Bathtime Terror

[MayasMama88]

So for months our DD has been experiencing chronic constipation. She goes for up to a week (a few times longer) without having a bowel movement, and then when she does have a bowel movement it is so hard and big that it hurts her and she screams. I've been next to tears myself just trying to console her while she relieves herself.  We'd tried all kinds of things without much improvement, until we recently switched our diets to include a lot more raw fruits and vegetables, and VOILA! She's started to become regular again. So obviously this is good. However, because of her past experience with painful bowel movements, she still tries to hold it in until she can't any longer, which just causes more pain. DH and I were almost at our wits end when we discovered that while she was in the warm bath one night, it made her poop! It was still painful, but it was easier for her to release it because of the water. She has pooped in the bath a few times since then, a couple times it was painful, and a couple of times she just pooped like it didn't bother her at all. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, she became absolutely terrified of the bath. The last time I tried to give her a bath, she ended up screaming and crying and yelling "Up!! UP!!!" and actually trying to climb out of the tub herself! I thought maybe it was a fluke because she had to poop and it scared her, but tonight it happened again. DH went to give her a bath and she was sort of okay for the first few minutes, but then she got hysterical. She's fine taking a shower, but I think the experiences with pooping in the bath have now scared her to the point that she doesn't want to risk it happening again. How can I get her through this?? Has anyone else experienced this?? 

[MayasMama88]

Moved to Parenting: Toddlers! Whoops! ;)

[ssh]

Just let her take showers and increase her fruit intake until her poops aren't hard at all any more. The less attention you give the bath issue the sooner it will go away. When DD was going through a bit of this strawberries were the thing that really helped. We keep frozen strawberry fruit bars around when they aren't in season. There are a few mostly fruit brands or you can make your own by pureeing fresh or frozen strawberries.