constipation or holding it in

maggiesmom1

My daughter has been having problems pooping for several weeks now. We took her to the doctor after a week and he said there is no problems with her stool... it isnt hard. I think shes holding it in as she is trying to push. I give her fiber gummies. Anyone else go through this or have any suggestions?

frasey

we've been struggling wtih this w DD for almost a year, really. At first, she was having hard poops, so she was holding it in bc it hurt to poop. (I mean, we're assuming the reasons, as she can't really tell us anything.) We tried juice and prunes and extra fibre and everything else imaginable, but it wasn't enough. She has been getting PEG every day for several months now, so her poops are a more normal consistency, but she still holds it in. *shrug* We've tried getting her to sit on the potty to poop, etc, but she straightens her whole body into a stiff board and fights pooping. Short of still encouraging her, there's nothing else we can really do. She still gets the PEG, and we're hoping that the problem solves itself when she potty trains. 

LSU628

Is your LO PTing? DD developed a severe fear of pooping when it came to potty training. She would hold it for days and when she couldn't hold it anymore it was hours of running back and forth to the bathroom, her jumping and doing other things trying to hold it in, tears- it was awful. And because she was holding it so long the poops were bigger and hurt when she went. At the rec of her pedi we started giving her a small dose of Miralax. It helped, but by that point she had already associated poop with pain and avoided going at all costs. We've been to the GI and he also recommended continuing the daily dose of Miralax to teach DD it didn't hurt to go. Now we are finally able to control it through increased fiber and DD realizing that it doesn't hurt. My advice- deal with the issues now before it becomes a cycle of holding the poop b/c it hurts.