2 year old with constipation!! HELP!!

Hi everyone. I need some advice. My 2 year old daughter had a very bad time of it today. She is being toilet trained and told me she needed to do poos. Well once on the toilet my poor little girl had the biggest poo. It was so big it got stuck. Her poor litlle bottom was stretched to the max and the poo was not budging. She was bawling her eyes out and straining sooo much. Finally got some of it out by putting her in the bath. What would have caused it? My hubby believes that its the fact that she is on soy milk.

She had problems on cows milk where her pooh was runny, she smelt like sour milk all the time and she would constantly wake up with a sore belly at night and have these terror fits where she was in so much pain she didn't know what she was doing or what she wanted. Since being on soy the night waking and terrors have stopped but over time her poohs have gotten bigger and harder. (She only goes about once every 2 days). Has anyone else had problems with soy milk and constipation or could it be something else?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I was terrified for my little girl today!! :shock:

lollylegs

sorry to hear what your little girl went through today, i remember something similar happening with my dd when she was 3.

as far as i am aware soy milk should not cause consitpation, my ds has been on it since he was 9mths old and is now 5 and we have never had a constipation issue there.

just a thought with your daughter as you said she is being toilet trained atm, is it possible that she is scared of doing poo in the toilet thus holding on until she possibly can't anymore and that causing the constipation - i don't really know clutching at straws here. i know when my dd had a problem i was scared she was not going to poo on the loo anymore so i spoke to the chemist and got her some diflam or something like that, it is not a laxative it just softens it up, i just wanted to make sure her next poo experience wasn't as bad as she had.

i have also read somewhere that some children are quite nervous and scared about pooing in the toilet and they actually think that it is some part of there body that is being flushed away.

make sure she drinks heaps of water and apples and pears are great for constipation, otherwise if she is still having problems i would speak to your health nurse or gp.

good luck

#-o actually it couldn't have been diflam (i think that is an anti inflamatory) that definately won't help lol - could have been something like duflex or duralex can't remember exactly the name as this was 4yrs ago. just ask the chemist they should be able to help

Rather than going to the chemist, why not try giving her some stewed prunes every day? It's an old remedy, but natural, and it works. Just give her 3-5 prunes, I soften them up by putting them in the microwave in a bowl just covered with water, heat until boiling hot and then leave them to cool - easier than doing them on the stove. If she doesn't like them straight, mix them in with some stewed apple or yoghurt or something.

If you can get some more soluble fibre into her, it will help soften the stool - and mooshie is right, lots of water.

Kerrie

you could also try some kiwi fruit.

thank you all so much for your advice. I will be going to the doctors in the next few days to see what he thinks too. My dd had it happen again at about 10 last night. I have given her some kids laxative from the chemist. But read up a bit about constipation in kids on the net last night and think we will have to make a couple of adjustments to her diet. Get her drinkin more water and eatin more fruit I think.

I thought of the being scared of going to the toilet mooshie but she absolutely hates doing her pants and I think she is scared of going to the toilet since it hurts so much lately. And we have never really pushed the whole toilet thing just let her do it at her own pace.

Aaah dear such stress!! I worry so much that its my fault, that i am doing something wrong with her diet or the toilet training plus got a sick hubby too. Ahh well I will figure it out in the end and hopefully won't have that problem again!

Once again, THANKYOU =D> to all those who have replied with their advice it's been greatly appreciated. CHEERS!!

Try and get her to increase her water intake too.

I have just been through a horror stretch of constipation with Mason.

Try and increase her clear fluids. If you only give her water then maybe try diluted apple juice or cordial so that she drinks more. Prune juice is good too if she likes it.
Offer lots of fruit like apples with the skin or stone fruit if you can get it. Bananas can make constipation worse.

If she is holding on because of fear then maybe try a gentle stool softener from the chemist. Mason was terrified and held on for a week and half which made it so much worse. By using a laxitive in the short term over a week or 2 but only a mild dose you can get the child retrained that poos don't hurt anymore.
I also am giving him some yakult as his constipation was more than likely caused by the antibiotics killing off his good bowel bacteria. I'm sure this has helped and he loves it.

Hi,

My two year old daugter is having the same trouble. She has had trouble on and off from 10 months of age. But over the last 6-8 weeks it's been constant. She has a good high fibre diet, eats fruit and drinks lots of water but it still doesn't help. I spoke with the chemist about a month ago and he recommended PARACHOC. It tastes like chocolate vanilla so my daughter thinks it great. But enough is enough, we are going to the doctor on thursday to see what he says. Hopefully he'll have a better solution.
I'll keep you posted

Bye
Narelle

Hi All,
Narelle your dd problem sounds exactly the same as mine. What did your doctor say? Took my dd to the doctor today and she was useless just kept tellin me to up her fibre intake and fluid levels and to keep her on Parachoc for a few more days. ](*,)

We were up the hospital last night with Talia which was not much fun. As she had the same problem again after 3 days of being on that Parachoc. They gave her a strong laxative and she had done her duds in 5minutes. Still no help as the nurse did that and we didn't get to see a doctor. But if it happens again I am stayin til I see a Doctor.

Might try that whole stool softener thing so she learns that going to the toilet isn't meant to hurt.

Hope your doctor was more helpful Narelle. Let us know! :D

Bye,
Laura

Hi Laura,

I took Zara to the doctor yesterday. He said she seemed to have a good diet and high fluid intake and was still unsure. He said especially when toilet training or getting to that age these things happen.
He said to give 20 ml. doses of parachoc daily until she produce a soft bowel motion and then to give her smaller (10ml) doses every second day to see if this helps. I'd actually already tried that and it worked wonders. He also said to add prunes. I cut them up very small and added them to her weetbix this morning. I told her they were chocolate and add 1/8 teaspoon of drinking chocolate to the weetbix also. She ate the lot and asked for more chocolate. Worked a treat.
So currently she gets 10ml of parachoc every 2nd day and 2 prunes in her weetbix of a morning. i'm hoping the prunes work and i can cut out the medication.
He also said to encourage them to sit on the potty 3 times a day and tell them to try and push to move the poo down the bowel to keep it moving so it doesn't dry out and caused constipation.
If all that fails he is going to refere me to a paediatrician that apparently have lots of neat tricks to help with constipation. If you are unhappy with your doctors solution or lack of maybe ask for a referral.
I'll keep you posted with what goes on with Zara.

Bye now
Narelle

Hi Narelle,
So glad to hear you had a better time of it at the docs than me. I will give a go what your doc said to do with you little girl with mine. She has been on the parachoc since monday and nothing has happened from it. As I said in my other post the last bowel movement was on wednesday night after the hospital gave her a strong dose of laxative. But since then nothing.

Don't know how I am going to get her to sit on the toilet 3 times a day as she is terrified of sitting on there cos she thinks it will hurt. Tells me the its "too hard to try". Might have to get her a potty for a bit and see if she will sit on that. [-o< Here's hoping.

Keep us posted on your progress (if any :D ) and I will do the same.

Good Luck,
Laura

Hi Laura,
I think i spoke too soon. We've just got back from the hospital. Zara was screaming and grunting and nothing. So we made a quick trip to hospital for a enema (i think thats how its spelt) and within 10 mins a bowel motion.
I'm not too sure what to think now. I've been doing everything like my last post said.
But Since talking with a nurse at the hospital this is my new plan of action.
A daily (instead of every 2nd day) 10ml dose of Parachoc and once a week a 20ml dose to see if this helps. I've just given her a 20ml dose tonight and will continue with a 10ml daily from now on. Also the nurse gave me another enema if it gets this bad again (we've never had it this bad before). Tonight was terrible usually if constipated she cries but it eventally comes but not tonight. I felt so useless.
Anyway i'll give this new plan 2 weeks if no success or i think she is dependant on parachoc i'm going back to the doctor to get the referral.
I hope all goes well with your little one.
Bye now
Narelle

Hi Narelle,

I am so sorry to hear of your little girls woes :hugs: Hugs for you and your little girl. I know how scary it is. Thats how my little girl was. You feel sooo useless and stressed and just don't know what to do to help. Its absolutely terrible.

Talia has been on 20 ml of parachoc for 3 days and today she had two soft and squishy bowel movements. HURRAY!! :cheer: Not on the toilet mind you they were done in her duds. But its a great start. Have never been soooo happy to see poo :smt041 Anyways we will try the 10ml every second day for now and see what happens. Borrowed a friends potty and she loves sitting on it so we will stick with that for a couple of weeks and then hopefully move up to the big toilet again.

Hope all goes better with Zara. Wish I could give some better advice.

Bye,
Laura

Hi Laura,

Try giving you little girl a BOOK to read on the potty, it just keeps them on a little longer.

I'm glad to hear things are moving along (pardon the pun!) for your little girl, the pain they must be in is unbearable to watch them go through
.
I've put Zara up to 20ml of parachoc, she's been passing poo but i still think it's with too much effort and they are still a little dry. So hopefully this stronger dose will help for a couple of days.

I will keep you posted.

Bye
Narelle

Hi Narelle,
Well the 10ml every second day seems to be doing the trick at the moment with doing poohs. Just not sitting on the toilet at all. Don't know what to do. Guess we will have to wait until she wants to do it again.

Hope your little girl is well on the way.

Bye,
Laura

You guys seem to have everything under control here but just thought I wold add my little story.

When Evan was about 2 and a bit he had a bad tummy bug. During this he became constipated. He was throwing up all the time, I think none of the fluids he was having was doing more then just wetting his mouth (twice). After the tumy bug settled he still continued to vomit at least once during the night about an hour after goign to bed. I kept taking him back to the dr saying that he hadn't poo'd and could that be the reason for his vomiting. She didn't think so and send him for an ultrasound and xrays. This revealed a heap of poo in there. In the end the poor little bugger was in so much pain when the poo finally made its way out that I ended up sitting in a hot bath with him lying on me while I rubbed his lower back. He passed his poo in the bath, which was real fun! I felt so "Clean" not! But it got it out. But he was very tentative about going for a poo for awhile there but he soon got over it.

I personally think that the cramping that you get in the tummy when you are constipated is the same type of pain you get while in labour! Well it is for me anyway, not as bad as labour but for a 2 year old I'm sure it is!

Hi Fiona,
I had to get in the bath with Talia a couple of times to help her get it out. Feels not so clean 8-[
but at least it helps by calming Talia down and she can get it out. Thanks soo much for sharing your story. Its great to find out what other parents have gone through so that at least I can be a bit more cluey when things like this happen.

And may I say congratulations on the mammoth breastfeeding run. I feed Talia til she was 18months and would have kept going had she not been waking up every hour for a feed. And she's an all or nothing kid so it ended up being nothing :smt022 Kind of miss it now. Miss the closeness and calmness that went with it. Don't miss the lack of sleep though :D

I hope this forum has helped other mummies and daddies as much as its helped me. THANKS EVERYONE!
Cheers,
Laura