won't poo and very distressed

[jamhead]

I know this is not uncommon as I've seen old threads on the subject but DD1 (nearly 3) has developed a serious problem and it is affecting all areas of her life now - used to be a good eater but now meal times are awful and also used to be very active but now just wants to sit and read.

One mum mentioned some bio oil but I can't remember the name. If you know what I mean, please let me know. I'm fed up of her having daily senna and lactulose and it not working (still hard poo).

This has been going on for about 6 months now and she regularly holds on for 4 - 5 days. She has big dark shadows under her eyes and totally refuses to talk about it and cries when she does eventually go.

Any advice or sympathy welcome!

Lots of sympathy...
It's nearly always down to fluid intake. Get her to drink lots of diluted fruit juice. If you can sneak in a bit of prune juice without her noticing then so much the better - it really does work!

I was told by a doctor not to give apple juice and also one cup of milk per day - dd was nearly 5 at the time.

She also takes Movicol - on prescription from doc.

My GP said diluted orange juice was best - don't know why. Even a couple of teaspoons of prune juice mixed with it seemed to make a difference.

prune juice works, getting it into her is another thing but try making loliies with er favourite drink and adding to them.
the dark shadows can be due to milk? does she drink alot of it, it also doesnt helo for poo.

bran flakes

DD1 (now 4.5) had this and it was awful. I really empathise. We spent so much time with her sitting on the loo, straning and crying and crying. And that was after we'd finally managed to get her on there after a couple of days coaxing. Really hard to cope with. She now has bran flakes every day, a bowl in the morning mixed with rice crispies and another for supper just before bed. We also moved her off cows milk and onto goats - that might have helped too. DH worked out a system of exercises for her to do mid-toilet session if things were going badly - both in the hope that they'd help and also to take her mind off things. She still does them if things get "stuck", involved lots of touching her toes and wiggling about in the midriff area iirc. I've done yoga with her too, just to keep things moving - not on a regular basis just whenever we are in that zone (so not often at all really) - I am sorry to hear your DD is not moving so much, that can't be helping.

Good luck, I feel for you (and her, poor thing)

straining, I meant

I have real sympathy for you my 3 yr old the same. She seems to have a real phobia about poo in general says that poo makes her want to be sick, woudl rather do it outside (not really practical this time of year) or in her pants!!

Even seems to be frightened to tell me she wants one so am really stuck on what to do. Its just nice to know Im not the only one tho.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

just to give you guys some solace, my DD who had this problem now happily runs off to teh toilet for a poo and teh first I'll know of it is when she calls me to help with teh wiping. I honestly NEVER thought we'd see the day, but we got here and so will you.

Ive remembered since that we took her to a homeopath fairly regularly around that time, as her behaviour was really erratic (totally linked to the pooing of course) and she did have many remedies prescribed to help with both the psychological fear and the physical issues. Couldn't say what they were now but that might be worth a go. We also tried cranial osteopathy but not sure that had any effect...

teh = the, why do I always DO that??

Good news! Just to say that although I'm not sure we have cracked it, DD1 has pooed nearly every day this week on the potty with no fuss.

Why? Well, I think she's finally drinking enough for the poo to be soft enough not to upset her. And the way that has happened is by constant reminders and bribes to drink and by having a drinks star reward chart.

So I reckon that may be worth a try for children witholding poo.

She is still having senna and lactulose by the way.

Really heart felt sympathy for anyone with similar problems.

Do try and get the gp to prescribe movicol - my dd had this prob for a long time and I got a referral, the Paed immediately prescribed it and it has worked wonders.

However she still has big poo issues - won't poo in the loo etc but at least not constipated. I'm sure if I hadn't left it so long she wouldn't be so affected.

Good luck with it, it's so awful isn't it?

oh sorry I only read the OP!

So glad you have seen some improvement

Hi Jamhead, we've been going through the same thing for some time now so I send you lots of support.
The only thing that worked for me was to introduce something called 'toilet story' as well as decreasing juice (very watered down with meals and water at all other times).
We, fingers crossed, haven't had any problems for about 6wks now and every morning after breakfast we have toilet story (where we sit on the toilet and read a book), and again after dinner/tea. I stole the idea from a friend who experienced similar problems and the hospital consultant suggested it.

It works an absolute treat and ds doesn't have any laxatives or anything else.

hth and good luck, hope the success continues. I know how hard it is and I really send you a hug! x

Hi there,

I can completely relate to all of this. Jemma has been constipated since birth. She drinks more than l do! About 4 - 6 large drinks containers, 2 capri suns and a cup of hot chocolate a day!

I think alot of it is pschyological. When a child feels pain going to the loo, they don't want to do it again, so they let it build up not realising that they are actually making it worse for themselves. This situation can turn into a 'Distended Bowel' a condition that my daughter now has. It is through lack of regular use, the large intestine muscles become weak and they can't pooh. They don't have the strength. At it's worse stage Jemma's pooh's were the same width as her thigh and about the same in length. I'm sorry to get graphic however l used to cry seeing her in such discomfort and wracked my brain to try and help her. The Dr prescribed a cocktail of drugs (which worried me) to get things going.

I am so glad to say that l found a solution. I have posted it on here as 'I think l've found the solution to potty training' if you would like to read it, it goes into a bit more detail. We still have the odd accident however we are miles away from where we came from. I do so help that it can help you too.

Kind regards

Alex

Sorry l forgot to mention. This is very controversial l know however if your child's constipation gets really, really bad and is in a lot of discomfort, put a little vasaline on your little finger and just lubricate the outside very carefully and gently. On the occasion that l have done this, the blocked stool has come out within a few minutes.

Only to be used in extreme cases though.

To Aftizap: what is the solution to potty training and poo witholding? My 4 year old dd has been holding her poo in for 4 days now and has dark shadows under her eyes and is coming withdrawn and less active as she is concentrating so hard on holding it in. Says the cramps hurt her the last time she did a poo. We have been having problems up until now anyhow with the fact that she would only poo in a nappy - otherwise uses the loo to pee. This problem seems like nothing now we have poo witholding! It is so distressing to watch and I'm so worried about bowel distension that another mum mentioned here.

To Aftizap: what is the solution to potty training and poo witholding? My 4 year old dd has been holding her poo in for 4 days now and has dark shadows under her eyes and is coming withdrawn and less active as she is concentrating so hard on holding it in. Says the cramps hurt her the last time she did a poo. We have been having problems up until now anyhow with the fact that she would only poo in a nappy - otherwise uses the loo to pee. This problem seems like nothing now we have poo witholding! It is so distressing to watch and I'm so worried about bowel distension that another mum mentioned here.

To Aftizap: what is the solution to potty training and poo witholding? My 4 year old dd has been holding her poo in for 4 days now and has dark shadows under her eyes and is coming withdrawn and less active as she is concentrating so hard on holding it in. Says the cramps hurt her the last time she did a poo. We have been having problems up until now anyhow with the fact that she would only poo in a nappy - otherwise uses the loo to pee. This problem seems like nothing now we have poo witholding! It is so distressing to watch and I'm so worried about bowel distension that another mum mentioned here.

To Aftizap: what is the solution to potty training and poo witholding? My 4 year old dd has been holding her poo in for 4 days now and has dark shadows under her eyes and is coming withdrawn and less active as she is concentrating so hard on holding it in. Says the cramps hurt her the last time she did a poo. We have been having problems up until now anyhow with the fact that she would only poo in a nappy - otherwise uses the loo to pee. This problem seems like nothing now we have poo witholding! It is so distressing to watch and I'm so worried about bowel distension that another mum mentioned here.

To Aftizap: what is the solution to potty training you mentioned? My 4 year old has been holding her poo for 4 days with constant tummy cramps every time she eats. Instead of doing a poo she panics and says she is tired and wants to go to bed. She lies quietly until the cramps pass and then she is jolly again. But as the days pass she has dark shadows under her eyes is becoming less and less active and withdrawn. It is heartbreaking to watch. I feel quite desperate. She managed a tiny poo this morning and this after noon when I made her put her nappy on when she had a cramp - oh, forgot to mention, we have been struggling with the not-pooing-in-toilet issue until now. She wees in the loo but not poo. Insists on nappy for poo. We were making progress with this as she had at least starting to sit on the loo wearing her nappy. But she said that when she did a poo last the cramps hurt her. I'm giving her a teaspoon of slippery elm as recommended by a naturopath to help ease it. It is so distressing for her...and me!