Constipation in a 2yr old

[Juliehafrancis]

My little girl has quite bad constipation and has done for months. It rarely seems to cause her bother (maybe twice a month she will be in pain) The doctor has prescribed her Liquid paraffin which is a real struggle to get down her and we have to end up bribing her with chocolate to get her to take it!

I got some fig syrup today and tried to get her to have it and she wasn't having any of it!

I'm not sure if it's diet related or not (what else could it be?)
She doesn't eat a great deal of fruit or vegetables but I always give her wholemeal bread and pasta (she has banana's, carrots,tomatoes and onions in sauce etc) but has loads of cheese,milk and yogurt in the day which I know doesn't help but then I know lots of toddlers who are the same and their little ones don't have this problem.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks in advance,

Jules x

Lootie lives with constipation. She goes maybe once a week, always has done, she is 3 this Xmas but has DS.

You could try Lactulose, ver effective in softening stool and she may prefer it.

Try things like crushing linseeds and , or flaxseeds and sprinkle on her cereal or baking with it.

Drizzle olive oil or omega oils onto her cooked pasta or other food where it would work.

Will she drink some freshly squeezed oj? Any citrus fruit is good.

Cut out apple and banana as much as poss they are binding foods.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

Oh - and try giving her little tummy massages.

If it gets really bad 2mg glycerine suppositories get things going real fast!

You can also give her senna laxative as a medicine.

Would she eat licoriche (sp?)

I spoke to ds1's nutritionist about this last week. He has sent him some powdered vitamin C- to start on a small dose (it has a couple of other things in it as well- Mg and Ca I think). I have to add it to drinks. Apparently it can work quite well as it adds water to the gut. I know that too much vitamin C can give you an upset stomach- but hadn;'t made the constipation cure link myslef.

No bananas!! My 2.5 yr old has one bite of banana and will be constipated for days. Our doctor advises to give bananas only if she has diarrhea. My friend says that apple juice is good, but I don't understand that if apples supposedly cause constipation. We give prunes if she is really constipated. Good luck.

apple or orange juice seems to work wonders for dd ( 2 yo) ... she loves sultanas as well which seem to help for some strange reason.

BUMP!

We had this problem with ds when younger and our GP prescribed lactulose to soften the stools and recommended Califig to get things moving. He emphasised this should be a short-term solution. Like your dd, Julie, our ds had a fairly high-fibre diet (brown bread, apples, carrots, broccoli, often Weetabix for breakfast, but also lots of dairy stuff.
The GP commented that some people just have brisker peristalsis (process of disgestive tract moving waste down into the rectum) and that some otherwise healthy children have "lazy bowels".
Given her age the cause is probably physical, but sometimes children can withhold stools if they are scared it will hurt to pass them (ie, if they remember uncomfortable constipation from before). This would only apply I guess if your dd is nearly ready to start potty-training. Or maybe she is already?
Good luck. You are right to try and tackle this now as we still have "poo issues" with our ds...

Have you tried Senokot syrup. On the bottle it says that it isn't for little kids but I know for a fact (dh is GP) that it is prescribes pretty regularly for kids. It's quite sweet so easy to get them to take (I have a ds of 2.7 who eats the same diet as his big sister 4.7 and he gets bunged up adn she doesn't!!) and we usually put it in a little juice and he drinks it no bother - maybe about once a month or so.

Bananas are often the culprit. Some people I know swear by weetabix! Hope you can sort it out!

Both my dds suffer from this, although dd1 has mainly got over it. About 20mls of lactulose plus a glass of prune juice usually sorts her out! Agree about the bananas, also eggs and carrots. I also found there was an improvement when I used gluten free pasta.