5 year old need dyna-rod!

[MotherOfChaos28]

She drinks loads of water, she eats plenty fresh fruit and veg and we’re now on day 4 without going to the toilet. Currently waiting on movicol, fresh orange and weetabix to do its job. Any other suggestions?

Warm baths help my son and exercise help things a long

Won't help now but does she eat a lot of bananas, that can bung you up. Counterbalance with prunes.

Weetabix isn’t great for constipation - insoluble fibre like that can have the opposite effect to what you’re looking for. Try porridge instead.

How much Movicol is she on? Does she have a history of constipation?

@movingonup20 not a lot of bananas, apples oranges and strawberries mostly. @Rainallnight she doesn’t take it regularly, only when it’s needed. She’s had bouts of being constipated on and off since she was tiny. Don’t want to keep relying on medication though and like I say she’s always well hydrated and has a balanced diet so I’m trying to find ways of preventing the constipation rather than curing it iyswim. Thanks for the heads up about the weetabix.

It might be worth you looking at a Facebook group called Movicol Mummies. Some kids are just really prone to constipation and it can’t be managed by diet alone. The worst thing would be if she got impacted and her bowel got damaged/stretched as a result. Does she ever ‘leak’ poo in her knickers?

The longest my now 7 year old went with going was 8 days... she must have been about 4 too. She also had a good diet, plenty of water and veg etc so we didn’t know what caused it but it went on for years.
She’s still prone to constipation... we now have a ‘poo alarm’ , she has to sit on the toilet and try to poo every night at 6pm. Probably 3 times out of 5 she’ll poo. We think the biggest issue for her is that she doesn’t want to stop what she’s doing to poo so she holds it, then the more she holds it the more she’s scared to go in case it hurts.

And the only thing that ever really helped for us was movicol. Prunes etc made no difference at all.

Kiwifruit helps here. 2 or 3 (in a smoothie if she won't eat them) seems to usually do the job. They use it in hospital in New Zealand, kiwi crush I think the actual product was called.

@Rainallnight yeah we’ve had overflow loose bowels before but not for a while. I’ll have a look at the Facebook group. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. The poo alarm is a good idea and I will try some kiwi because that’s not a fruit I ever think to buy.

Overflow usually means they’re impacted and you need to follow a disimpaction refome. It’s worth looking at the Eric website too

*regime!

Wheatabix and apples can cause constipation.

I was worried about long term movical use until I read about how it works. Movical isn’t absorbed by the body, instead in absorbs water and combines with the poo to keep it soft. If your child has had constipation before then the bowel can become stretched out of shape making constipation more likely and it becomes a circle of repeated constipation. The bowel does go back to a good shape if she keeps having number 4 good poos. The Eric website is really helpful.

Google The Poo Nurses.
Watch the video all the way to the end.