3 Year Old Constipation / Tummy Problems

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Jaybird43 · 18/11/2022 12:06

@Shez123 could you ask to be referred to the paeds team / Gastro paeds at your local hospital? Sounds like the poor thing really needs it looking into. I would speak to the GP and insist on a referral as it's obviously distressing for your LG x

dleef888 · 19/11/2022 23:49

Shez123 · 18/11/2022 10:51

Hi,

Since my 3 year old was born she had tummy problems / constipation, we have been back forth with the doctors who prescribed her movicol (when she was around 1). Its been working fine however we have been given the same advice ever since, she will grow out of it and its nothing to worry about. We have now taken a turn for the worse as its daily battle with her tummy problems.

She has just started nursery not long ago and its been a month she has been complaining about her tummy hurting. We then went back to the doctors who prescribed lactulose, we have given this for around 3 weeks which has made the constipation worse!! Her stools were hard and she struggled to pass.

We then switched back to movicol around 2/3 sachets a day (which we believe has cleared her stomach) and has softened her stools as they are more "mushy" type HOWEVER she still complains her tummy hurts and shes CONSTANTLY on her feet running around the room. This is very distressing. She does eventually pass in to her nappy however its usually small amounts. She has no other symptom apart from this. Just really don't know what to do anymore as it makes potty training extremely difficult, we are waiting for a referral from the doctors but this could take a while.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Does she have tummy pain every day? My 4 year old has been having tummy pain every single day which the er said he is constipated. We've been working on getting him cleaned out for 3 days but he still says it hurts! I'm sorry your daughter is going thru this too! It's very distressing! We are waiting on an appointment with a specialist

Lillygolightly · 20/11/2022 00:25

My now 4 year old started suffering with constipation as soon as weaning started, got even worse at 12 months once she switched from formula to cows milk. She was prescribed lactulose (and suppositories at one point) which does work but can make it very uncomfortable. It got to the point that by the time she was 2 she didn’t want to eat, and only wanted milk which of course wasn’t helping matters. This was going on during all the lockdown and covid madness and help really wasn’t forthcoming so I started to look for other solutions. I will share them just in case they help.

Milled Flax Seed - pop a teaspoon over her cereal or porridge in the morning, my DD eats it no problem.
Raisins - terrible for teeth but DD will eat these without complaint and they do seem to help. Plus they are easy to hide in cereal or other foods if I was struggling to get her to eat.
Fresh Apple Juice or an orange juice but find apple works better.
Prune juice - I use this for emergencies when she’s really struggling. I only need to give 4 or 5 ozs.
Lots of clear fluids, water if they will drink it, cordial if not.

DD is now a pretty good kid where food is concerned (which I didn’t imagine would ever happen when she was a complete food refuser aged 2-3) now she eats her veggies and likes fruit. She’s just prone to constipation and to be fair I remember suffering horribly with it as a child myself. My eldest child now 18 did grow out of hers, I am hoping the same for my 4 year old and my youngest 11 months who is suffering with it now too. It seems to be a family thing.

With all the fruit and fruit juices you do have to keep a good eye on very good toothbrushing, but it’s the lesser evil as far as I see it. I do adjust what I give my DD based on how things are going so it’s not as if I’m giving these things all the time. When she’s regular and going well just the flax seeds and a normal bit of fruit or small portion of raisins, plus plenty of water is fine. If I notice she’s starting to get uncomfortable I’ll add in the other things and feed her extra portions of fruit, fruit juices. When it’s bad lactulose and a bit of prune juice does the trick. We have recently had a bad run of things in the tummy department but I think this is due to starting school and her getting so excited and distracted that she really isn’t drinking as much as she normally would. Just keeping her very well hydrated can make a big difference to things.

Keep on at the doctors though, it is possible she could have a bit of an impaction which is causing her pain on and off. Just because she is still pooping doesn’t mean that she’s not impacted.

I am sorry your little one is going through this, I do know how utterly awful it is both for the child and you as a mother.

Original poster

Shez123 · 20/11/2022 18:02

Lillygolightly · 20/11/2022 00:25

My now 4 year old started suffering with constipation as soon as weaning started, got even worse at 12 months once she switched from formula to cows milk. She was prescribed lactulose (and suppositories at one point) which does work but can make it very uncomfortable. It got to the point that by the time she was 2 she didn’t want to eat, and only wanted milk which of course wasn’t helping matters. This was going on during all the lockdown and covid madness and help really wasn’t forthcoming so I started to look for other solutions. I will share them just in case they help.

Milled Flax Seed - pop a teaspoon over her cereal or porridge in the morning, my DD eats it no problem.
Raisins - terrible for teeth but DD will eat these without complaint and they do seem to help. Plus they are easy to hide in cereal or other foods if I was struggling to get her to eat.
Fresh Apple Juice or an orange juice but find apple works better.
Prune juice - I use this for emergencies when she’s really struggling. I only need to give 4 or 5 ozs.
Lots of clear fluids, water if they will drink it, cordial if not.

DD is now a pretty good kid where food is concerned (which I didn’t imagine would ever happen when she was a complete food refuser aged 2-3) now she eats her veggies and likes fruit. She’s just prone to constipation and to be fair I remember suffering horribly with it as a child myself. My eldest child now 18 did grow out of hers, I am hoping the same for my 4 year old and my youngest 11 months who is suffering with it now too. It seems to be a family thing.

With all the fruit and fruit juices you do have to keep a good eye on very good toothbrushing, but it’s the lesser evil as far as I see it. I do adjust what I give my DD based on how things are going so it’s not as if I’m giving these things all the time. When she’s regular and going well just the flax seeds and a normal bit of fruit or small portion of raisins, plus plenty of water is fine. If I notice she’s starting to get uncomfortable I’ll add in the other things and feed her extra portions of fruit, fruit juices. When it’s bad lactulose and a bit of prune juice does the trick. We have recently had a bad run of things in the tummy department but I think this is due to starting school and her getting so excited and distracted that she really isn’t drinking as much as she normally would. Just keeping her very well hydrated can make a big difference to things.

Keep on at the doctors though, it is possible she could have a bit of an impaction which is causing her pain on and off. Just because she is still pooping doesn’t mean that she’s not impacted.

I am sorry your little one is going through this, I do know how utterly awful it is both for the child and you as a mother.

Hi everyone, we have been told by our GP to give more movicol satchets (4 a day) and thankfully we are seeing an improvement. We are also waiting for a specialist... thank you

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