painful tearing

514 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by mamasarah, Jun 9, 2004

megincl

Discussion Starter · Jun 8, 2004

ds (14mo) has had problems with constipation, digestion, etc for most of his life. recently he's been tearing a lot when pooping. tonight was the worst yet, where he couldn't sit down, wouldn't sit in the bathwater, and generally just kept squeezing his bum together really tight and shrieking. he rarely shrieks, so this was very dramatic. we put weleda diaper cream all over, but this keeps happening. we're trying to be sure he eats a lot of fruit, but it has to mostly be cooked, as too much fresh fruit gives him REALLY bad gas. any advice on this? is there something we're missing from his diet? something else to try? i think we're going to also have to seek the advice of an allergist.....

thanks,
megin

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Feb2003

· #2 · Jun 8, 2004

Megin, my ds (15.5 mo) also has bad constipation problems. he eats lots of fresh fruit and I avoid most breads (bananas are a big NO around here) We try to snack on raisins every day and it's a good thing he loves prunes, grapes, and canteloupe (although I REALLY hope I'm not setting him up for a sweet tooth)

Anyway, we had a HORRIBLE episode when he was about a year. He had tearing and the blood (and the high-pitched sreaming) really upset me. I had to manually massage his anus and that upset both of us and didn't stop the screaming or help much. We did everything anyone has ever suggested, but it took a week and I think going back to mostly breastmilk was the key that time.

All this history is my way of saying that I understand what you and ds are going through and I'm SO SORRY for both of you!!! I hope that you find something that helps your poor ds (please let me know if you do!).

I try to give Reid yogurt every day to help with digestion and I avoid gassy veggies and all constipators. I do add flax and wheat bran to the yogurt when it's been a few days since his last bm; I think it helps with the bm, but it causes gas so I try to be careful. He's been gassy since birth and has been partially or all the way constipated since starting solids (on a daily basis) at about 11 months.

Good luck...I'm sending hugs to both of you!!
Whitney

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cdahlgrd

· #3 · Jun 8, 2004

I think you may have some hidden allergies here. My son gets very constipated when exposed to his allergens (egg and soy, mostly). We went on the Dr. Sears allergy diet. Ds improved in just a couple days!!

Here are things that help us: avoiding allergens, dried cranberries, prunes, pumpkin seeds in the shell and we eat the shell, beans, beans, beans, bran, bran, bran, YOGURT, allergy meds.

You really need to work on this because he may develop a fear of pooping, which makes it MUCH worse. There are others here with more experience than I. Hopefully they will respond too.

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megincl

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 8, 2004

what is the Dr. Sears allergy diet? i haven't poked around in his books lately. is it in the nutrition book?

i think we're headed for an allergist.

thanks!
megin

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wombat

· #5 · Jun 8, 2004

Anal fissures are really painful. You could try a stool softener like milk of magnesia until he loses the fear of bowel movements. It's pretty common for children to end up with functional constipation after anal fissures where they're afraid the bowel movement will be painful so they'll hold it in. Dietary measures tend to take a while to work.

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cdahlgrd

· #6 · Jun 8, 2004

The allergy diet is basically eating nothing but pork, zuccini, rice and pears for 2 weeks (mom and child, if nursing). Then slowly adding one item in at a time, starting with the least allergenic foods.

Flax meal is also a good thing to add to food for added fiber, but can cause more gas.

Milk of mag, didn't work at all for my son. We did use mirilax for a month, until we figured out the allergy connection.

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mamasarah

· #7 · Jun 9, 2004

i would try to make sure you're getting him to eat stuff that will help him poop and drink lots of water, and obviously avoid the constipating stuff. my dd has troubles pooping a lot b/c she really likes constipating foods. when she's having a rough one, i try to get her to blow raspberries (like you're supposed to do when you have a baby) to loosen up her bottom. she's been going on the potty and has taken to the raspberry thing well. it's something that sort of makes her laugh. HTH.
take care! i hope you guys figure this out soon.

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