Constipation from witholding, senna? lactolose? dairy?

[BlueBumedFly]

Hello

Sorry if this is TMI for anyone, I am desperate to try to help my DD.

DD is constipated all of the time as she withholds. She is 2.6 and has been dry since August. She seems to have no idea when she is 'ready' to go, just poos in her pants.

Whilst she was being tested for allergies the dr prescribed senna to overcome the witholding behavior. I was very sceptical as I thought senna just makes the bowel lazy but as it was the only option of offer other than lactolose which does not seem to help I went for it. Well, all is does is give her terrible tummy pains and diarrhoea.

I am so angry for not trusting my own instincts. All my hard work trying to get her to understand it is not scary has been thrown out of the window.

The constipation makes her so poorly and irritable. She loves milk and it is the only dairy she haves but I have heard this can be a problem. Have tried soya and rice milk but she hates it. Does anyone think semi-skimmed would be less of a problem?

I give fruit juice including prunes. She eats fruit every day, she has probiotic drinks and I try to give as much water as you can get a toddler to drink. She is a very small eater and has no carbs so has very little 'bulk' going through her system. I have cut out cooked carrots and changed white rice for brown rice.

Please can someone help. Shall I go back to the doctor and demand movicol or is this going to give her tummy ache too?

I have read all sorts of 'poo' stories too, she is just too scared it will hurt as I am sure most of the time it does.

Help? Please?

bananas and weetabix are the main culprits in our house for causing constipation
i think they're fairly common causes of it too

i do think that if she is just witholding then something like senna can help because it makes it all soft and easier to pass, and if you can do that for a while then she will stop being frightened of it

however, if the senna is giving her tummmy pains then obviously you can't continue with it and i would maybe talk to the GP about trying lactulose or something like that?

freshly squeezed orange juice?

My dd 4.9 has chronic constipation and has now had it for 2 and a half years. All sorts of allergy things done and nothing was found, hers is from withholding and is now pyschological and medical as her bowel is that used to the laxatives if she doesnt have it it goes hard and she wont go.

DD tried them all but the only thing that worked for us was movicol, best of luck it is a horrible worrying time, and still is. DD now gets seen by cahms as she has a poo phobia

I totally sympathise with your dd's situation and this time last year I could have written a very similar post.

My dd1 who is now 3.6 has a very small appetite and like your dd didn't have much bulk in her diet. After a few hard, painful poos she got nervous of going and would hold on and on and on. She was miserable.

We tried changing her diet, adding juices etc but her intake was so low none of it helped.

The paed tried her on lactulose but it gave her terrible stomach pains but Movicol really worked for us. Getting her out of nappies helped too as sitting on the potty made it more difficult for her to hold it in.

The Movicol was great, we used just enough to soften things up for her so it no longer hurt and once she got used to the idea that going was no longer painful she got much better.

She has been off the Movicol since the summer and apart from the odd bad day every now and then she is like a new child.

Talk to her doctor again and think about giving the Movicol a try.

Best of luck.

This is - I have tried lactolose, just seems to make it sticky. I will go back to the GP I think.

Montifer - will try for sure, thanks. I have some oranges in at the mo, just squeeze and serve?

Mummytopebs - My goodness, how terrible for you and your DD. I am going to go back to the GP, Movicol might be the only way I feel.

Thanks all, very much appreciate you all posting.

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Watermelon always worked for dd.

Jux- I will try it! Thanks