4yr old boy scared to poo and comstipated despite loads of medication. help.

[FelicityMontgomery]

He's had constipatipn from age 1 and been on lactulose. Until last few weeks would only poo in a nappy. he now wants to be a big boy so no more nappy, but will not do it in the toilet or potty.

He can hiold it for days despite being given, senna, lactulose and now movicol, but ew are having big problems making him take the medicine leading to lots of trauma(see terrible parent thread).

Lots of trauma generally about the whole poo thing. I'm trying to stay calm, but failing (again see terrible parent thread).

Anyone else experienced anything like this?

Senna comes in chocolate form????? Why has no ome told me this before???
Thanks dramaqueen, I'm gettuing loasd of great advice which is really helping.

Yea kerrysmum we've tried bribery,we have a special box of trets full of toys/cakes/sweets or when/if he goes and he gets choc if takes his medicne, and althought he really wants these his fear is greater then the reward.Thanks for your help though, I'm beginning to feel calmer.

deffo wouldn't worry about giving him Coke for breakfast in this case, as long as he knows its a treat for having to take his meds - he'll only need a little bit to get it down won't he, so its not like giving him half a can every day since birth.

Hi All - this is also my first message as my baby girl of 5 and 1/2 months is also suffering bad constipation. I am mildly dairy intolerant but still love a piece of cheese so that will have to go! She last did a poo on Saturday after 9 days and 3 days of lactulose solution. Does the lactulose really work as I am not very impressed so far!? [hmmm] I am still breast feeding but she moved on to solids about a month ago and I have been trying to get her to drink more fluid - water with pear juice/ water with peach juice etc but it is very heavy going and she does not appear to be interested - any other helpful hints to get her actually drinking?

Also have been told that baby rice, banana and few other things can bung them up. is this the case with other people?

She has just really started screaming when on her back - am trying to get emergency appointment with doc - any advice?

I am taking dd to a cranial osteopath next week as they can help with this sort of thing allegedly.
I will let you know how we get on

Some of mine would get bunged up if I didn't make the baby rice almost liquid. I made up watery baby rice and mixed it with fruit puree. They seemed to tolerate that quite well. With my younger children I never tried to wean until after 6months anyway so it wasn't as much of a problem. Would just give small amounts of sloppy food and still bf for the bulk of the food.

I know just how you feel, my son 5 has encopresis and has been on movicol for the last 6months, 2-4 sachets a day.
Its been a nightmare getting him to take it but at last I have a few tricks up my sleeve .Sprinkle on cereal, make jelly with it, put it in milkshake, mix into yogurt. I just takes away the stress in what is already a difficult situation. Good luck.

Hi Thanks

Yes I a have booked ours in to the cranial osteopath on Friday - will also let you know how we get on. One of my NCT friends certainly reckoned it cleared up her little boy's colic so definitly worth a try.

Don't know if you're still looking at this thread FM but I sympathise with your predicament. My dd is 4.5 now and has been suffering from about 2 with constipation. It culminated this easter with a trip to A&E on holiday because she hadn't been for about a month! She also gets urine infections with it. We took her to see a paed and that has helped. We also three money at it and got some homeopathy and osteopathy and this seems to have worked well. She is also phobic about going on the loo. Now, she is only on lactulose with the occasional Movicol thrown in and poos on the loo every other day which is fine by me. We have resorted to bribery and she gets a little something everytime she goes on the loo. We sit her on the loo with a TV dinner table with some toys on and put a stool under her feet as this helps her to poo. I would safely say that it has been a huge nightmare and I really feel for you. Our whole world did and still does revolve around when the last poo was and how big it was. It has caused problems between me and my husband as well - wot a nightmare! Hope things improve with you.

hi, I've got a similar thread going and I think that the best thing is not to cause these little ones too much trauma, leave the nappies on for longer if you have to rather than cause long term bowel problems. Get some nice cotton and waterproof training pants or use pullups and just live with it for a while longer. Good luck.

Saffymum, not sure what you're saying. My daughter is going to school in September so I can't wait - it has to be sorted as other children are beginning to comment on it. It's a nightmare for all concerned and I don't think it should be left because I know she will go on pooing in her pants unless we deal with it. I let her get on with it for a very long time and made no fuss but it didn't improve at all. Sorry if i've misinterpreted your comments - don't wish to offend.

I know this is an old thread but just wondered how everyone with this problem is getting on?

My own dd is 3.5 and has had the withholding poo issue for about a year and it continues though she is on quite a lot of movicol. So any updates from fellow suffering mums would be really interesting!