Poop withholding advice...
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Anonymous
| Our 4 year old has been fully potty trained for a while, but has recently started withholding poo. She got constipated and it hurt, and we've had problems since. She takes probiotics and I've upped her fiber and even had her eating prunes. It's now been over a week since she pooped and I'm not sure when/if I should call the doctor. Any advice would be appreciated. |
Anonymous
|
https://www.pedia-lax.com/childrens-constipation-relief-products/pedia-lax-liquid-glycerin-suppositories
Before you call the doctor try this. Relief within 20 minutes. |
Anonymous
OP, thanks. Unfortunately we used one when potty training because she withheld out of fear. I think it traumatized her and we'd literally have to hold her down screaming to administer. |
Anonymous
| Talk to your pediatrician first but Miramar worked for us. He had to take it for weeks. |
Anonymous
Miralax |
Anonymous
|
Good advice in here: https://www.janetlansbury.com/2017/12/potty-struggles-4-year-old/
My DD struggles with this as well, and the thing in here that really resonated is where she talks about how kids get down on themselves when they've been praised a lot for fond potty training well and then struggle, and it feels like a more intense failure because they've been told how proud their parents are every time they use the potty. Something that works with my DD is that we tell her early in the day "Hey, we aren't going to ask you if you need to use the potty today, okay? We know that you know your body and that you know when to go. We trust you to do what you need." And then we really just leave her alone. It's the best way we've found to give her a little reset and get her back on track. Because when she's avoiding the potty, or saving poop for her nighttime pull up, or whatever, we have a tendency to start asking her more often "do you need to use the potty" or suggesting she sit on the potty more often. And it can create too much pressure on her and make the problem worse. So maybe try just telling her straight up that you trust her and that you know she knows what to do, and then just stop talking about it. What we do is prompt the potty first thing in the morning and then take all the pressure off the rest of the day. And it works! This is also how we got her to finally start pooping in the toilet instead of just in her little training potty in her room. It's just really helped her devleop her confidence. |
Anonymous
| It is a horrible issue that takes a good while to fix. Doctor will recommend amount of Miralax to use and for how long. It may take months to to fully get over the fear of going and get things back on track. |
Anonymous
| Miralax regimen. The clear out first (no going anywhere for 3 days). Then a daily dose. It will take a while to forget the pain and stop trying to withhold. I went through this, not great. But get started now. Withholding will make the constipation worse. We were on daily miralax and nearly no bread/pasta for a year between 3.5 and 4.5. Much much better now. Apricot or prune everyday and a ton of water really helps. |
Anonymous
Agree. Take it seriously. Ignore anyone who says “it will be fine.”’ We had months of Miralax. |
Anonymous
Yup. Constplation even for a week or two messes up the colon and stretches it out and makes it so much harder to poop normally. We still have rare way too large poops if shes too busy and I've had to pull one out that was too wide. We eat a very decent diet with veg and fruit and water and limited refined carbs etc. i feel so bad i let it go for the two weeks she mildly complained about it and was pooping her pants just a little every couple days (i had a newborn) and then the pain hit and we had screaming on the potty twice and i finally realized it was a problem. Fyi, her day care did not recognize the small messes after being trained for a while as a sign. |
Anonymous
| OP here, thank you everyone! This is the info I needed, that it does need to be addressed now. Out of curiosity, has anyone had luck using a liquid magnesium supplement or something other than miralax? |
Anonymous
| We also read books nightly—Super Pooper and It Hurts When I Poop. Reading and talking through the anxiety seemed to help. |
Anonymous
| Sitting on the potty makes it harder to withhold as it straightens the descending colon. Is there any incentive you can give to get her to sit on the potty after meals? |
Anonymous
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Miralax. Enough so they go daily. We're still on the Miralax at 4 and still figuring out how to wean off. Right now, if she doesn't poop by bedtime, she has to try to poop before going to sleep. If she poops earlier, she gets an extra book as a treat. Our GI doc recommended a regular time for pooping, preferably after meals, but right after dinner hasn't worked for my daughter.
Our doc also said to give Ex-Lax if she doesn't poop that day, which we've only had to do once. |
Anonymous
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Make beans everyday. We eat daily legumes and fruit and my toddler poops multiple times a day.To be honest, I wish it was less.
I would call the pediatrician today. This sounds painful and you don’t want it to become your kid’s new normal. |