Constipation - Fort Worth,TX

I would not try the Miralax either. There is Peter Gillhams CALM magnesium powder. Works great. Also get some Georges ALoe Juice at Sprouts or WHole Foods. It is GREAT for this and takes just like water.

Here's my question...why are you not comfortable with giving her Miralax? It's a non-habiting forming thing to use for this problem. I know it used to say (laxative and it may still say this) but it's actually not. Hopefully all these docs have explained the difference between laxatives (and why they're habit forming) and Miralax.

My twins were born prematurely and had "slow" guts for a long time and we used it for numerous years. When they got older and started eating more fruit, veggies, etc. and they're guts matured we took them off of it and they were fine. If this is your answer to what can be a very painful thing for your child, then why not use it. It's not a bad thing....

don't really know what else to tell you - we used miralax with my son when he was a toddler, this was back when it was a prescription medicine. my husband is a pharmacist and he had no qualms about giving it to our son indefinitely. i know meds are NEVER ideal, but you have to look at the risks and benefits. hope you are able to find an alternative that you feel more comfortable with, and if not, that she is able to "figure things out" on her own soon. good luck!

I always use magnesium citrate with my boys and myself when feeling stopped up. It loosens the stool and helps relax the muscles, it's all natural and you can buy flavored kinds at Walgreens or a CVS and mix it in their juice. No need to do pharmaceutical drugs with side effects. Good luck!

Take her to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist.

Constipation causes a child to "withhold" their poop. Because it causes pain. The more they hold it, the more painful it gets. Hence it is a 2 pronged issue: emotion based and biological.
The more they hold it in, the more blocked up their bowels gets internally and the harder the poop gets in consistency.

It can take months... for the poop to normalize and for the child to overcome the emotions tied to the pain.

Constipation can also cause Encopresis sometimes. Or they take an x-ray to see how blocked up their internal organs are.

My daughter saw a Ped. Gastroenterologist for constipation. It took 3 months... for her to normalize.

Our Specialist said, that when potty training kids are potty learning, they often get constipated. Because they hold it in. Or they are forced to poop only in the toilet.
For our daughter, we did not force her, but it was merely that she got stress and anxiety, from the 'thought' of pooping.
Our specialist said, just let the child poop in a diaper, until they are ready to progress. By their cues.

Our Specialist recommended whole apple juice and pear juice. NO suppositories nor Miralax. Also, a teaspoon of mineral oil.
But this is per our Specialist. I mean, don't just do what we did, since our Doctor is not your Doctor. Just relaying what we did.

Again, it can take a long time, for constipation to normalize. And for the vicious cycle of 'pain' and biological constipation, to normalize.

My kids both had to use Miralax for several months on a daily basis to stop the voluntary withholding cycle. The bottle says a capful (about 2 tablespoons) but my kids only needed 1 teaspoon daily in their first drink in the morning. Since the poops hurt, they withhold, which makes the poops bigger, eventually some has to come out which stretches or sometimes can even tear the sphincter muscle and really hurt, bad cycle. The colon actually stretches so that it can hold more poop before they get the "got to go" feeling. The only way to break that cycle is to stick with the Miralax daily dosing for months, since one bad memory stays a lot longer than 10 good ones. Miralax had zero side effects on my kids, it combines with the food to attract more water keeping the stool soft and painless to eliminate. This was when they went from diapers to potty at about age 2.5. They are now 14 and 11 and perfectly healthy girls, although both still need to be reminded to drink a lot since they rarely get the sensation of being thirsty.

Well my daughter gets constipated all the time until just a couple weeks ago. Like you I tried changing her diet, more water, less dairy and more fiber rich foods. I also was giving her Miralax as well cause that was the only thing that really seemed to work but like you I wanted to stop having to give it to her. So just the other week I found these fiber gummies. They are actually for adults but I thought I would give it a try. Instead of giving her 2 a day like is says I give her 1 every other day and she is so much better now. She used to go once or maybe twice a week. Now that I started the gummies she goes every other day which is so much better and I feel better about just giving her a fiber gummy then the Miralax.

I've heard that organic apple juice is really great for constipation.

Updated

N., have you tried prune juice? I give my daughter 2 ozs. a day and she has a regular bowel movement, without straining. As long as it's not too much. My daughter was having screaming fits because it hurt and would not come out. She now ask for "her" juice. I also started her to drinking more water and adding fiber to her diet.

I have a son who developed a bowel disorder from holding his BM and not going as he was hyper and over excited to play with the other kids so he would ignore the urge to go ---well after so long of doing this , he developed lazy bowel which means you don't get the signals to go anymore. He was put on the Miralax too and like you said, it works as long as they are on it, what I did to get my son off of it was gave him apple juice, you have to find out how much you can give her until the point she is too loose, almost diarrhea than back down from there to where she is loose and just goes w/o a lot of effort but not too loose, I have used this for years with him and he goes daily now where he used to go once a week and a very huge one at that! I feel better giving him 100% apple juice rather than a laxative. I buy organic but you can use any apple juice, just make sure it is 100% not a 10% kind that is mostly colored water. I live in Arlington if you have any further questions. By the way my son is 13 years old now and had bowel dysfunction since 3. Good luck to you.

I found this article on Mothering.com by a mother who did not have a good experience with Miralax, I did give it to my son for about 2 months or so then switched him off it, as someone said, even natural things have to be studied as Arsenic is natural.

I thought I should share my story with all of you and tell you about the potential dangers of Miralax (and related laxative meds), especially for gut-damaged kids. Miralax is polyethylene glycol, which is a cousin of ethylene glycol (antifreeze).

My son has Sensory Processing Disorder (maybe Aspergers). He had been doing really well for the first time in his life since we had discovered brushing/joint compressions (a SID therapy). Then a few weeks ago he started complaining of stomach pains and was having constipation. The doc prescribed Miralax. He took it for 5 days before I noticed that he was regressing (all of his autistic behaviors came back). I immediately stopped the Miralax.

I've since been trying to figure out how to get it out of his system. He's still having problems. This stuff can cause major problems, including the following: autism in previous ND kids, seizures, kidney failure, and even death. It was not approved for kids, and many are being permanently damaged by the stuff since it appears to cross the blood/brain barrier for some.

Check out this yahoo group discussion for more info:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/miralax/

If it helps ease your mind, Miralax is not a traditional laxative. In fact, the name is very deceiving. It works in a completely different manner than laxatives and is non habit-forming. You didn't mention your daughter's age, but I am guessing from your post that she is between the ages of 18 months and 3 years or so? Difficulties in using the restroom are very common, especially for girls, around this age. My daughter had the same problem, and was withholding her bowel movements. After having a sonogram/x-ray to ensure nothing physical was going on with her, we put her on Miralax until she figured out this was something normal that needed to happen on a regular basis. It worked great, we quite using it once she no longer held-back, and have had absolutely no problems since. Also, keep in mind that just because something is 'natural' or herbal, does not necessarily make it any safer than a Rx. That being said, make sure you research anything along these lines just as much as you would something a doctor or specialist prescribes prior to giving it to you daughter. Hope this helps...good luck!!!

I would be hesitant to use Miralax regularly too.
My DD struggles w/ constant constipation as well...but I have found something that helps.
Only she won't take it until she is desperate.

http://www.carlsonlabs.com/s-22-fish-oil-liquids.aspx

I just buy the adult one so I can take it too. Plus it is a bigger bottle.

It really doesn't taste great but it's not the worst either. DD is super sensitive to tastes (cheese is her kryptonite and she won't be in the same room as yogurt-lol). So if your child is not insanely picky...

It helps. And you can and should take it daily.

HTH!

I've had the exact same issues with my daughter. Her constipation actually started when I first introduced solids into her diet. She went to specialists and even had a barium enema on her first birtday. They put a diaper and a pull up over her after the enema and told me that she would go a lot. She still didn't go for 2 days and it was nothing explosive. The doctors found nothing wrong with her physically, but put her on Miralax. At that time it was a prescription and not over the counter.

I've tried to get her off Miralax. I took her off when she was five. She began acupuncture at that time. It has proven effective. She went in 2x week first, then once a week, then every other. This worked for quite sometime. We stopped going to see the acupuncturist regularly and the constipation started back up. It is not always convenient for me to get her in to see him, but when she does she gets back to normal.

She is now nine years old and still suffers from constipation. I have had to get her back on Miralax daily. I hate doing it too, but it is the only thing that offers relief while still being convenient.

My doctor recommended mineral oil for my son. He never mentioned miralax or other OTC stool softeners. Worked great! That and time and potty treats for going #2.
Good luck!

Polyethylene Glycol Laxatives May Prove Harmful to Children

Rochester, New York, May 15, 2012 - After an eight month review of research collected by a parent support group, http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/miralax/, Empire State Consumer Project has submitted an FDA Citizen Petition on behalf of the group asking the FDA to investigate laxatives containing Polyethylene Glycol 3350 (PEG 3350) being prescribed to children.

The support group’s co-founder, Jeanie Ward, has filed two FDA petitions over the last 10 years and has seen an FDA Drug Safety Oversight Board convened to discuss potential dangers to children without issuing warnings to doctors or parents, http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OfficeofMedica....

The number of adverse events related (in any way) to Polyethylene Glycol 3350 filed with the FDA has risen from 7 in 2001 to 2,257 in 2012. Adverse events reported include kidney, digestive, and neurological events, including tics, extreme behaviors, aggression, violence, and death.

Jeanie Ward started collecting adverse events and studies on PEG 3350 when she noticed changes in her daughter while taking a best-selling PEG laxative, Miralax. Doctors told her there was no connection. “I started doing my own research and ordering adverse events reports from the FDA, as often as every 6 months – and the numbers started soaring. After hundreds of adverse events, FDA’s response was “there is insufficient evidence to require an amendment of the product label at this time.”

Today the parent support group is host to more than 1,600 members, mostly parents looking for information on the laxatives and guidance on natural protocols for treating their children’s constipation. Polyethylene Glycol laxatives are not approved by the FDA for use in children, but are being prescribed off-label to children as young as 2 months old.

Polyethylene glycol is a petroleum based product and a relative of ethylene glycol, the key ingredient in antifreeze. Although some medical professionals deny a connection, parents are reporting symptoms similar to those seen with ethylene glycol poisoning.

For more information on the FDA petition contact C. Chittenden, Empire State Consumer Project at ____@____.com reach Jeanie Ward or obtain copies of parent testimonies and adverse event documents, contact ____@____.com.

Stop eating meat.

It is the ONLY solution. I had this problem until I was 16 and tried EVERYTHING. I would spend hours in the bathroom with very little (if painful) results. I was riduculed at home and in school and could never use a public restroom, due to the time constraints.
As a last resort, on a strange suggestion from someone, I went on a meat-hiatus. I was fully cured within 6 months and have never looked back. I have a BM with every meal now, within 30 minutes, and have never had a single bout of constipation in all these years since (I am 31 now).

I don't believe in medication, which will undoubtedly cause other sideffects. Especially when such a simple solution is available. Incidentally, my chronic bronchitis and asthma cleared up as well.