Can poop, won't poop, throws up, ad nauseum

[CitrusBun]

Hi all
Back with another poo related issue for our now 3 year old DD. Any help appreciated please.

DD is now totally toilet trained and regularly does wees and poos on the toilet both at home and at childminders. But she seems to have a semi regular issue I'm keen to help her shift.

Step one: wets herself a few times over a few days (easy to put down to 'having too much fun playing and forgot' but not sure)
Step two: stops pooping, doesn't really want to entertain any talk of toilet
Step three: stops eating as well as usual, becomes a bit lethargic
Step four: massive throw up/poop combo, maybe two or three times over 24/48 hours
Step five: back to normal, returns to toilet, is very pleased with herself

Does this cycle sound familiar to anyone? At first we put it down to unhappy toilet thoughts but seems to be more than that. We then thought maybe some kind of UTI from not fully knowing how to clean herself, so dab on a bit of sudacream downstairs before bed each night, but can still happen.

Would love to solve the cycle. We've got a big stock of laxative we could give, and on medical advice have sometimes done this to free things up when she can't herself. But being on it full time doesn't seem like a good solution, and I'd love it if a MNet person has a better idea please!

I would give gentle laxatives as soon as the wetting herself occurs. Perhaps that is the first indication that she is constipated.

Laxative or stool softener?

Constipation causes wee accidents in young children. Maybe she needs a regular dose of movicol. The ERIC website is a really good source of information.

I presume by laxative you mean the stool
softener kind Laxido perhaps? What makes you feel it’s not a good solution for her to be taking it all the time. I suspect that’s exactly what she needs. What’s her diet like normally? Does she drink enough water?

Thanks both. We're definitely friends of ERIC and movicol here, and happily give it to her. But I'm wondering what the actual root cause is, and if that's something we can help her with? Maybe it is just as simple as constipation and time will fix it, but I'd hate to think we're not actually getting to the core of the issue by just using movicol.

Whatnoww - thanks for the comment too. Yeah maybe it is just a case of movicol regularly, as long as that isn't leaving a big nasty root cause untreated.

She only drinks milk and water so we think she's getting enough on board, and diet wise we're doing our best but could always do better. The thing I point to on diet is that our childminder is excellent, and the peer pressure there means she eats a huge range of stuff, so even though we probably aren't the best she's still getting a good range there.

Do you feel her diet is ok, plenty of fluids?

Milk intolerance can cause constipation.

Some kids do just have a slow digestion, regardless of their diet. I’d give the Movicol a proper go without any stop/starting for a good few months. If she’s still struggling then I’d push for the GP to refer her for investigations.

It sounds like constipation. When my ds had this the gp prescribed movicol but said it was very important to keep taking a maintenance dose after the blockage had gone. He explained that the bowel is like a conveyor belt that becomes slugish with the constipation so if you don't keep the stool soft then it just keeps happening over and over again. We used to give my son a half dose of the movicol every other day and that seemed to keep things moving. Remember that the movicol isn't a laxative, it just absorbs water and that water can't be reabsorbed by the bowels. After a few weeks you can then try and space out the doses firther and them stop. Hopefully by which point the bowel is working normally again. Then just work on prevention, plenty of water, going at a regular time, lots of fruit and veg.