How to Get Three Year Old to Poop

constipation can be a sign of a food intolerance. I'd suggest eliminating one food at a time to see if it makes a difference. Some of the worst offenders are dairy and wheat. I'd also suggest lots of water as opposed to juice. Good luck...

one thing that helps my daughter is a set time to poop every day. We sit her on the potty every night after dinner and she tries to poop. After about a month of telling her to go, she started going herself without us asking. Good luck!!

This definitely warrants a trip to the pediatrician and a long conversation with him about what could be causing this. The problem could be self=perpetuating because now her little intestines are expanded and have such an increased volume that she is not going to be feeling the "urge" to eliminate as soon as she might with a smaller volume intestine.
I know that there are stool softeners ( docuate sodium) that you can give to adults but I do not know if they are something that is safe to use with a toddler. I would ask the pediatrician or your pharmacist about the possibility of using that.
This sounds like something that you are going to need to be particularly attentive too so that she doesn't get into the same condition that prompted your trip to the ER again.

Wow! This sounds so painful for your little one- and stressful for Mom! While their advice seems ok- my worry of waiting until she is constipated to give her the fruit seems like putting the seat belt on after the crash.

As long as she is no different than the rest of us, she needs a diet rich in fiber. Incorporate fiber into every meal that is possible- they have fiber rich cereals, fruits and veggies, prunes(she might actually like them!), red beans and black beans. Avoid cheese- our daughter is a cheese addict and it "hardens her up". Our family eats fruit and vegetables as part of our meals so our kids actually eat them too and we have never had a fight.

Also, the fruit juice is really not a great thing for kids- it is loaded with sugar and doesn't provide any nutritional value. Read the label to see if they are actually getting any fiber through it. From my knowledge, the juice is not where the fiber is- it is the rest of the veggie or fruit. Try to get her to drink water and milk in it's place. Believe it or not, kids will consume it. If she has a hard time with the water piece- maybe splash some juice in it or dillute the juice down slowly.

I wouldn't wait till she gets constipated again. I'd try lots of fiber (and water) in her diet. Some yogurt would be good, too. Stay away from bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. Go for prune juice, prunes, raisins, corn nibblets, bran flakes, steel cut oatmeal (you can even add it to meatloaf instead of bread crumbs) etc. There are chewable fiber tablets that taste pretty good and there's a non flavored fiber powder you can mix in with juice or water and she'll not even realize you've added anything to it.

Cheerios, apple sauce, oatmeal, a green salad. Also give her fruit first before you give her anything else to eat in the morning, it help promotes BM. Also, take her for a walk everyday, gravity and exercise helps for us just like it does your pet. Hope this helps.

My son is also three and has these kinds of problems from time to time as well. He had a painful BM awhile back and then would hold it in fear that it would hurt again. I talked to his pediatrician about it and she suggested giving him Miralax. She told me to use the adult kind but just fill the capful half way. It says on the directions not to use longer than a week so I go by that. It just makes his stool softer so it doesn't hurt when it comes out. When I find that it's getting hard for him to go again I just give him more until his stool is soft again. Hope that helps!

my daughter had exact same thing with her son they told her to use a stool softener every day he was filled to the gills once it broke well you know the story. good luck!

We've used Miralax for my daughter. She had the same problem! It's just a powder and you put it in their drinks (I think we used a tablespoon of Miralax in two drinks a day to start....you can ask your pediatrician for sure). Also try to get her on a regular schedule of going. Our pediatrician recommended each night after supper to let her go in and sit down...try reading to her on the potty and see if that works.

You need to give her fruit/juice more often, she needs to have a BM at LEAST once a day, but really it should be more often. So if an entire day has gone by she's already constipated to some degree. I would start with giving her some fruit in every meal and increasing natural fiber. You can do a little phillips (if the pharmacy doesn't have childrens, ask how much to give, it's the same dose, the children's bottle is flavored and tells the smaller doses) if it's been a day or so, but it's much better for her, if the foods she eats does it.

fiber in food
miralax (not too much)
it is cheaper to do your own enemas.
Too much juice can make a child overweight.

My 3 year old son has issues with pooping as well that started from bad diaper rashes when he was a baby. I took him to a pediatric GI doctor who checked him out and he was fine. She thought it was all in pyschological from the diaper rashes hurting so he was holding it in. She advised giving him Miralax to help soften the poop so it is easier to pass. Hope you get relief soon as this is not a fun thing to go through.

If she isn't pooping because it is hard and it hurts you could try Merilax (sp?). It's pretty gentle and tasteless. I could be mixed with juice, water, anything.

My daughters pediatrician had her take Miralax every day. I also encouraged fruit and juices as well as apples for fiber etc but sometimes you just can't get kids to eat what you want them to but the Miralax works cause you can put that in their drink and they can't taste it but it keeps them regular. I would talk with her Dr about that and the dosage.... for my daughter she took the adult dosage which I never understood but it did work.

L.

This sounds exactly like my daughter's situation. We went to the doctor several times and did enemas and it was very frustrating, so I totally understand what you are going through. I finally just left her alone and did not push her to go. I simply followed the doctor's advice and gave her miralax (which now you can get over the counter and in a generic brand) she was on that for a long time and I found out that the more I left her alone, the less stressful it was for me and her, which took alot of paitence and understanding. My daughter is very strong willed and I had to learn that the hard way. She finally got this under control when she was 4 1/2 and we still have to give her fiber sometimes (she is now 5 1/2 ) each child is different and will do things at their own pace and it will take work, but hang in there and this will pass ,as it did for me. Now I can't wait to see what the next challenge with her will be! lol good luck!!

Hi,
When we had a similar problem with our son, we were confused with what to do, too. He ate all kinds of fruit and veggies (good soluble fiber), but wasn't enough of the RIGHT fiber. Insoluble fiber is what we needed to boost in his diet, so we tried Metamucil Fiber Wafers. Just one wafer (not serving) a day has made a HUGE difference with his constipation problem.
We are so thankful to have come across the 'fix' for this. Please give them a try...they come in 2 flavors (apple or cinnamon) and both are pretty tasty...like eating a cookie.
I hope you find the the right fix for your daughter...my thoughts are with you! :)
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1/4 a teaspoon of powdered acidophilus bifidus a day. You can mix it into pudding, applesauce, yougurt, etc. On a regular regimen, you will never have this problem again. We recommend Metagenics Ultra Flora at our office.

My son is 7 and 1/2 and we have battled this issue since he was 4. Our pediatrician put him on Miralax. You put it in their drink to soften the stool. At 4, we fixed the problem within 12 weeks. Then it started up again when he started Kindergarten - i think due to aniexty. I would definitely followup with your doctor and maybe the GI doctors at Children's Mercy. Once they are constipated like that they really need to have at least 1-2 bms per day.

You need to titrate the Miralax to figure how much to give her.

I just read the comments below about the fiber. You need to be careful about giving too much fiber because if you don't combine it with lots of fluids, it will just make her stools hard and constipate her.

My 5 year old granddaughter had this same problem, she spent the night with me and kept saying her legs hurt and in the morning she said she couldn't walk, we took her to Children's Mercy ER and in x-raying her for hip problems they saw the constipation! She got an enema and was immediately able to walk again, they told her to eat lots of fruits and veggies, not so much dairy (which she loves) and give her Miralax daily for a while (half the amount as for an adult). Yes she has a bowel movement every day and did even before this (a very normal seeming BM), they said that can happen, they just don't excrete all of it, so now I don't know how we would know if it was happening again, but will probably give her the Miralax every so often for a while.