Pooping is a problem with my daughter. I'm looking for advice on two issues:
1) BM helpers
2) How to help my daughter be less fearful of having a BM.
She has been severely constipated in the past, producing hard, rabbit pellets puple-faced and screaming. We took action and started giving her prune jiuce daily with Activia; that helped for a while. Now, I think we have a bigger issue - she gets very upset when trying to have a BM (I think she may be holding) and when she passes stool, she doesn't seem to be clearing what's in her bowels because she delivers little, relatively soft pieces over the course of a couple of hours. Also, she cries at night when she hasn't had a productive BM all day. She doesn't eat processed foods; she drinks water with lunch and 2 snacks; she generally receives whole oatmeal for breakfast.
Any non-chemical ideas? Or, has anyone tries adding Benefiber or Probiotics to food?
Any help is appreciated.
Ger her to a doctor. The longer this issue lasts, the harder it is to clear up - literally, and can lead to major medical issues.
We're a chemical-free, organic household, and I have some experience with constipated kiddies (sigh).
For 1): In addition to what you're already doing, give her pitted prunes as a snack. Two or three once a day. The whole prunes will be beneficial because they also contain the fiber (chop them up for her if she isn't so good at chewing yet).
I wouldn't add Benefiber. It's just wheat dextrin, which is soluble fiber (the kind that makes you feel full). You'd need INsoluble fiber (the kind that "scrubs" out your insides) to help your little one. If you're interested in adding a fiber supplement, my suggestion is SupraFiber. It contains soluble and insoluble fibers, and is made from fruit, not grains. http://sunsweetnaturals.com/suprafiber.html
They say you could consult your physician before administering it to a child under 6. I can't tell you to give it to her, but I can say I've given it to my children. About a half teaspoon in a cup of water.
I would DEFINITELY add probiotics. They even make them in a chewable format that tastes yummy. My little ones think they're candy. ;)
For 2): You can get her a book about how the body works. There's a great one called "It Hurts to Poop!" which I used with my 7 y/o when he was afraid of pooping. http://www.amazon.com/Hurts-When-Poop-Children-Scared/dp/...
There's also Everyone Poops http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Poops-My-Body-Science/dp/1...
and Truth About Poop http://www.amazon.com/Truth-about-Poop-Susan-Goodman/dp/0...
Hi. So sorry yur LO is going through this. Some thoughts to compliment the good advice already given:
1. Summer is a great fruit season. Melon, berries, grapes, watermelon etc. My son could eat fruit all day. Why not try giving lots of fruit to help soften the stools.
2. Fruit juice.
3. Plenty of water -- even flavored.
Good luck. Jilly
I had similar problems with my daughter. Having been through this, I suspect she may find BMs painful because of the constipation, and so she cries and holds. My pediatrician prescribed the ped form of Miralax and we had great success. Not sure if it's OK to use in 2 yr olds - check with your girl's doc. One thing to know about constipation that our ped told us - one good BM doesn't mean it's cleared up. You need to stay with a regimen until she's really regular over several weeks.
She probably does not drink enough. Water with meals and snack sounds too little to me especially in the summer.
I know my daughter gets dehydrated so easily and will promptly be constipated, it especially bad when she's in daycare and basically only drinks when it's offered with meals. Not enough! She has a water bottle that she can get anytime, but she needs to be reminded or she will forget to drink.
If you want to do it med free, up her liquid intake first. If you add benefiber without upping her liquid intake it will only make it worse.
If better hydration doesn't work, consider asking your pediatrician about a stool softener so she overcomes her fear. Once she stops holding back and is more regular, it will likely get better.
Good luck.
This is a really helpful website =0)
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/treatmentguides/co...
My daughter had issues when she was little. Milk was a big culprit. I mixed prune juice in her oatmeal. After she quit breastfeeding at 9 months we tried milk, soy milk, rice milk, goats milk..... I tried formula and she did good on that so instead of milk she got fomula from 10 months to age 2 then she did okay on skim milk. She is very petite and just doesn't process fats very well. She is almost 9 now and we just have to watch that she doesn't get to much fat in her diet.
My son did this EXACT same thing. What sort of helped was letting him drink prune juice all day every day until he finally would have a full poop. We would fill his sippy cut and just encourage him to drink, drink, drink. He didn't reliably start pooping until he started preschool and he saw his friends pooping on the potty. He had been potty trained for a long time, but due to constipation did the "nugget" poops (as we called them) for over a year :(. He still gets constipated, but is now almost 4 and we can talk to him about it so he's not fearful. I actually bought juice boxes that he's allowed to drink on the potty if he's constipated...so it's a special treat for him. Honestly, we eat super healthy and the kid eats everything (lots of fruits and veggies) so I can't for the life of me figure out why he gets constipated.
