Son Having Problems with Bm's

Hey there!

My entire Family(sister's and their children)use this product. It helps with building the immune system and keeping the bacteria balanced in the intestine. The beauty of it is that it is powdered and can be put into ANYTHING! You can start when they are newborns, too. My niece was having terrible problems with constipation. She started out with 1/2 dose every other day and now she is using it everyday and having normal easy bowel movements. BTW, she is 7 months old.

You can buy it all Whole Foods, wild oats, or online. I get mine local.

http://www.vitacost.com/JarrowFormulasBabysJarroDophilus

You may try some mineral oil about a spoonful a day and see what happens. My little sister was so constipated all of the time when she was small, she would just go under the table and hide. My mom started her on this and she did better. I hope that this works for you and the little guy. I know for a FACT that he does not feel good, so just keep that in mind when he does it.

Get him off the laxative!!

Increase his water (get several fun sippies)

Little or NO juice! - Fresh fruit & veggies instead.

A prune a day works for most & it is fruit, most kids like them.

Fiber products like Benefiber mix into anything with no taste or texture.

Hello, there! I'm not big on medicating unless for serious illness. Your boys are so young to start taking regular medicine, but it's what doctors do. That being said, I think it's a fiber issue. Try giving both boys more fresh fruits and veggies and let them help prepare. They can use scissors to cut small bunches of grapes. An egg slicer is safe for them to use on strawberries, bananas and kiwi for a colorful fruit salad. Carrots can be cut like matchsticks as in Asian cooking. Papaya is wonderful, in small quantities for kids, to help move things along. Limit portions of cheese, apple juice, pasta and white bread as they tend to block up the digestive tract. I really hope these tips help you out. They work for our family! Just remember that every body is different, and what may be normal for some will be different for others. If he only poops every other day...it's ok! It will all work out. God bless.

My son decided at 3 that he didn't like to have a BM! After trying all kinds of otc things for constipation, his ped. told me to give him mineral oil. Just a teaspoon twice a day. It was amazing! Within just a few days, he was back to going normally. He was scared to go at first(it hurts to be constipated!)but it really helped!

My neice had the same problem. The doc said after a painful BM, she became fearful and would 'hold it' until she had BM's the size of cola cans, which were obviously painful, so it reinforced the behavior. She is on Miralax and the doc said she needed to stay on it until her bowels shrunk back to normal size.

I conconcur with the other readers. Lots of fruit/veggies and keep him hydrated. (It is amazing the places you can hide vegetables if you are creative).

Best of luck to you!!

My daughter does this, and it has nothing to do with a speech delay! It's pretty common, but I know, frustrating. First of all, make sure your kids are eating LOTS of fruits and veggies and no white bread or white pasta. The more fiber you can get into them, the better. Limit cheese and bananas. Make sure they are drinking plenty of water/watered down juice as well. Encourage them to sit on the potty after dinner for at least 10-15 minutes. We bribe my daughter with a sticker type chart, as in, if you do 3 poops you get a present. The reward has to be immediate though, so you must buy a few things in advance. $5 My Little Ponies worked well for my daughter. I let her pick a couple at Target and put them on the back of he toilet seat, and when she earned one we opened it right away and made a BIG deal about it. Eventually we moved it from 3 poops to 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. This made her WANT to try to go. It really helped.
We also stopped the Miralax and started 2 tsp a day of Milk of Magnesia, which has made a difference. Her poop is much softer now. Maybe she was immune to the Miralax, I don't know, but we didn't think it was helping.
Try modifying their diet (if you haven't already) and rewards, and try to stay calm. I know it's annoying but it's something you can't control. Hopefully they'll grow out of it soon! Good luck.

My infant son has been on Mirlax since he was 6 months old. He will be 1 at the end of this mongh :)! The worst part of this whole thing, is we have been going to Vanderbilt since he was 3 months old. He started having BM problems since he went off of breast milk- I was unable to breast feed him- my milk never came in. Our "Specialist" (if you want to call her that) couldn't explain why he was having problems- we even switched him to a special formula- and he was still having problems! Stick to the Mirlax. Give it about 2 weeks, and it should start working. Please don't wait to give it to him, or if it does not work, please find him something else- My niece had the same problems when she was a child, and at 18 she still has 'accidents' in her pants and has a very hard time going!
I hope this helps.

Dear RS,
I just wanted to say do not feel alone. My youngest son Gunner also has a problem with bowel movements. Although the situation is different. He has a fear of them. Even as a older baby he would hold it until he couldn't any longer... He completely potty trained himself the month he turned 2 on his own because he thought and would say that poop and pee was nasty. He does not have accidents but the problem i have is him holding it.... because he just doesn't want to go. I too took him to the dr. (several times) and he was checked out and given miralax. Miralax is harmless and not a typical "laxative" it helps by bringing water to the bowel and that makes it easier to go.The dr said that these problems are commom with children. The only thing that has changed is before when he would hold it for so long he would hurt with bad gas pain and scream until he went, now with the miralax he still holds it but it has made it a little easier on him so there is no screaming. Good luck i hope you can figure out how to help him. For us we have had to play with the dosage and just hope Gunner grows out of his fear.

my son is 2 and had the same problem and in the past week i took him off milk and now he is fine he also eats frosted mini weats which helps too and juice helps to

My son was on Mirilax from 4 months to 2 1/2 years and that seemed to help. He LOVES his milk so for a time I had to switch to soy milk, I push whole grains and fiber foods more than dairy and cheese to help. He is 4 1/2 now and I still have to watch what he eats but I would still keep taking him to the doctor to see if they can find something else to help.
Good luck
A.

Hello RS,

You may already know, bowel movements are very, very, very important. It really should be food in and 20 - 30 minutes later food out. I really started watching my children bowel movements very young. At three and four, I would say, let mommy know when you have a bowel movement. And I would say, wow you had a bowel movement. Making it a big deal. Until this day at 8 and 9 they still let me know. It's just one of those area, you have to keep a watch on. I also from time to time make sure I keep them cleaned out. I give them fiber foods like apples and pears to facilitate natural bowel movements. And I started them to say early on "water is my favorite beverage." So they get plenty of good water to keep their insides lubricated. smiles...

A Natural Herbal Laxative Arnold Ehret Inner Clean Tabs is excellent and works gently with children. You can order online for about 8 or 9 dollars at www.vitacost.com. This herbal laxative works well with the shape of the colon. It is a herbal & fiber laxative that works. It does not give the child a runny bowel movement. Keeping the bowels clean is very important.

Below is from a medical/natural web site: http://www.articlealley.com/article_9745_23.html

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/par...

If you eat three meals a day, then you should have three bowel movements each day. The first bowel movement should take place in the morning when you wake up or soon after you have had breakfast. Typically, you should experience the urge for a bowel movement 20-30 minutes after you eat. The other bowel movements should be during the day and just before bedtime.

From RS

My daughter is also on Mirilax for similar issues, she's 3. She was doing good for awhile and then regressed. My doctor prescribed the Mirilax, and told us to avoid constipating food and to sneak as much extra fiber in as possible. She said that when they hold it in like this, their colons expand and makes their bm's larger and more painful when they finally do go. Getting a good dose of Mirilax and extra fiber for a long time helps their colon shrink back down when they start going on a regular basis again. Part of our problem was I thought after a month of regular bm's she was fine, and stopped the Mirilax and then realized, nope, she's going to need it for a bit longer than that so here we are again.

I've figured out that I have to have her sit on the potty for a long while until she actually has at least a small bm. This usually entails lots of crying and whining but part of her problem is she doesnt want to sit still long enough to have a good bm. I dont get angry with her, I stay even toned and sit with her until she manages to pass something. I'll even admit I resorted to bribery this week with a promised trip to her favorite park for a poo. It was totally worth it!

Good luck, I understand how frustrating this can be.

I understand that feeling that they aren't addressing some underlying problem. Has he been tested for food allergies? You might want to try www.Enterolab.com
What about thyroid (fT3/fT4) levels? Any indication other then the speech delay that there might be some mitochondrial dysfunction?

My daughter had a similar problem with the large BM but she did not seem to have constipation in that she went daily, yet still had intermittently huge BM balls. Of the 3 potential problems I listed above... she turned out to have all 3.

My daughter also has a similiar BM problem. My husband, also a Marine, used to come home and ask for the "poop report." I tried all different kinds of medications, foods, etc. Only 1 worked. I asked the doctor for a prescription for WATER for my daughter to take to school. It stated that she needed to drink 8 oz of water at 10am and 2pm. They school had no choice but to follow through with it (they wouldn't make sure she drank enough and gave the students a very limited amount of time to drink up to that point)! Within 3 days she was pooping every other day. Still large, but not as painful. No more medications, always easy to find and good for the rest of her too!

My son was also on Miralax around the same age as your boys. My pediatrician said that because it hurt for him to go, when the BM was very large, that he would hold it in because it didn't want it to hurt. Which in turn made it large and it hurt - a lousy cycle to be stuck in. The small quarter size BM's are definitely a sign of being constipate or compacted - once my son 'cleared out' things got much easier.
We are very, very careful about the amount of fiber he gets and have found that it doesn't have to be a fight! We use double fiber bread, each slice has 5 grams of fiber! Kashi makes waffles that have 7 grams of fiber per two waffles, blueberry, which my son loves. The 1/2 calorie, whole wheat English muffins have 5 grams per muffin. Fiber One cereal bars have 5 or 7 grams and they taste like a cross between a candy bar and granola bar. Fruit is always a good go to as well.
We also used the sticker method with Nathan. He had a chart and every week that he filled the chart and did not have an accident, he got a treat.
Good luck!
L.

Try giving him more liquids and fruit. This will help soften his stool which might make it easier to go. When mine doesn't drink enough liquids, stools are hard, and then they don't want to go because it will hurt. This might be what is happening.

More fiber in his diet might be needed.

Also, a deficiency in Omega 3 oils can cause this. I know someone whose son had been on a constipation medicine for a long time and once she started supplementing with Omega 3s, she was able to stop the medicine within a week. If he can't swallow pills, there are some flavored oils that taste pretty good.

Hi RS, I am a speech therapist, and my daughter and I both have these same problems. Your son may be intolerant of dairy products. Intolerant is different from allergic. His digestive system may be very slow moving, and the dairy will make it worse. If he isn't already, try changing him to soy milk. Diet is important....try to stay away from a lot of things made with white flour....which you may already be doing....Hope that is helpful.

I had the same problem with my son and we are still working thru it. I know it is frustrating to you because it has been for me. I wish I could tell you that this will be a "quick fix", but most likely it won't.

I am sure your doctor has told you all of this. But, we give my son the miralax every other day and make him sit on the pot twice a day for 10 minutes at a time or until he at least goes once. It has made him more "regular" which has helped us all! I too felt there was something wrong with my son and took him to a counselor. It did help him to get some of his frustration worked thru.

My son also "regressed" when he was around four and he is now 8 and we are still "working" on this. I have taken him to a gastroenterologist and he has stated that this is a long process. Believe me I know exactly where you are coming from. I was worried about him starting school and the kids in his class and all of that everywhere we went. But it has gotten better and we just keep working on improvement.

I hope some of this helps.

RS: My son was on Miralax as well....I am also a RN. I added a bit more, (he took once a day) to try and make BM's "more" instead of the "balls". I had to play with it a bit, but I finally got the right "dosage" that worked for him. My son would bleed and stop up the toilet....he would not go because it hurt so. Does your son like yogurt? I have been able to wean him off the miralax, I put Fiber One cereal in his yogurt everyday and this works great. Best of luck....as my doctor seemed not to care so much.

He does not need miralax. He needs fiber. Give him fresh fruit every morning (not canned) ,it is stocked full of fiber,(apples,oranges,pears,peaches)and make sure he has a quart of water a day for every 25 lbs. he weighs. He will really go then. Then Dr.s never tell about health because all they know is medicine. You rarely find a Dr. who knows about the body as a whole.Also 1 more thing,meat causes constipation. I am 37 and I was constipated all my life. A year and a 1/2 ago I quit eating meat and now i go every day instead of 1 a week!