Severe Constipation?

[Jewels06]

My sister's 3 yo is scheduled to have a colonoscopy next Wednesday - she's been having constipation issues since she was apprx. 8 months. They drew blood already and didn't find anything in the tests they did on the blood. She does eat fruits and veggies - not as much water as she should be getting but not so little that it she should be as constipated as she is. Just wanted to see if any of you ladies have been through anything like this or heard of anything non-surgical that helped. TIA!

[lookatreestar]

could you keep us posted on how it goes? my niece has this issue (will be 3 in sept) since she started solids. and my son is having the same issues at just 11 months. we have tried so many things, it seems like they work for awhile then eventually stop working.

it is so hard to deal with this issue. i feel like we are always talking about poop

[omelette]

This is a problem at our house too.
My son is now 4 and has had issues with constipation since about 1.5yrs. He has anal fissures and his poops are so large that they often plug the toilet.
We've seen 2 different specialists, a dietician and a naturopath. We've tried so many things and see some relief but then it stops.

From what I've learned is that their colons are lined with very fine hairs and when these colon is full these hairs get tickled and send a message to the brain that they need to poop. But with the kids who are always constipated their colon is stretched out and therefore it needs to be very, very full for the hairs to get a tickle to send the message to poop. And b/c it is so full the poop becomes very hard and difficult to pass. The goal is to shrink the colon down to it's regular size. I was told the way to do this is to give them something that will give them very soft, runny poops for at least 6 wks while the colon goes back to it's regular size. What you choose to give them can be your choice. We've tried a ton of natural stuff and lactulose (I think that's the name) but even on the highest dose of that he still had difficulty. So, this theory makes sense to me but we have not been able to get it to work at our house.
A couple of natural things to try:
-aloe vera juice - pure, food grade - give 1-3 tsp until bowel movements are comfortable
- magnesium -40-80mg/day, I gave my son 100-120mg
- probiotics to make sure the good/bad bacteria in the gut is in balance

We've also tried a few tinctures from the naturopath but I can't remember what was in them.

If I think of any others we've tried I'll come back.

Keep us posted please.

[karika]

I had constipation until I went completely dairy, soy and gluten free. Worth a try for anyone in this situation. Not having a bowel movement daily is a big indicator that these things are not welcome in the body.

[Jewels06]

Thanks for the advice - I've talked to my sister about using this product:

http://ecommerce.hacres.com/Fiber-Cleanse-Powder

I use it myself every now and then and it definitely gets things going - however I'm sure what kind of dosage to use for children or how to get them to eat it - doesn't taste the greatest. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Julie

[Jewels06]

Thanks for all the replies so far - I'm still looking to see if anyone else has any answers - so here's a little Bump

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

We've been dealing with this for a long time. If she's having a colonoscopy and that doesn't show anything, they might want to ask about doing a flex-sig biopsy to check for Hirschprung.

For VeeGee, we use a combination of enemas, adult-dosage Miralax, and flax oil. Probiotics are also helpful. There aren't any other dietary options for us because she's tube-fed. Another thing we do, and some may really think this is awful, is we put her on a little potty in front of the tv (that's her allotted tv time). Letting her watch while she poops seems to let her not concentrate so hard on it; it lets her relax enough to go. Sometimes a warm bath before that helps too.

Very often, children outgrow constipation in part because they get used to the idea that it's got to happen/they get more comfortable.

Good luck. I hope things get easier for her!

[Pepperpot]

My 2yo was constipated since birth until I took her totally off gluten. I've been GF for 3 years but didn't take her off until she was 18 months. She had anal fissures and would only go every 4 or 5 days. The GF diet keeps her going at least every day or two and if she accidently eats gluten she gets constipated for the following few days, blood in her poop and all.
On a slightly different note, her 3yo sister has behaviour issues, hitting, whining, and has trouble falling asleep when she eats gluten but she is not constipated, different reactions, same issue.
My symptoms are similar to PMS. My blood tests didn't turn up anything.
Hope this helps.