Constipated 6 Yr Old, 2 Days and Nada

Miralax! Mix 1/2 capful in w/ his drink once a day. It'll help draw water into his intestines and its non habit forming.

EDIT: I'm so happy you skipped the smoothie and went to a warm bath. The warm water is soooo good for relaxing the muscles and softening stools. Keep that boy hydrated! :-) I'll bet there was tons of poop once he was unplugged, considering all of the fiber he had. :-) I'm sorry if I sounded chastizing in my initial response. I didn't intend to. It's been a long, trying week at work and home.

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Why are you giving him more and more fiber and solids? He sounds dehydrated and would therefore need water. Making sure he's drinking will help soften his stools.

Honestly, not pooping for only two days isn't "constipated." He could be backed up a bit since it sounds like he's withholding poop. There's a difference. When they withhold, the poop that's ready to come out dries a bit and appears constipated.

But the more and more solid food you give him, like smoothies that have strawberries and blueberries, will just add more food for him to have to process and poop out.

Did you know that when you use a child sized glycerin suppository, you have to make sure that it stays inside his bum for AT LEAST 15 minutes? That means that even if he has to lay across your lap for 15 minutes watching TV or reading while you pinch his butt cheeks shut in order to allow time for the suppository to melt, then you do it. THEN you let him get up to poop.

If a couple of times doing that doesn't help you need to take him to the doctor. There could be something going on that you're not aware of, and you could be making things worse or doing the wrong treatment. Or not giving each treatment time to work on its own. But that's why you need a doctor's advice.

That's a lot of fiber. Try more to drink. Also try laying in a warm bath. If no results and he still has pain, call your ped.

ETA: Glad it worked!!

Have you had him just sit on the potty with a book or something to keep him calm - for no more than 15 minutes at a time - let him rest his feet on a little footstool.

Have you had him drink lots of water or eat some fruit? Grapes usually does the trick for my kids!

If nothing has worked, and he's in that much pain, I would either call his doctor or take him to urgent care. If he has a fever, then I would definitely take him to an urgent care!

My niece had this happen to her - her stool was so impacted, my sister had to take her to the hospital. She was embarrassed, but they took care of her!!

Good luck!!

Miralax is great, but DO NOT mix it with milk!!! We were doing that too and were told by a specialist that it causes the Miralax not to work. Milk causes constipation which is why it causes Miralax to not work. Another thing the specialist said was to use Pear juice which is found in the baby food section usually. Pear juice is better than prune juice and much better tasting! We also ended up having to use a pediatric enema on our daughter that helped. We only did that after being directed by the doctor to do so. As for the Miralax, I would start with a half capful mixed into juice or water three times a day. It could still take up to three days for him to go potty, but the Miralax will soften it enough for him to go. This requires lots of patience! We delt with a constipation issue with our youngest for months!
Best of Luck to you!!

I second the Miralax. It's very gentle and you can mix it in with some juice or milk. He won't even notice.

My cousin once had an impacted stool. She had to go the ER. If his pain gets too bad you may have to take him.
I would make him lots of water if I were you.

So glad he got relief! Warm bath is great. Occasionally a belly massage works if the child is not in too much pain. Water water water. A suppository is okay on occasion but obviously it didn't work in this case. But you really want to avoid the situation. There's a lot you can do to prevent this problem - I work with a whole lot of people who've eliminated constipation in their kids safely using food science. You don't need to do any elimination diets, by the way.

No gummies, ever - not fiber, not regular. They are so hard to digest, and they are a poor source of vitamins anyway. Aside from the dyes usually present, they have stuff in them to help them hold their shape and pop out of the manufacturing mold - also hard to digest and not good for you. There's probably a warning label on the bottle - there is on almost every kids' supplement. You don't want to give your child stuff with warning labels. Watch the smoothies - dairy can be a problem in a kid who already has a problem. Just get through the issue before introducing dairy, which should be okay the rest of the time. Also no bananas or rice or applesauce. The BRAT diet (Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) is for diarrhea and it binds the child up - so does cheese.

Let me know if you need more info.

Hi J.,

Sorry I am late to respond, but we are going through this with my little one so I thought I would throw in some things our pedi told us at our appointment last month. MIRALAX!!! Every day until you get this under control. Don't think of Miralax as a medication because it really isn't. It doesn't get absorbed into the body at all - it just helps to draw fluids into the colon, therefore helping to move things out. When a child gets constipated and it hurts to go, they tend to hold things in. The problem with holding things in is that the longer it stays in there, the less fluid it holds, the larger it becomes and then you are "stuck" with an abnormally large poop that is dry. ICK! And no wonder it hurts so bad. When this happens, kids (and sometimes adults) get afraid to go and the cycle just gets worse and worse. If you let it go on, the colon stretches and if it gets really bad, you can get impacted, or sometimes the "feeling" or connection between the brain and the colon gets lessened and then you have really big problems. If you wait to take Miralax until there is a problem, you are really 2 or 3 days behind. You want to get ahead of it and "teach" your kiddo it's OK to go, so that they expect normal, soft poops every time. Sometimes you have to take Miralax for a year to get the problem under control. You also have to experiment with the amount. Some people need it every day or every other day. Some need half a capful while others need a 1/4 and so on.

In the meantime, the "P" foods are best - peaches, pears, prunes, plums. All of these usually have a laxative effect. Also, PUSH FLUIDS. One of my kids is GREAT about drinking. She has never been constipated a day in her life. The other one, we have to stay on top of her to drink all the time. She, of course, is the one that gets constipated!

The askdrsears.com website has a great page dedicated to consipation so you may want to look at that for other ideas.

Hope this helps you!

Miralax is good.
You can also try having him take 1 tbsp olive oil per day to help things slide through him (they recommend olive oil now instead of mineral oil).
More fiber is ok but only if he's drinking a lot more fluid to work with it, otherwise more fiber will bind him up.
So always be ready to hand him a glass of water or a water bottle.
Another thing to try is Benefiber - you can mix it into juice and he'll never know it's there.

My mom would sit at night while we were watching TV and give us slices of apples or oranges or different fruit to eat. We also had an apple for a snack during the afternoon. I think the fiber in apples really helps. I would try increasing natural fruits and vegetables before I resorted to Miralax etc.

My great grandmother handed down a surefire preventive to this age old problem: cook a pancake, spread peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) on it and add hot syrup......of course the kid has to like peanut butter!!!

Glad he's OK!

I would take him to the dr. I hope not, but he might have a bowel obstruction. I suffered a lot from constipation when I was little, and my mom would always give me suppositories and castor oil.

May he feel better soon. My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Just read your update. I am so GLAD he got it out!!! :)