3yr old -Cycle of constipation,pain, misery "poo-gate"

[rainbowrosie]

Our just 3yr old girl was fully potty trained - doing great

then prior to Xmas - poos started to get withheld - no poos at nursery

then tummy aches, and now we are back in nappies to relax her

on lots of lactulose, fluids etc

i don't think its dietry - most likely behaivoral - been to Dr's and apparently v.common and he just recommends using lots of lactulose

but now she does lots of small poos rather than 1 good motion

and the day is dominated by nappies, her physical pain

she understands poos - we're very positive

the only thing i can think of is max out on the chocolate bribery

i am at a loss - any good books, advice, strategies much appreciated

You poor thing, we are (touch wood) just out the other side of exactly this situation with DD1 (2.10), although I didn't let her go back into nappies, and it was a nightmare.

I think it was the imminent arrival of DD2 that precipitated it and I'm not sure what got us back on track but possibly a combination of things. The lactulose did help eventually but in conjunction with lots of fluids (which you're already doing) and slowly upping the fruit and veg in her diet (she always has Shreddies or porridge for breakfast so getting some fibre there too). So we got to the point where when she was soiling her pants it was with decent (albeit rather loose) big poos that helped make her more comfortable, rather than going through several sets of knickers a day with the oversized skidmarks she had previously been producing. Although it was infuriating having to clean so many dirty pairs of pants, I did try to praise her for doing the big poos even when they were in her knickers as I felt they were a step in the right direction - then pointed out ad nauseam how much more comfortable she'd be if she did them somewhere more appropriate in the first place.

Once we were at that point, we used the chocolate bribery to persuade her to do the poos in her potty or loo rather than her pants. One good thing about having this problem at this time of year is that there is plenty of interesting chocolate - we worked to the rule that if she did a poo in her potty that was at least as big as a small Lindt chocolate bunny then she could have one (max one per day)! We had odd ones on display in the kitchen to maintain her interest and it was relatively straightforward to swap the bunnies for a 2-chocolate-button reward once they ran out. I think seeing a good friend getting rewarded for doing a poo in his potty also helped with the motivation.

I hope you get it sorted soon, it made life really quite miserable for a while as whole days started to revolve around the situation.

ask your dr for some movicol sachets too- they might help. it helps bulk out the poos so there's more to push against, IYSWIM and so it's easier to get a good clear out. Good luck!!

Morning - thanks Ktay and littleshinyone

Yes i think i will get some movicol as well see if we can get some movement going

I think i will get her back into knickers as well over this weekend and like you say max out on the lindt golden bunnies

and get the lentils, pulses, pineapples, fluids upped somehow

The stress is her whole body convulsions and her primal wailing sounds she makes - the nursery are really good with her and take her away into the office -it does dominate the day totally

it feels like she might be over-reacting as well to any physical sign that her body might want to poo - she starts saying "a poo's coming, a poo's coming" almost fearfully

Ok armed with knickers, chocolate, lentils, and a good sense of humour (we just ditched dummy as well so its pretty hellish at the moment! :)

All humans love a good motion - and she is a totally different child to the one that is caught up in this cycle

fingers crossed