sorry for the gross title. But my 18 month old is on DAY FOUR of no poop (just little smears). She is holding it because it hurts to go because she has a fissure. I cant even wipe her without her crying screaming thrashing around.
I took her to our peditrition yesterday, she is great, but she didn't seem as concerned as i am!! Maybe because she doesn't have to deal with this baby who WOULDN'T WALK this morning and crawled around the floor, because she had to go so bad bur didn't want to.
The dr said double her dose of mirilax and call in a couple days if she hasnt pooped. Which of course will be SUNDAY. sigh.
I am worried about her getting impacted. Tell me about your experience so I know what that is?
should I call back tomorrow morning and have her seen again if she has not gone? she is crabby and isn't eating much (and she is underweight so that really is huge for us). I hate to be crazy mom, but THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY. my poor baby.
thanks
PS dr said not to use anymore supposotories (and baby is watching closely to see if I'm going to try THAT again!), I used one and it didn't work, and the other worked but Dr said it is too hard (emotionally) since she FREAKS OUT.
honestly, give her some saposatories, a couple a day through the weekend, they should help her pass the stool, and give her A LOT of juice
Our daughter had a terrible time with it and she quit pooping because it hurt to go. It was a viscious cycle because not pooping made her poop bigger and harder and she got MORE constipated. I took my daugter to the doctor and she hadn't gone in a week and still, after feel on her little belly and listening to her bowel sounds, the doctor wasn't as worried. Keep up with the miralax and lots of juice. We also did fiber gummies. Give her warm baths to help relax her. If she still hasn't gone when it as been a week, you might call the doctor and ask about an enema, which I would wait and do when she was sleeping with something like puppy pads underneath her. Gross, but effective.
I have a little girl in my daycare that is going through this now... They've kept her on mirilax on going and have taken her off of dairy and soy until it gives the fissure time to heal. She doesn't have any allergies to dairy or soy, but since they can be binding, the Dr wanted to eliminate those until normal bowel function returned.
You are right to worry because it can cause lots of bowel problems if she continues to hold.
Poor baby... and poor you. It's hard to see kids in pain like this. Good luck~
I'm so sorry! My daughter went through this at 2 1/2. She ended up being on Miralax for a year. But when it first began happening, and she was doing all the things your daughter is doing, I got the best advice from my brother (he's a doctor). He told me to put my daughter on the potty, backwards. Being in this position makes it very difficult for the child to withhold. This may not help you if your daughter isn't potty trained (and I"m guessing she's not, because she's only 18 months) But I figured I might as well tell you what worked for us. My daughter wasn't actually fully potty trained when we went through this, although we were working on it. I know what you're going through and it's awful. I wish I had better/more advice.
When my 4 year old had some impacted (she still pooped, but only enough to stop the urge, which wasn't enough--she started having the impacted poop press against her bladder causing extremely painful spasms periodically, usually at night after bedtime), they took an xray and you could see it. The Nemours doctor prescribed Milk of Magnesia. Adult dose, 2 x per day for 3 days. Yeah... we didn't go ANYWHERE those days. Cleaned her out though. Of course, she was 4, and not 18 months.
I've had an anal fissure for over 2 years that I can never quite get to heal, and they are wildly painful – probably as difficult as unmedicated childbirth, which I have also experienced. I can't imagine a toddler handling that kind of pain well. One thing you can try is to give her a little something sweet just before she goes potty – distraction with sugar has been shown in studies to reduce perception of pain. But it will be, at best, a slight distraction.
Nevertheless, she MUST get rid of that poop. Enough Miralax will eventually clear her out – it's not actually a laxative, but helps the matter in her digestive tract stay soft as it passes through, so her body can work more naturally. Another safe product is Benefiber, which can be added in small amounts to any beverage without changing the taste or consistency – this one product has probably saved my life. It adds soft bulk to the stool, and would probably work best after this initial problem is solved to help keep it from happening again.
I hope you'll consider finding another doctor who will take your baby's pain seriously. You may need a pediatric gastroenterologist, which should be available in your large city.
Whether or not she's reached the point of impaction (which I've also had to deal with), she's becoming traumatized, and this is clear in the changes in her eating and behavior. Poor baby – that's the only way she has of expressing the depth of her distress!
Liquid suppositories (gentler and often more effective than solid) will probably be further traumatizing, but not nearly as much as what she's already enduring. My grandson went through this, and was terribly frightened by his mom administering suppositories a few times, but they did help, and then he'd be SO relieved. Be as gentle as possible, tell her you know she's scared and hurting, and reassure her that this will get better. Sometimes what's necessary is not what we would prefer.
My son has continuing issues with constipation. We give him Miralax, which always works for us eventually. However, it doesn't really act as a stool softener, so whatever is in there hurts coming out. We give him apple juice daily. If he is having trouble, I put some vaseline on his bottom and a little inside his anus to help ease the passing. Twice I have given him milk with enough coffee in it to make it warm, and that really helped him. I am not advocating giving coffee to toddlers, but in those two instances it really helped in easing his discomfort.
The first time this happened, I freaked out. I had visions of x-rays, surgeries and all kinds of things. Like yours, my pediatrician was not terribly concerned. I try to give him the Miralax regularly in very small daily doses, and then up the dose if he is having a problem. My goal is to make it as easy for him as possible, since this can be a circular problem, he doesn't go, so it hurts, then because it hurts, he doesn't go and so forth. I know it is very hard to see them in pain. Call your doctor and ask them what the options are or ask them how long it has to be before they get concerned. Ask them how many things to try at once - Miralax, prune juice, etc. The more information you have, the better you will feel and the more you will be able to help your daughter. Good luck to both of you and hope you have some success soon!
Our ped suggested pear juice for constipation. I would buy those 4 oz Gerber bottles and use half juice and half water to split up the juice over the day. It sometimes took a couple days but it always worked to soften thing up and get it moving.
I kept pear juice around when I was pregnant as well to help when I had issues. It is our "go to" treatment before we even try medications.
There's something about the natual fruit sugars in pear juice that helps things along.
I hope she feels better soon!
Please, please, please give her some mineral oil. She will HAVE TO POOP! She won't be able to help it. It will get slippery and will come out. It may take a couple of doses because the stool has gotten hard sitting in the bowel. The purpose of the bowel is to dry out our excrement so that it isn't runny so if it stays in there too long, it gets really hard.
Please try the mineral oil in conjunction with the miralax. Your poor, poor baby and poor, poor mommy. There is NOTHING worse than watching your child suffer.
Hugs to both of you!
