Vicious poo cycle

[CitrusBun]

Honestly, the things you have to discuss being a parent.

We've got into a bad cycle with 2.5yr old DD.

Her poo is big and hard and hurts, so she doesn't like to poo. So she tries her best not to go and it becomes big and hard and hurts, and so on.

We're going to work harder at changing up her diet, but would appreciate any advice on what we can do to enter the good cycle and speed up her poos so they're soft, she remembers they don't have to hurt and they stay soft etc.

Her last two poos have been c.5 days apart and helped by one or two doses of lactulose to get things moving. One idea was to give her some of this earlier next time, maybe 3 days in, thus encouraging her to go hopefully when it's soft. But we don't want to become reliant on the stuff either, or mess up her normal digestive system.

DD currently hates going number two (either in her nappy or when we try to get her to use the toilet) and gets that stressed she throws up at the same time. But she's so pleased after she does it, so maybe we just have to ride a few more of these cycles out until she learns? But feel so sorry for the poor creature and am looking for other options please!

Get some prune juice and mix it in with fruit and yogurt...,worked for mine who do massive poos that need breaking up 😬 never known anything like it 😱

Speak to your GP. It maybe that her bowel is stretched as a result of constipation. She may need movical.

Is there nothing that make her loose? Lots of kiwi for example?
Mine would eat peaches by the tin, which had a quick and fragrant impact!

I'd abandon 'healthy eating' in favour of fruit until she's been. I may not be the best judge, though.

I also suggest trying to avoid certain foods. We have Problems with too many banana, egg and rice and find that prunes and pears help get things moving. Doesn't have to be a lot and you can get those fruit pouch things which male them more enjoyable. Good luck!

My DS suffers with toilet struggles. We give him raisins and/or grapes. Normally within a few hours it's worked. I let him have them every other day to try and keep him regular. Bad days like you we give him lactulose.

Fresh, cloudy apple juice. Magic stuff for constipation.

Speak to your HV. It's considered healthier for the bowel to use regular medication than having chronic constipation. Potty training is unlikely to be successful until there has been a decent period of soft regular bowel movements.

DN still has really severe poo issues at 10 due to not dealing with early problems. Please don't be so dismissive of resorting to using lactulose.

Go to the GP. Movicol will get the dc into a healthy cycle. It’s best to do this earlier rather than later as otherwise it can become entrenched and will take longer to sort out.

Movicol is your friend

We had to see a consultant when dd was 5 and used it regularly for six months until she was no longer scared to poo because of the pain

She's now 16 and still has issues . I strongly suspect ibs as she has a cycle of bunged up, stomach cramps and then very loose stools. This is much worse in times of stress and or eating high gluten / fatty foods . Pizza , spag bol and lasagne are her favourite foods but she pays for it the next day

Short term - pooing is easier If she puts her feet on the bathroom bin so that her knees are higher than hips . Consultant said not to let her take book / ipad into loo as should be concentrating on the task rather than getting distracted as it makes for a lazy bowel and can exacerbate the risk of piles in the long term

Make sure she’s having enough to drink. If she’s not drinking enough water, this contributes to hard stools. Also recommend the prunes.

My DD had this and it made a huge difference taking her out of nappies altogether and toilet training her. Seems she hated doing it in the nappy and was much happier to go in the toilet. Best of luck

GP - you and she need Movicol. Enough for her poo to be gravy consistency so it doesn't hurt, she can't hold it and gets used to poo not being scary any more.

Then scale it back until she is passing soft regular poo but she will still likely need the Movicol for a long time until the bowel isn't stretched any more.

I'd also recommend the ERIC website: www.eric.org.uk

I agree with @Justmuddlingalong, you need to get the advice of your HV or GP. Trying to sort this out with just her diet is unlikely to be the solution and could lead to things becoming much worse in the future. My daughter is 5 and takes Movicol and sodium picosulfate every day. I'd rather she didn't have to take daily medication but it's better than the alternative.

Speak to your GP who will probably prescribe Movicol. It can take a long time to rectify the damage done by consultation for a child.

My GP told me that rectum can become enlarged in this situation, so they are able to hold in larger and larger poos for longer. We are now on cosmocol, at first we had a high dose for a few days, GP wanted it basically running out ...and it did. Then dropped down till he was on a stool a day, we are maintaining current dosage now for 6 months. I don't think there is a quick fix, it takes a long time for the poo=sore association to go away and rectum to shrink back to a better size! We are at 3 months and had a couple of days without and very quickly he was going 3 days without a poo, I think it is really entrenched in him to hold them in! Children's books about poop can also help a little although your child may be quite young for some of them. My advice is to get on top of problem now as simply changing diet won't necessarily help on it's own when things are this bad. I can give my son prunes, oat bran, pears, OJ, AJ, wheat bran, wholemeal bread ....what has actually made the difference is the cosomcol! Of course aim for lots of fibre and liquids but as other posters have said laxatives are your friend! And yes some kids have different lengths of times between poos but if it's sore and hard it's too long, I wish I had started down the cosomcol route a long time before I did. Things like milk, banana, apple (who knew-not juice though!), white breads etc have the opposite effect of prunes and such like!

Keep on the lactulose, lots of solids etc.

I would be looking up specialist help to get a routine for a child of her age.

Movicol.

Give her the lactulose every day - it'll help get her into the habit and then you can wean her off it. I remember my son being on it for around six months at that age. It's very gentle - I think it just works by helping to keep the stools soft.

Thank you for the advice, everyone. What with GPs being under pressure etc we haven't actually spoken to ours yet and got the lactulose from a friend. Sounds like we're best to get on the actual prescription train.

I had this with my DD at the same age, I wish I'd gone to the GP earlier, movicol really sorted the problem out. I'd agree with PP and see your GP.

Do please go to your GP. My DD is nearly five and has some quite major long term issues because we didn’t nip this in the bud early enough.