CHRONIC Constipation - UPDATE!!!! YAY!!!

Mine holds his in, too. He holds it and holds it until what's in there is just a brick. It's been a while since he's had quite a brick, though. What works for him is Miralax, long walks, and juiced pears and apples. He is mostly gluten free right now, just because of the issues that I have with gluten--pain, constipation, stiff joints, lethargy...--until he is a little older.

I would say to continue to do whatever you do to treat her little bottom and make boo-time fun. My son has a bouncey activity center that we can still put him in when he's got to go. He jumps around and lets it out, and we praise him for it. Super warm baths with a little (doctor-prescribed) epsom salts might help, too.

(Fyi, there is a company that specializes in harvesting gluten-free oats, if that interests you at all. I've tested negative for Celiac, but I have a gluten sensitivity and really missed eating oatmeal. You can find them online at http://www.glutenfreeoats.com/.)

Oh my, in addition to being constipated, she is impacted...meaning the stool is nearing the exit door and she is not letting it through, and it's building up like a dam.

I imagine having a BM has always been such a painful experience for her, that's she's all worked up and bothered at an emotional level now. She's not had any good experiences with proper bowel control yet.

Would your doctor be willing to refer her to a bowel specialist? These are typically RNs, who help retrain someone how to read their bodily cues and respond at the normal time.

In the interim, I always recommend Grapes, grapes and more grapes. Melons also help. Keep VIT A&D ointment on her bottom all the time.

Have her take warm sitz baths daily, in epsom salts.

Have you tried a glycerin suppository? They are gentle and easy to insert and will help her have a natural BM before she becomes impacted. Passing a stool the size of a tennis ball is dangerous and will tear her delicate anus tissue and she'll develop other problems, like fissures and peri-anal cysts.

Now that you have the Celiac under control, tell her it's time to start all over and you promise if she works with you, it will eventually stop hurting and she will never have pain again if she lets the poop come out when she gets the urge. There's a lot of history here to overcome, but you can both do it.
GL!

One of my best friends is in the midst of basically this same issue with her 4 year old daughter. She has dealt with food sensitivity, allergies, rashes, and Celiac since birth, but nothing seemed to make things "better". She was finally able to get a referral to a different GI doctor, who basically said that over 1/2 of what her daughter was going through was psychological. That at some point she had a bowel movement that hurt, and that that movement combined with her parents and grandparents etc constantly talking about her bowels had led her to train her body to hold it, because it was associated with so many "bad" things. The doctor reversed many of her dietary restrictions (slowly introducing them one at a time), did a manual clean out after two enemas to basically start from "stratch", put her on daily Lactulose and Fletcher's for Kids as a stimulant to help her get started, and then told them to take the pressure off her. They encourage her to try, but don't turn it into a major issue, and over the past two weeks since this started, she has been pooping daily, over 1/2 the time in the potty. The doctor pointed out that her intestines have been trained to hold it and they have stretched to accomodate it, so the re-training could take up to a year, but that consistency will be the key. They have seen amazing changes in her in such a short time, and they feel like this second opinion has really changed her life.
PM me if something is unclear.
Good Luck.

Try 1 teaspoon of olive oil every morning. It's an old Amish home remedy and it works wonderfully because olive oil stimulates the production of bile, our natural laxative, which means that over time all non-natural laxatives AND the olive oil can be stopped. It will take some time to work into her system, but stick with it.

ETA: Please don't use castor oil. The effects are uncomfortable and explosive. Hard on children and not recommended.

Here's a couple of thoughts...I'm no expert...

1. If you still nurse her, what are YOU eating? Are you gluten free also?
2. Do you give her daily baths, just to play in warm water and soak her tush and help all those Rushdie muscles to relax? My kids would sometimes poop IN the tub...dr said they were so relaxed it just came out.
3. Have you considered taking her to a chiropractor? A friend did this for her son who had pooping issues, and yes, he was a clencher too.

Best wishes!

I assume she was diagnosed with Celiac disease from a specialist? If so, go back and ask questions. Or, perhaps it's time for a new pediatric gastroenterologist.

Poor girl - she is likely afraid to poop cause it will hurt. I'd go and ask a lot of questions.

Your doctor should be doing more. My friend's son had a blockage and your daughter might too. She might need an MRI or xray at this point. Otherwise, flax seed oil did help my youngest. And can you up the dose of Miralax? I used it my youngest as well. It's pretty safe. At this point I'd be more worried about the lack of BM than giving her too much Miralax. I"d want her to just pass this one time and then the doctor needs to address this better on a long term basis. Good luck. I know it's stressful when they haven't pooped!

I'm sorry. How awful for her. Try to coat her anal area with A andD which will help. At this point, a week is too long. The longer the stool is in there the bigger and harder it gets. Call your care provider. I suggest a glycerin suppository but check first. Also, high dose flax oil lime Barleans can help given twice a day. It's in the cold section at Whole Foods. Get her on daily raisins if not alone hide them in a cookie or muffin. There are great gluten free recipes. Hide the prune juice in a smoothie daily. Again, please call your health care team. She really can get into a medical emergency with no stool for over7- 10 days. Good luck.

Both of my kids went through that, and it was dairy that was the culprit. Also, I took them off of the vitamins that have iron in them - that can cause constipation as well, apparently. Our pediatrician told us to pretty much keep them on Miralax until they had been problem-free for several weeks. If the amount of Miralax you're using isn't working, use more. Whatever you have to do to get her bowels moving, DO IT. She will face long-term problems if you don't. If the Miralax isn't enough to immediately get her moving, then give her a tablespoon of mineral oil in orange juice. A few hours later, she WILL poop, trust me. And then from there, Miralax every single day for weeks until she doesn't have problems anymore. Something else I learned - when a child is super constipated, that is NOT the time to double up on fiber. Fiber adds bulk to the poop, and that's not what you want right now. You need to get her cleaned out, and THEN go with the fiber after that, but keep going with the Miralax so the poop won't be hard.

Like I said, both of my daughters went through this at that age, and it SUCKS. The kid feels awful, you're stuck trying to figure out what to do. For us, removal of dairy from the diet, Miralax daily, mineral oil if needed.

I'm not sure that nursing her is helping at this point, unless you are also dairy-free, gluten-free. She may be experiencing some reactions based on what you're eating. Maybe this is a good time to try rice, almond, or soy milk in a sippy cup instead? You can still hold her and cuddle her. I know it's not the same as nursing, but... if it could be causing her further problems to nurse, you may want to consider alternatives.

I'm wondering how much of this is your daughter "holding" her poop in. My oldest son was a "holder," and he would not go for a long time and then have these massive poops.

So it might be less constipation than holding, since you are giving her Miralax etc.

My younger son has constipation issues except that he goes every other day, not as bad as your daughter. He also has encopresis, where the poop comes out slightly in his underwear.

Have you tried magnesium? Magnesium is a nature route and works at higher doses. We used it on occasion. You can buy it at the drug store or health food store. Also high doses of vitamin C. You may have to give her suppositories or an enema to get it out if the miralax is not working. It's hard to get them to agree to this. Have you tried more fiber?

Try to get her on a schedule of going to the bathroom after breakfast and dinner. I know, easier than it sounds especially if it hurts when she poops.

It's possible she has a bacterial overgrowth now if her constipation is that bad. Probiotics can help. You can pick up Culturelle probiotics at your local grocery store.

I just remembered that my daughter went through this too. She wasn't going for many days and if she did the poop was pellets. Finally took her to the doctor. We discussed her history and thought she might be lactose intolerant. I gave her soy milk and gave her pear juice (doctor said it helps), more fruits, less cheese. It worked.

Other tricks- castor oil. If she refuses to drink it, then rub it on her belly at night. I heard this works and I've tried it on my son. Another thing that works- flax seed oil. Put it in her yogurt and she won't notice. It's a natural laxative. I also hide flax seed meal in their sandwiches, pancakes, etc for extra fiber. Chia seeds have a lot of fiber. You can grind them up and slip it in her juice, milk. You can also find those at the health food store. Good luck. Can you tell I know this very well?

My little one has had problems her whole life with this as well. She just turned 3 and we still battle it some. But, we found the biggest culprit was milk. She is on Goat milk now, which WIC will provide without a prescription, and that has made a huge difference. She also cann't tolerate soy milk as it also constipates. Her ped said to give her the full adult Miralax dose morning and night until she went poop at least once a day for TWO FULL WEEKS. the idea is that once she gets used to going and it doesn't hurt, then they will stop holding it in. We did that and it really did make a difference.

I have a friend whose son also had endocopresis and they found it through an anemia test that his grandfather recommended. (he was retired doc). The poop was so impacted that it was all up his intestines and it took 2 weeks to get it to start coming out.

Try more miralax and see if that helps. Also, you should ask to see a different doctor if yours doesn't do anything soon.

As for breat feeding, I know she is older than normal for bottles, but have you thought about switching to one? This might be the middle step that you need to go from breastfeeding to cups. Good luck! I also highly recommend the glycerin suppositories. I have used those from 3 months on up and they work pretty well, but we've never gone more than 4 days without a bm. :(

It sounds like some of the suggestions you've received have finally helped your daughter go. Hopefully, she's pushed out all the old, dry, and compacted BM, and going from now on won't be such a terrible ordeal.

I would still advocate that you take her to see a naturopathic doctor and be tested--thoroughly--for anything she might be allergic or intolerant to--food, drinks, food dyes and colorings, preservatives, chemicals, sulfites, etc., etc.

There have been people in my Celiac support group who ate a 100% celiac diet and were still horribly, horribly sick. Until they went and got themselves tested and discovered that some of the very foods they were supposed to eat on a gluten-free diet--they were allergic/intolerant to!

If you want to help your daughter, I would really urge you to get her further testing. You could be doing the best of intentions and feeding her a 100% gluten-free diet, but if she's allergic or intolerant to one of those "special" gluten-free grains--that isn't helping her little body/colon get repaired.

Seriously. Also be aware that, since she has Celiac Disease, it is very, very possible that her body will, as she gets older, pick up new food allergies and intolerances. This is something that will need to be monitored her entire life. You'll never be able to stop being viligant about what she eats/doesn't eat. It s*cks, I know, but it is what it is. She should also be taking a good quality daily multivitamin AND a B-Complex vitamin, to ensure that her body is getting enough daily requirements.

I'm so glad that you were finally able to help your little one.

I used honey or molasses for both of my kids when they got severly constipated-its natural n works great.

Keep her on the Miralax until she is no longer afraid to go. I had to give my daughter a suppository (child size/brand) a couple times during her horrible bout of holding her BMs. Once it stopped hurting (thanks to the Miralax) she stopped holding.

I would put prunes in everything, pureed. Just a table spoon or so, not enough to truly change the texture or flavor but enough to add up to make a change.

My granddaughter gets blocked up and goes through a time where Miralax is what she does. I know it's not fun. I would make sure the doc is aware of how big this BM is, that can be painful and it's no wonder she is trying to hold that back!

He may be able to do something else like order a bag of fluids a week or something for her whens she's impacted like that.