Hi, Karen i feel so relief to hear someone who i can share a similar experience and hopefully find the answer that i been so hopefully waiting for its so painful as mother to see your child suffer my daughter is 4 years old shes been constipated for the passed 4 moths and like your daughter she holds her bow movements for so long that when her stomach is so blowded and she could no longer hold her poo. She goes but its so hard to watch her got trough that each and every time theirs been times when she holds her poo for like 2 weeks and trough that whole time she holds when she gets her urges its to the point were she hardly wants to eat anything cause shes afraid it will make her want to poo plus now she gets home from school and all she wants to is sleep so she wont feel or get urges its hard for me to see how much this has change her its like she cant even enjoy being a child. I pretty much tried everything plume juice switching our families eating habits laxatives sitting with her in toilet stories to take her mind of being in the potty rewards for each time she tried to go poo we even tried a more firm approach wich was make her sit their even if she didnt want to but its been so hard were it got kind of old keep having to wash dirty underwear that we bought her pull ups all over again its like shes taken a step back but she does go to school and when shes their her teachers are aware of our situation but they say shes just fine so i dont know if coming home make her feel more comfortable that her symptons happen as soon as she gets home i thought that is maybe cause shes not as occupied as she would be at school and being their it problaby takes her mind of it for while. im sorry for the long message but as you can see im realy frustated and just want to make her feel better its an everyday struggle so i heard all this great stuff about miralax so if you can just tell me how u did it because my husband tried to buy it for her but the physican said it would be to strong for her thank you and if anybody else has any comments please let me know i would really aprecciate.
Thank you everybody for the great advice i finally got my doctor to let us use mirelax and got her started on that yesterday it seems to be working and shes getting more urges but the thing with her is that she stops her urges by squeezing bottom together she tries to block her urges so she wont release her poo cause she feels its gona hurt her im trying to talk to her and let her know this is only making things worse for her tummy but im definetly taking her to a gastroenterologist cause i know this is passed constepation thanks everybody again if you have any advice on helping me explain to her how important it is to release her bow movements again shes only four so theirs only so much she wants to do cause shes afraid of it hurting!
I used Miralax with my 2 year old and it worked great. You just have to use a smaller amount...I think I used a half or even a little less of a capful. I mixed it into his water or apple juice and he never knew. Can't use it forever though....just to get them softer and start going normally again. Good luck!
We had great success with flaxseed. We call it "nature's broom". We disguised as much as we could, as fast as we could, in as much food as possible ie: sprinkled through cereal, or in crunchy peanut butter sandwiches. Also in smoothies/milkshakes (the flaxseed oil). Then when she got regular again, we pulled back to just once a day now mixed in her cereal (she doesn't even know it's there). There is the seeds vs the ground version. It's perfect for kids as it has a slightly nutty flavor (and you can even get fruit versions ie: blueberry etc).
My son went thru this. The doctor had us do several things. The first is to make sure he was getting a lot of water each day. also lots of fresh fruits and veggies. In addition to that each day after school we would give her a glass of juicy juice pure cherry juice and 2 tablespoons of mineral oil. the mineral oil has no color or Oder so he drank it right down. within an hour of drinking the juice and oil he would go to the bathroom. but be prepared the first few days he would go and plug up the toilet. so we had to institute the rule that you flush several times while your going. and even when he didn't want to go we made him sit on the toilet at the same time every day to make his body get used to going. good luck
Hi - I hope she feels better soon! Get her on Juice Plus fruit and vegetables soft chews and she won't have constipation again. It's concentrated food and the most noticeable result is regularity. I've got several customers who had their kids on mirilax for extended periods and still had problems and they are so thankful that once they found Juice Plus. After eating Juice Plus every day their children were gettting the daily nutrition from kale, beets, spinach, papaya, and 13 other fruits and veggies every day, and their child's constipation problems went away and they no longer needed the medicines. If you'd like to talk with one of them, let me now and I'm sure they'd be glad to help you be explaining their experience. Just let me know! wethriveonjuiceplus.com
Roxanne:
I understand your frustration as my son at about 3 yrs started going through the very same thing. He is 36 now and all is fine. You are obviously very anxious about the situation and it is difficult not to be highly concerned. However, you and your husband's very anxious response around your daughter is likely making her very nervous also. This is a situation that needs attention but with less emotional response. Making her sit and sit becomes a punishment which of course makes going to the bathroom a punishment and that certainly is not what you are attempting to do. Now with the Christmas holidays here and she is home from school, this is a great time to begin to resolve the issue. She is home and you have more control over her daily schedule.
You have consulted a doctor. What was his advice to you? He must have given you some instruction or suggestions. Have you followed through consistently with his instructions? The problem with this issue is that when children hold their bowel movements, they stretch the large intestine out of its normal shape into an even larger capacity. Also what can happen is that the bowel movement can dry out so passing the bowel movemet can be very painful. That is likely why she is so resistant to want to attempt to "let go" of the bowel movement. Realizing when I went through this with my son, we were in the 70's but the doctor recommended that I buy Maltsupex which is stirred into a favorite drink that the child enjoys and is supposed to loosen up the bowel movement so that it can get passed more easily. Personally, I don't have a problem using Miralax also. I wouldn't give a full child dose as that could be too much on her system all at once. However, I would give her a half childs dose, every day through the Christmas vacation so that she can clean herself out and her bowel system can begin to return to a normal size. That is what your goal must be, to get the bowel to its normal size. My son would wake up at night in terrible bowel pain. I finally had an idea - I had some prescription cough syrup that had codeine in it that I would give to him. He could get back to sleep but also because the codeine relaxed him, he would also have a bowel movement in the morning that was HUGE. The point, getting a child to relax, even by meds was very helpful. I defer back to the opportunity of this particular time of year. As she is on vacation, this is your opportunity. A little Miralax everyday throughout the vacation would be perfect. Also, if your daughter asks for a snack or resists vegetables, I would be giving her boxes of raisins, buy grapes and offer them at every meal, also apples, dried fruit if she enjoys it. Dried pineapple is very tasty. I'd encourage lots of fruit and any vegetable or salad that she will eat, I'd offer every night for her. I'd hold off on white bread, sweet cereals and see if you can get her to try some complex grain cereals. Costco has its own brand of raisin bran that is really delicious that even a kid would love. The raisins are plentiful and plump and fresh, not dried up, shriveled rocks. I think you can beat this in no time once she can return to having comfortable bowel movements and I believe it can be done by trying the procedures above. But please also try to relax yourself and not turn this into a battle which I bet it has become.
Take her to a gastroenterologist ! It's no longer just constipation when she is leaking poop. It is Encopresis. If left untreated, it will get worse not better. It is a long term condition that requires daily and consistent care. Do not punish your child. She has pain when she goes and she can't feel the leakage of the liquid stool.
Your pediatrician, sorry to say this, is an idiot. How could he even say that a child that is chronically constipated, leaking stool does not need intervention with Miralax and/or medical intervention? Did he do anything?
But listen carefully, do not diagnose your child yourself and put her on any medication or a treatment plan without a 'good doctor' advising you. If you need another GOOD pediatrician or gastroenterologist, ask on this forum.
Here are a few links that will help to educate you about this medical condition:
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/encopre.htm
http://encopresistreatment.com/
This one is awesome too and even has audio:
http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=RadyChildrensHos...
LOTS of water and LOTS of fiber - veggies, fruit, beans
Pedialax is for children 2 and up but has the same ingredient as Miralax in a child's dosage. I am struggling with this issue with my daughter but she is only 23 months and still in diapers.
