what do you do for constipation or refusing to go poop?

SarahTx5701

It had been AT LEAST a week for ds. Today of course after I called the dr he went.

The doc told me I could do an enema and that child laxatives tend to give the kids bad cramps.  I have upped apple juice intake and fruits, tried to reduce the amount of cheese and bananas and junk food.

he will NOT poop in the potty. He's done it a few times, but of course if he has to sit there, uncomfortable and in pain, he's less likely to go.

I got some fiber gummies today and am gonna do that.

How often does your preschool poop?

KathrynMD

pretty much every day, sometimes she skips a day or two and I'll make sure she eats grapes at every meal.  I try to give her grapes at least every day/every other day. 

Mrs Manners

He typically poops twice a day. Sometimes he'll poop three times a day if he's stalling and reading a book and the urge strikes. I practically have to pry my kid off the toilet though....he'll sit there and read until his legs fall asleep He eats a great diet with lots of meats, veggies, eggs,  fruits, nuts and good fats. He also takes a probiotic daily, drinks lots of water and gets a lot of activity. We don't give  juice but he will eat whole fruits like pears or dried prunes (which make him poop a lot so we don't give them very frequently). 

SarahTx5701

Mrs Manners:

He typically poops twice a day. Sometimes he'll poop three times a day if he's stalling and reading a book and the urge strikes. I practically have to pry my kid off the toilet though....he'll sit there and read until his legs fall asleep He eats a great diet with lots of meats, veggies, eggs,  fruits, nuts and good fats. He also takes a probiotic daily, drinks lots of water and gets a lot of activity. We don't give  juice but he will eat whole fruits like pears or dried prunes (which make him poop a lot so we don't give them very frequently). 

Thanks!  and OMG I literally LOL's when I saw your siggy. That is freakin hilarious and perfect!!!! Funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time!

cmh06

We've started DD on Miralax or Costco's version of it.  It seems to be helping.  She'll go almost a week w/o going sometimes.

ArcticFox

My kids take fiber gummies EVERY day - the pedialax ones are great.  They go #2 every day as well, other wise I get worried.

FriskyPanda

The Dr said a half a capful of miralax. That works sometimes, but I've also tried to up her fiber intakes. I get her Fiber One 90 cal brownies, high fiber muffins, push apples nd grapes for snacks. I try to give her a snack with 5g of fiber at least once a day.

When she's on the potty, I sit on a stool and we talk, or read a book. If I have other things to do I'll let her play with my iPad, or watch a show on the phone.

neverblushed

lurker from school aged children here.

Some kids (perhaps boys more often than girls?) are really anxious about pooping in the potty.  To them, poop is completely different from pee.

My son was like this.  Many moms might disagree with the way I dealt with it, but I think I made the right decision. He was potty trained for pee at 37 months, but really had issues with poop.  I allowed him to continue to use a diaper for poop with a few conditions:

--he had to wear underwear and tell me when he needed a diaper.

--he had to stand in the bathroom while pooping in the diaper.

--he had to let me wipe him with toilet paper and we had to put the poop in the toilet and flush it away.

He was happy to comply with these conditions if it meant he could poop in a way that was less stressful for him.  So, we did this for a few months.  Then one day while I was cleaning him up, he looked into the diaper and said, "Mommy, this is gross!"

"Yes," I said, "it is gross, isn't it?  It would be a lot less gross if you just sat on the potty to poop.  Then your poop would go right into the water without being all smooshy in the diaper."

"Okay," he said, "I'll start doing that on Sunday."

"Okay," I replied.  And on Sunday, true to his word, he pooped in the potty like it was no big deal. 

By contrast, I had a friend whose son was also reluctant to go in the potty.  She pushed him, despite the fact that it triggered severe constipation.  At the ripe old age of 10 he was STILL dealing with constipation problems and she was aggravated because when he finally pooped it would clog the toilet. 

Alex26

We put prune juice in DS water/juice and try to give him grapes every day also.  DS constipation got so bad a couple of months back, that he was having blood in his stool and we had to take him to a specialist.  He's just going to be a person whos alwasy going to have tummy issues.  The specialist Dr. said to give him fruits that had a pit in the middle of it.  He also said that if that didnt work to use a fiber supplement.

I noticed you mentioned you give our DC apple juice, but I thought my pedi said not to give apple juice if your child has constipation issues?

Mrs Manners

neverblushed:

lurker from school aged children here.

Some kids (perhaps boys more often than girls?) are really anxious about pooping in the potty.  To them, poop is completely different from pee.

My son was like this.  Many moms might disagree with the way I dealt with it, but I think I made the right decision. He was potty trained for pee at 37 months, but really had issues with poop.  I allowed him to continue to use a diaper for poop with a few conditions:

--he had to wear underwear and tell me when he needed a diaper.

--he had to stand in the bathroom while pooping in the diaper.

--he had to let me wipe him with toilet paper and we had to put the poop in the toilet and flush it away.

He was happy to comply with these conditions if it meant he could poop in a way that was less stressful for him.  So, we did this for a few months.  Then one day while I was cleaning him up, he looked into the diaper and said, "Mommy, this is gross!"

"Yes," I said, "it is gross, isn't it?  It would be a lot less gross if you just sat on the potty to poop.  Then your poop would go right into the water without being all smooshy in the diaper."

"Okay," he said, "I'll start doing that on Sunday."

"Okay," I replied.  And on Sunday, true to his word, he pooped in the potty like it was no big deal. 

By contrast, I had a friend whose son was also reluctant to go in the potty.  She pushed him, despite the fact that it triggered severe constipation.  At the ripe old age of 10 he was STILL dealing with constipation problems and she was aggravated because when he finally pooped it would clog the toilet. 

 

I think this sounds like a perfectly reasonable solution and something that worked for you both. Ds has pooped on the potty for a long time, but we tried to pee train before he was ready (pressure from school) and it was a power struggle that left us all unhappy. One he was ready himself, he acted like it was no big deal and it was like flipping a switch.  

Ilumine

We drink prune juice (here in Germany, the juices are straight juice - no sugars at all).  she also likes brussels sprouts.

jen5-03

Doesn't anyone else just feed them dried prunes Dd can eat up to 4 before they give her the runs but ds can only eat one because 2 is diasterous. Seems a lot easier than prune juice (yuck) or miralax and they taste good too.

KathrynMD

jen5/03:

Doesn't anyone else just feed them dried prunes Dd can eat up to 4 before they give her the runs but ds can only eat one because 2 is diasterous. Seems a lot easier than prune juice (yuck) or miralax and they taste good too.

DD would never eat prunes.