Severe Constipation

[WindyCityMom]

Hi everyone I hope someone can give me a few words of advice.

My DD1 is 28 months old. She was never breastfed (insert crying face here!) but had no bad reactions to her formula. Since she started eating what we ate, which was around 7 months of age, she has had horrible constipation. Her old doctor (we switched because of vax issues) agreed to have her tested for allergies. None. We suspected gluten, and had her on a gluten free diet for awhile but it only helped a little bit. I'm going to have her re-tested because she was GF when they did her allergy test and I know she needs to be eating gluten to test positive for the allergy. Anyways.. the doctor told us we were giving her too much milk. DD only gets one cup per day at the most.

She drinks alot of water, eats fruit, vegetables, and whole grains- DH and I eat the same things and we have no bathroom issues. DD is still constipated.

When she was younger, it would just be one huge ball- bigger than a golf ball. Now, it's a million smaller balls, like marbles. I occasionally find blood because she's straining so hard. It breaks my heart to see her in so much pain

I have an appointment set up for her on the 4th.. I told the receptionist I had concerns about allergies, because I plan to ask for her to be re-tested.

What else should I discuss with the doctor? Anyone have any ideas as to why she just can't poop comfortably? Thank you in advance.

[Evelynmia'smom]

This is the worst! It is so hard to see them in so much pain. My dd, 20 months has struggled with this as well since we started solids around 6 months. When she was around 13 months, we gave her suppositories for two days to help her get the large poops out and then started giving her miralax for about a week and no more constipation...it was wonderful. Also, she loves prunes, so we were giving her 2 or 3 per day. Good luck

[MountainMamaGC]

There are some things you can try.

Smoothies, add some flax oil, probiotics, and psyllium fiber.
Up the liquid intake. This was hard for me as my dd is not a guzzler.
Benefiber.
Yogurt with ground flax sprinkled on it.
Dried fruit like raisins and prunes.

This doesnt always work for me. If my DD goes longer than 2 days with out a BM then I give her some milk of magnesia to help her out. If she is straining really really hard and just cant go I give her a glycerine suppository. This prevents her from getting fissures. I dont have to do these things often, because the above usually produces an painless BM ever day or 2. Our problem is that she ignores the urge to go and holds it in.

Its so frustrating, we have dealt with this for about a year now.

[WindyCityMom]

Thanks She really does drink alot of water. We had tried prune juice (and then peach and pear juice per. the old pedi's advice) and NOTHING happened. MIL gives her dried fruit often and it doesn't help. It is so weird- we eat the exact same diet now and she's the only one having problems

She was on probiotics for awhile and nothing happened. I would just break open a capsule of mine into her yogurt or whatever else she was eating. I haven't tried flax but we have eaten bread in the past with it (I used to get high fiber bread just for her) and nothing. I just don't know what to do. I'm thinking of asking for a referral to a GI.

[denimtiger]

Another thing you can try is super-high doses of Vitamin C. My dd likes the regular adult chewables, but at first we bought liquid C and probiotic powder from the pedi. Now she'll eat 500 mg adult chewables and lets me break open a couple of my probiotic caplets right on her tongue. My pedi recommends trying 250-500 mg 2 or 3 times a day, along with really high doses of probiotics. This has never failed with my dd, and if we keep a good routine of regular vitamin C supplements and probiotics she doesn't get constipated even at much smaller doses.

My pedi said he'll use up to a gram of Vitamin C each dose for severe cases.

We first started doing this with my dd when she was 20 months old -- she's never had anything but a great reaction to us doing that.