree if always poo there she is likely still constipated).

GP's are not always very knowledgable about dealing with this x

Find Movicol Mummies on Facebook. And ERIC online. Likely she is constipated and the small soft poo is overflow moving around a blockage. She will need more movicol to move the blockage. The sooner it is done the better.

Also, google the poo nurses and watch the video. Download a picture of the Bristol stool chart.

My LO was the same, he used to scream in agony. The best thing I found was grinding up flax seed and sprinkling it on his food. It makes the poo really soft and stopped him clenching.

Maybe before she took movocol it was very painful, so she still thinks it might hurt and gets anxious. X

Thank you everyone for the advice, much appreciated. Think I’m going to have to go back to the GP, although every time I take her they aren’t interested 🙄

I really feel for you! My DS is 5 and we are still having an awful time! I have been on to the doctors again today!

Regular movicol and the resources mentioned above. Be gentle with your little one and lots of encouragement

My DS goes so much easier after a warm bath