Hi. My 3 year old daughter has been constipated for about a week now and I'm not sure what to do. I feel so helpless so I hope someone has some good adivce. She has always eated well and we haven't changed her diet so I find it a little wierd, but she is definitely constipated. She's been potty trained for a year now and never has any problems. I have already tried adding more fiber to her diet and also gave her some milk of magnesia last night (per the dr's advice) - but the milk of magnesia didn't even seem to work. She still hasn't had a bm. I don't know what to do about it. After the dose of milk of magnesia she cried for about 2 hrs that her hiney and tummy hurt then fell asleep. Never woke up to go, and this morning said she didn't need to go.
Thanks for all of the great advice. She drinks apple juice all of the time so again I just don't know why all of a sudden this has started with her. she eats lots of veggies and fruits already so it's wierd to me. But --- after 5 days and no bm and last night her just crying that her hiney hurt - I gave her one of the babylax glycerin suppositories and within 30 seconds she had a bm. It was HUGE and hard. POOR BABY!!! but she was back to her old self afterward. Now my concern is just trying to increase fiber and fluids to get her back on track. Thanks again for all of the great tips!
Hi J. I'm a mother of 5 and a grandmother, and for some reason kara syrup has works for two of the kids you can put a tablespoon into her milk and hopefully that will get things going.
Have you tried to give her any stole softners they make them for kids to. My son was that way when we traveled when he was younger and the doctor told me to give hima stole softner. And it did help. Good Luck if that doesn't help you might take her into the doctor and ask what else could be wrong. K.
The first thing I would do is take a Q-tip and put a little vaseline on it and rub it gentlt in her rectum. Then I would lay her down and rub her tummy in a a circle to help get things moving. Try keeping her off milk products until she has a BM and try putting some kyro syrup in something that she drinks.If she likes salad,corn, or raisins try feeding her some of those foods. Hope this helps. I know they feel miserable when the can't go.
T.
At my house, straight apple juice does the trick. Best wishes for an outcome (so to say...)
When our son had issues like this, we used a glycerin suppository (per Dr.'s advice). It worked wonders!
At that age, we used Babylax (liquid glycerin in a little baby enema) or sometimes we'd use the baby glycerin suppositories. I hope she's gotten relief by now. Good luck!
Be careful with the apple juice, believe it or not my daughter's gastro said the sugar in the juice makes it not good for them. My daughter had problems as a toddler... so much that we had to seek help from a gastro. Keep an eye on her, if the constipation keeps occuring it can cause her colon to enlarge and every bm will be HUGH and HARD! It took us years to get my daughter's colon back to normal size!
Texas Children's has a great set of gastros in Champion area off Cypresswood (if you ever need one).
The order we were given by our doc was warm applejuice, prunes baby food mixed into something, staying away from BRAT diet (bananas, apples, rice, and toast) since that is what they give to slow down bowel movements. Those didn't work enough so doc told us to do 1tsp dark Karo in the bottle. If none of those work, call the pediatrician and they might suggest a drugstore enema. (My friend has a daughter with constipation trouble.) Hope she feels better. Good luck!
Prune Juice - GIVE HER PRUNE JC.
And drink water water water
DO NOT give her the BRAT diet as this is what you do when they have diarea.
B - Bananas
R - Rice
A - Applesauce
T - Toast
Also WHITE grape juice for diarea.
Poor Baby!!
My oldest had this same issue, and when she did go (finally) it was painful. Ask your doctor if it is ok to use Karo syrup. This is what I used with my daughter, just put a little in one sippy cup with her beverage of choice and it always worked.
I have a special needs child who will be 2 in May. She has dealt with constapation all of her life. It was at the point to where she would scream and bleed. I would have to either use Q tips and dig it out of her or I would have to take my fingures and open her rectal as far as possible because it was so hard. Finally her sergion prescribed her Muralax. And it has worked wounders. No more screaming and crying. All you do is put a heaping teaspoon in juice or milk or whatever your daughter drinks. He recomends doing it at night because it takes 12 hours to work. It is tastless so she will never know it. It takes about 3 or 4 days to start working but you will be able to tell the difference.
D.
I would try giving her a small suppository or even putting a-little bar soap up her her bottom. My daughter had trouble going, I think she was around 3 months. I did everything the doc said to give her, nothing workied..so my Mom suggested the soap and that worked!!!
Hope this helps! Sydne
There is some stuff you can buy to actually put in the hiney. It is like an liquid that help the BM come out. You canfind it at walgreens. We had to use it on my niece. Another thing you can try is buy pear juice . Get the one gerber makes. That always helped my niece as well.
Poor Baby. Try letting her soak in the warm tub. I know it sounds silly but it works.Try given her prunes or raisins.Bananas will stop her up. Maybe having her wipe herself could stimalate her bottom.If she doesnt go by tomorrow I would call the dr back and see if there anything to do that you havent done.GOOD LUCK.
Honestly, I had constipation problems when I was your daughter's age and all the way up to about 10 or 11 years of age. My mom would always give me apple juice with every meal. Water and Apple Juice all day. Hope this helps.
Definitely apples, we know that works. My mother in law says a spoonful of lght Karo syrup helps. And you may consider (if it comes in a toddler form) some sort of stool softener. Just take it easy on the dairy and red meats for a while, and up the cereals and fresh fruits and she'll be back to good in no time.
This is my grandma's old family remedy which has worked on every child in our family at some point (over 30 kids), but I have ni idea why it works.
Use 1/2 t of Karo syrup and mix in with whatever you give her to drink-use it until she's releived-it may take a day. If after a half day she hasn't been relived move it up to 1t. It doesn't mater if you use light or dark Karo. You can find it in the baking section of any grocery store.
I can say honestly, it has never failed, but it may take a day or so. Good luck!
Try pear juice,hard to find but a miracle!!!!
I gave my little one apple juice and it helped with his constipation.
My 3 year old has struggled most of her life with constipation. She does not eat well, so I am sure that adds to it. The doctor first told me to try Fibersure powder, mixed into any drink twice daily. Now she is on a prescribed powder that really helps. The one thing I notice though, the powder only helps with what is in the stomach. The poop that is hurting them that won't come out will not soften with the help of the powder. At that point I have to give a baby enema. It makes her scream in agony for about 5 minutes but she definitly goes and cleans her self out. Hope this help. I know the feeling.
The glycerin suppositories work wonders, but don't overuse them. If you are needing to use them more than once per month or so, then bigger issues need to be addressed. Prune juice works really well and contrary to some people's belief, some kids like it. Avoid all bananas until she is regular. Once things are moving, try oatmeal in the morning and LOTS of water and liquids throghout the day. The key to adding more fiber is that you have to increase liquid intake a lot or else it will have a reverse effect and create more constipation. All that fiber gets stopped up without liquid to keep it moving!
Apple Juice or Prune Juice....
G.
Hi!
My 3-year-old daughter has struggled with constipation for a few months now, as well. Part of her problem is that she's scared to poop in the potty, so she withholds the poop, and it gets backed up. Here a few things that have worked for us:
Milk of Magnesia (1/2 dose in a.m., 1/2 dose in p.m.) for several days in a row, when needed
FiberSure powder (doc recommended) in water, yogurt, spaghetti sauce--anything it will mix into--1/2 the adult dosage, three times daily
CVS brand sugar free gummy bears--sounds weird, I know, but a nutritionist recommended them to our MOPS group, and when I give her 7 or 8 a day for a couple of days, she poops!
Hope things go well for you. Hang in there!
I totally agree with what some of the other moms have said.
The Karo syrup works. My daughter just ahd tosillectomy & adnoidectomy & more tubes almost 1 month ago. & well the stuff they give to put them under can constipate them.
Karo works. I on the other hand had to use more than the 1 tsp. I gave her about 1 tbsp. about every hour. till she went. It took about 1 day or so. But I also had to tell her, B/c she doesnt have much patience, that she needed to wait & push.
She calls them "snakes" so at that time I kinda had to make a big deal. Like sit with her till she went. I would sit there about 2 min & if nothing we would leave & come back later.\
Also, my MIL said that you can take a VERY Tiny piece of soap (White no fragrance) w/ vaseline & put it there like a supository, & she will go.
Try massaging her tummy. That works too it kinda moves things @ & makes it easier.
Hope some of this helps.
~J.
I would say try prune juice but it does not taste good so I have given my children grape juice....It has worked for them in the past good luck
My daughter now 14 had problems with this. I found out that she was like her mother. I never took time out of my lift to sit down and relax on the toilet. She is the youngest of 6 and she was the only one and still has problems to this day. I still ask her. When is the last time you had a BM? One thing I did add to her diet was 2 prunes a day. I made a big deal about how they were BM candy. L.
