3YP constipation/viscious circle

[Bunny2607]

Hi everyone

edited to say sorry title should say “3YO constipation/viscious circle”

sorry if this is long but i feel i’ve got myself in such a mess with my DD (3.5yrs) without realising and not sure how to put it right.
she had her 3 year vaccinations about 2/3 months ago. Before then, she was toilet trained and in knickers everyday, she had poo accidents more often than not and we used to say to her we can’t do poo’s in our knickers we do them on the toilet or the potty, and when she did do them on the toilet etc she got bundles of praise and treats/toys as i was trying to encourage it. All in all she wasn’t perfect but i was ok with it given her age and nursery reassured me poos take longer for them to get etc and to persevere with knickers so as not to confuse her.

she then had the vaccinations, and since then just isn’t pooing properly. She regularly complains of stomach ache, i’ve had her to the GP several times and they can’t feel anything wrong and say her tummy is soft etc. the gp gave her laxatives as he thinks she is constipated, she isn’t pooing much, she will do like 4/5 skid mark poos and she also started asking for a nappy on to do a poo so i gave in as i thought if she poos great, but she didn’t always do one or would go the other way and do 4/5 small poos in the nappy. Its got to the point recently where she is basically back to being in a nappy so yesterday i have said no more nappies during the daytime as i’m massively going backwards with her.

i just don’t know what to do. I’m scared to give her the laxatives as someone told me the body becomes used to them and forgets how to poo on its own so it will cure one problem and replace with another. How do i sort the poo problem out? Sorry if the post is garbled i feel like i can’t see the wood for the trees right now with it 😫 it could be a huge coincidence but i just feel its all come on since the bloody vaccinations, she’s so different.

When did she last poop? And before that?
GPs aren't always upto date on managing constipation
have you looked at the Eric website?
eric.org.uk/advice-for-children-with-constipation/

I hadn’t heard of ERIC until i did this thread but i was awake past midnight last night reading the website and going to have another look tonight and get clued up.
i wouldn’t say she has done anything substantial since the end of last week, she has passed poo since then but its small amounts. I’m going to give movicol again in the morning and tomorrow evening and perhaps do twice a day to try get her going.

i think i’m going to book a GP appt for Thursday depending how things go. I just feel so overwhelmed and worried about her health wise atm. She has a history of ear infections (had 2 lots of grommets and her adenoids out) and has been left with a perforated ear drum which hasn’t healed so she’s been on the wait list to be seen since December. All of the infections have then affected her immune system so the dentist told us she has enamel hypoplasia and will likely need 3 teeth out, they said its where the immune system disrupts the formation of enamel which is caused by fever/high temperature and infection so the enamel doesn’t form properly and teeth are more susceptible to decay. She’s then got an excema flare up which i’m trying to control, coming home with cuts and grazes from nursery. I just feel like she is in the wars and i can’t make it better for her atm 😢😢

Once you’ve made it up you can mix into any drink she will take. My kids have always had it in hot chocolate at breakfast time.

My daughter wouldn't have movicol (she still only drinks water or milk) and lactulose didn't seem to do much. We limited dairy and upped things like baked beans, kept skin on potatoes/carrots added chia seeds to anything I could. Also tried dried, soft apricots (as recommended by dr) but unfortunately she wouldn't eat them.

Don't worry about using stool softener. My daughter has recently just stopped using laxido, she was started on it aged 1 after becoming constipated following stopping breastfeeding. It was a mystery why she was constipated as drank pleny and loves all kinds of fruits. Anyway, she never really needed more that one satchet a day , then when I finally got her pooing on the toilet aged 3 years 8 months ( very stubborn nappy wearer) i tapered the laxido down to half a satchet, continued like this for months , then a third of a satchet , then a quarter... then I just stopped putting it in last month and she's ok now. So, in total over 3 years on laxido.

You know you said she finished the milkmladder?

With eczema and constipation - how sure are you that finished the milk ladder successfully? One to keep in the back of your mind.

Well only as confident in that her paediatrician was happy with the progress we had made and discharged her. The constipation has been the last 2 months and excema has been on and off the last year. But i suffer terribly with excema (just about to start a 8 week course of light therapy) so i assumed it was a genetic thing.

Sounds really similar to my DS when he was small. It was a constant battle with constipation. As an adult he’s been diagnosed as celiac (allergic to gluten), which caused stomach issues and a knock on of diary intolerance. After 6 months of no gluten he’s now able to tolerate some diary. In retrospect the symptoms were there through childhood and I wish I’d known to remove gluten when he was younger.

I remember this exact situation when my DD was 3 ( now 21!) It consumed my life and we tried all the treatments for a whole year.
Weirdly it stopped as soon as she started going to school. It seemed she was holding poo due to anxiety as she really hated her pre school. But couldn’t articulate this.
One thing that tended to get things physically moving was bouncing on a trampoline, we got rid of some backed up poos this way.
Sending you solidarity x

We have lift off tonight thank god….six days after the last one. I’ve increased the movicol to 2 sachets a day. She did it in a nappy but i think for now i will have to accept going backwards with potty training and sort this issue out and then retrain her if necessary.

Do keep the Eric info in mind on keeping up the movicol until bowel movements are regular.

Then once have regular bowel movements can start getting into where.

Your response had me in tears too. I don't know why I'm even here reading this since I'm nearly 80 so it's 40 years since I had these issues with my kids.

You have been struggling with this for such a long time and having to look out for soiled trousers at kids' parties sounds like the pits. You don't mention it but I imagine all this stress will have put a strain on your relationship with DH. It's the kind of problem which is day in day out.

You sound worried about him missing nursery but I wouldn't hesitate. The poo issue is far more important. Even if you have to go through the long process to get over the impactation, even if it takes several sessions, once there's a breakthrough (pun intended( you can both relax! If this isn't sorted by real school time, will they even accept him?

The old California syrup of figs or Prune Juice plus as much water as he can possibly drink particularly first thing in the morning and I wish you well !