Three year old constipation. Somewhat urgent

[Pumpkin_Pie]

My DS is withholding his poop lately. It started because he refuses to poop at school/daycare where he usually only goes for 5ish hours a day, but once a week, he is there for nearly 10 hours. There is nothing I can do about the hours, but he usually poops 3-4 times a day and sometimes 5 and not pooping for 10 hours straight plus travel in the car is completely wrecking his system.

Yesterday he had to go straight from school to a friend's house for babysitting because I had a meeting after work that I had to go to, and he didn't poop all day and today is a 10 hour day for him again and he only pooped two tiny bits last night. I gave him a PediaLax last night, but I HATE giving him meds for this!

Any suggestions on anything I could pick up at the store to send him into school with today to help him? He eats a relatively high fiber diet already, but I might pick up some raspberries to bring in with him. Anything else I can do?

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

My DS is withholding his poop lately. It started because he refuses to poop at school/daycare where he usually only goes for 5ish hours a day, but once a week, he is there for nearly 10 hours. There is nothing I can do about the hours, but he usually poops 3-4 times a day and sometimes 5 and not pooping for 10 hours straight plus travel in the car is completely wrecking his system.

Yesterday he had to go straight from school to a friend's house for babysitting because I had a meeting after work that I had to go to, and he didn't poop all day and today is a 10 hour day for him again and he only pooped two tiny bits last night. I gave him a PediaLax last night, but I HATE giving him meds for this!

Any suggestions on anything I could pick up at the store to send him into school with today to help him? He eats a relatively high fiber diet already, but I might pick up some raspberries to bring in with him. Anything else I can do?

Does he get constipated often? Does he eat alot of good fats?

Is he on a probiotic? Have you tried magnesium? Prune juice?

[Pumpkin_Pie]

He doesn't eat a ton of fat. Would coconut oil help? His doc recommended mineral oil, which I won't do, but was thinking that mabey a really good food oil would help. He isn't on a probiotic either. Would that help? I will try nearly anything at this point. He hated prune juice, even mixed with orange juice.

[amcal]

My DD had chronic constipation at that age. We used Miralax and it was a miracle cure for her. It produced regular, formed stools without her having to strain. There wasn't any gas or diarrhea or anything from it.

We started with 1/4 cap full and increased up to 1/2 cap.

Hope he gets some relief!

[workjw]

If this is a recent thing, and he's physically witholding (on purpose) to avoid going at daycare, I would try to find out why. You can probably get his bowels moving, but if he's just not going because he's uncomfortable with the situation, he will continue to try and hold it, and it may cause more problems. This happened with ds, and we've had a long cycle of constipation issues since then.

If it is purely a constipation issue and not just witholding, I would take the pp's advice and try both probiotics and magnesium.

Hope your lo gets some relief soon!

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by workjw

If this is a recent thing, and he's physically witholding (on purpose) to avoid going at daycare, I would try to find out why. You can probably get his bowels moving, but if he's just not going because he's uncomfortable with the situation, he will continue to try and hold it, and it may cause more problems. This happened with ds, and we've had a long cycle of constipation issues since then.

If it is purely a constipation issue and not just witholding, I would take the pp's advice and try both probiotics and magnesium.

Hope your lo gets some relief soon!

Agreed!

OP- I personally wasn't comfortable with miralax when DD struggled with constipation. What worked for us was a good probiotic(helped tons),prune juice on occasion, you could try aloe that works great to get things moving as well(it doesn't have much of a taste either), do you have any magnesium? Are you familiar with castor oil? Doing a castor oil pack on his intestine area and sitting him in a warm bath will also help get things moving, it won't be an immediate result tho. Like workjw said though if it's a withholding issue than you may have to take a different route.
And coconut oil,ghee,real butter etc would be great for him! Keep us posted!

[mom61508]

I would consider having something like this on hand


http://www.springmountainnaturals.co...nstipation.htm

That way you have something that WILL make him go without the harmful side effects

[samy23]

My dd has had similar issues, took a long time to get her to poop out of a diaper and on the toilet. Even to this day won't go at school, and knowing this, I plan ahead!

She's 7 now. I make sure she eats healthy most of the time, and especially fresh orange juice helps keep her regular. Im sure she still has times where she needs to poop and holds it in like at school, which is why it's so important to keep her diet good to prevent her being constipated from holding it in. I used to get her to "try" go for a poop every morning after breakfast, and again at night before bed. This way she always pooped at home.

These days she needs to poop usually in the morning before school, at some point in the afternoon after school, or in the evening before bedtime. I guess I helped get her into this routine. (She has had to go in public bathrooms before, such as at an indoor play centre or restuarant, but I was there with her, so she knew it was okay....I guess she kind of feels she needs me to be near her when she goes to the bathroom.)

I wanted her to feel okay about pooping at home, so at least even if she was holding it in at school, she wouldn't hold it in at home.

Hopefully they will grow out of this "fear" as they get older and realise they don't need to worry about going at school or wherever. I'm not sure how it starts or why some kids are like this? I think it started with my dd when she had to start trying to use the toilet, and she was scared of it...or not comfy on the seat or whatever, she has since told me she worried she might fall down it! so then she would hold it in too long, meaning it hurt when coming out, which made her fear pooping even more.

Back when my dd was 3 -4 going through a bad time of it as I didn't know how to deal with the situation myself and ended up getting stressed out and distressing dd more than she already was I think we gave her milk of magnesia to help her poop, and also gave her a warm bath which can make them need to poop too. Plus the fresh orange juice! -All in the afternoon/evening, so by that night or the next morning, she had usually pooped.

I've used milk of magnesia myself a couple of times for constipation, it really worked, and caused no cramps or discomfort at all!

She usually poops every day or every other day.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

He seems to be doing much better now. I am definitely going to take some of the suggestions on this thread and add them to his regular diet. I have been really putting a ton of berries, veggies I know he will eat, whole grain crackers and breads, etc in his lunches, which I think helped a bit.

He still hasn't pooped at school, but he pooped yesterday two or three times, and then twice this morning, and twice this evening. I think his system is cleaning itself out. He also pooped at an ice cream parlor that we went to as a treat with a friend. I was super excited about that one, as it is his first time pooping in public in a while.

I just am so frustated with his school. They really won't talk about it with him all that much. I have talked and talked to him, and always remind him at drop off that if he needs to poop there, he can go to the potty and it will be ok. I have said that his teachers can help him wipe and they will be very happy to help him, but he still refuses to go. Tomorrow is his long day (10ish hours) and I know he will be uncomfortable. We shall see how it goes!

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

He seems to be doing much better now. I am definitely going to take some of the suggestions on this thread and add them to his regular diet. I have been really putting a ton of berries, veggies I know he will eat, whole grain crackers and breads, etc in his lunches, which I think helped a bit.

He still hasn't pooped at school, but he pooped yesterday two or three times, and then twice this morning, and twice this evening. I think his system is cleaning itself out. He also pooped at an ice cream parlor that we went to as a treat with a friend. I was super excited about that one, as it is his first time pooping in public in a while.

I just am so frustated with his school. They really won't talk about it with him all that much. I have talked and talked to him, and always remind him at drop off that if he needs to poop there, he can go to the potty and it will be ok. I have said that his teachers can help him wipe and they will be very happy to help him, but he still refuses to go. Tomorrow is his long day (10ish hours) and I know he will be uncomfortable. We shall see how it goes!

FYI grains can be very constipating gluten imo is hard on most people.

[blessedwithboys]

i've seen good results with fruit flavored aloe juice

[samy23]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

I just am so frustated with his school. They really won't talk about it with him all that much. I have talked and talked to him, and always remind him at drop off that if he needs to poop there, he can go to the potty and it will be ok. I have said that his teachers can help him wipe and they will be very happy to help him, but he still refuses to go. Tomorrow is his long day (10ish hours) and I know he will be uncomfortable. We shall see how it goes!

I hear ya! I think the wiping part is a good point actually. My dd needed my help to wipe after a poop for a long time. Maybe she was worried no one would be there at school to hep her wipe...which is true. And even if they did, im sure my dd would have been too embarrassed or feel ashamed or something, it's a very private thing.

JMO but I wouldn't remind him about it at drop off time. I'd remind him about it during the evening before. Otherwise he might have that worry on his mind as he's going into the school which won't help him relax...where-as if you remind him at home, he's in a calm place.

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

He still hasn't pooped at school, but he pooped yesterday two or three times, and then twice this morning, and twice this evening.

Since he's been quite a lot lately, hopefully he shouldn't need to go while at school today? Hope it goes okay!