Constipated child, very much need help 🙈

[Mammyco]

Ok so, my toddler is almost 3 and from her being 3 weeks old she has suffered with really solid poo’s and constipation, we have been back and forth to the GP’s since then and she is currently on laxatives and stool softener, literally nothing works my poor baby has always known pain, I have tried literally everything I can think of and have been advised from gp and health visitor and we’re no further forward, I have no idea what to do and I can’t bare seeing my baby in so much pain nothing seems to help or ease it for her. I was wondering if anyone has any advice at all? Or if anyone has been in a similar situation and what the outcome was? The gp keeps telling me some toddlers are just prone to being constipated but my little one has been like this from being newborn, I feel like I’m going round in circles and don’t know where else to turn

she drinks plenty of water (literally all she drinks) and had a balanced diet her weight is fine but she gets extremely bloated

You need to disimpact her. Look at the eric website it explains how.

Will this help long term?

See a different GP, some people are prone to be constipated but it doesn’t look like they’re trying to help at all.

Ask for stronger laxatives

check her diet and make sure you’re not giving her too much that will bung her up. Dried apricots helped move things along for me.

Failing all that, doctors are able to manually remove constipated stool and I’m shocked they haven’t offered at all. It’s usually a last resort but sounds like you’re there

I'm not sure she is impacted but could she have some kind of intolerance that makes her constipated?

I'd be increasing the laxido or whatever she is on to make her have very loose stools.
Bananas, apples, eggs and white pasta, white rice, dairy products all make poo firmer.

Kiwi fruit is ideal to soften, as are raisins, prunes, apricots.
Make sure she drinks loads.

You can also get infant suppositories from over the counter.

We have used them when our child who witholds really needs to get it out.

Can I suggest abdominal massage? It can be very effective for constipation. Check YouTube for tutorials but basically you sit them on your lap and firmly stroke their tummy - starting just under the ribs on the far right - and move across and down the gut area in a continuous movement - making a large backwards C shape which ends at the right hip. Obviously not super hard, but if you can, try to get the palm
of your hand nice and flat with good firm pressure and sort of roll it so you finish the movement on the edges of your fingers, then scooch your palm over to were your fingertips are, and maintain the pressure as you move along. If it’s too sore to be firm, go gently at first and then slowly build the amount of pressure to encourage it through the guts. This method has never failed me.

We were in a similar situation with our 18 month old and we felt our gp was dismissive of our concerns.
We ended up spending £100 ish (a lot of money for us at the time but we were desperate) seeing a private consultant.
Dc had terrible constipation and pain when passing stools - which they helpfully demonstrated during the consultation.
The consultant examined dc (which our gp had not) and diagnosed anal fistulas.
He adjusted the use of the lactulose dc was already prescribed by our gp and it solved the problem within a couple of weeks.
With hindsight we should have just requested a referral but we were so fed up at the time.
Op, in your situation particularly as it has gone on so long I would ask for a referral, trust your instincts and get to the bottom of this.

I keep meaning to find posts like this to share what helped us.
It was absolutely awful to watch our daughter in pain. Sometimes it took her an hour (even two) to pass stools and blood came out from the straining. Doctors prescribed laxatives but that didn’t work. It was also hard to get her to drink them.
Daily apple and strawberry pouches from Aldi or other shops helped, but not always. She is not good at eating proper diet. Sometimes sitting in a bubbly bath helped to relax her bum, but then she became very much against the idea of pooping in the bath, even though I washed her and the bath after. I would gently rub petroleum jelly around her bum if she let me, or just hold her hand and rub her back as she was leaning over my knee like a woman in labour. It was horrible.
Then I’ve read that full fat milk is not good so we changed her to skimmed milk and that did the trick! She even pooped in the potty few weeks later despite just starting potty training (we had to delay it because she wasn’t comfortable with the idea, very likely because of the constipation). Occasionally she gets hard stools again, but not very often.
I really hope that something will work for your situation. Maybe something else in her diet. Try to cut out some of the allergens. The doctors don’t do tests this young. Life is cruel to allow children to suffer like this. Sending ❤️

The leading cause of constipation in children is cows milk. I would sort out the impaction and cut out all dairy, including baked in or hidden dairy and all soya as it is similar proteins.