We had a bit of the same thing with my son. We had success with adding more fluids into his daily diet, especially prune and apple juice, but even just drinking more water.

Good luck!

www.athomedadconvention.com

1. Add more juice to your juice/water mixes for a while. The juice will do a better job, plus this will encourage her to drink more.

2. Is there such a thing as too much fiber? Especially "dry" fiber sources?

3. Just because she has "juice at the ready" doesn't mean she's actually downing it.

4. Increase her level of physical exercise. Figure out a way for her to bounce. They make a safe kid trampoline now that has a handle for the wee ones to hold onto. My 2 year old loves it.

5. Maybe back off on "helping" her. The push coaching may be stressing her out, causing her to tighten up, etc.

6. A warm bath always helps relaxation.

7. As her poop "cooks down" inside of her, eventually it will be small enough to come out. Her body will naturally start pushing diarrhea around the stuck poop. This will help her work it out as well.

Ask your pediatrician about probiotics. My son took a powder supplement in his juice for a little while. They are natural, so you don't have to worry about using medications. See http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/68206.php and run a google search for more info.

Cheese seems to be a popular kid food or ingredient. Nothing wrong with that, but we've definitely found that less cheese, more fruit, tends to help the situation. We've never needed to do anything with fiber.

Thanks everyone. I think we're going to try increasing the juice to water ratio, because we've tried just about everything else. She eats apples, grapes, oatmeal, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, pickles (I'm thinking of writing a story called "Pickles for Breakfast", because anytime she sees a pickle, she wants one), olives, pasta, bread, mexican food, thai food, etc. and she turns up her nose at any red meat --- so her diet seems to be okay. She drains the juice and water cups dry and we're constantly refilling them, so I don't think it's her not getting enough to drink. And we've cut back on the amount of dairy she gets, so I think our best guess is to try to give her more prune juice and see what happens.

On a side note, I sat her on the toilet last night and let her "toot" away and she was so happy and excited that we're going to go out and get her her own potty over the weekend. Maybe that will help too.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Eric

Pears have more fiber than prunes and are much more apealing to kids as they are sweet.

Mineral water also may help. MW with dense concentrations of salt will get things moving. Any water from Russia or The Republic of Georga will not taste to good but it calms the tummy and will issue marching orders in a few hours.

For emergencies Citrate of Magnesia tates OK and will help clear things up. Good luck mate, sorry to hear about your little one.

Be Seeing You.

My son's problem with this eventually led to an emergency room vist after a week with no bowel movement at three years of age.  He had been actively withholding, he did not want to poop.  We tried all the diet stuff and pear juice and prune juice, nothing seemed to help.  He was trying to hold it in.  This went on for months.  After a few days he would begin leaking a little as wet stuff found it's way around the hard stuff. 

   At the hospital, they x-rayed his abdomen, he was backed up into his descending colon.  They tried stool softeners (just made things worse, as everything turned to peanut butter consistency) and then a "digital disempaction" which is just like it sounds.  Trying to dig it out with a finger.  Finally, and old fasioned enema was administered and he was all cleaned out.

  If you ever reach this stage, do not let them try digital disempaction without trying an enema first.  That's just no fun for anyone.

  We had to up his mineral oil consumption, a little at a time until it was clear we had reached a good dose.  (Don't worry, you'll know).  And we had to administer enemas fairly regularly until his body started sending his brain the right signals about when it's time to go.  Enemas aren't difficult, but they are no fun and definitely one of the last resorts.  It took a good solid year before he was going regulary every day without protest.  Going every day at the same time as a routine helps.

I don't want to scare you at all,  but maybe your pediatricain isn't taking it as seriously as you are.  I wish I had pushed the issue (no pun intended) with our pediatrician more.  I'd talk to your Ped about stool softeners or increasing the mineral oil.  Maybe even a referral.  Let the doctor know that something really is wrong and you need help dealing with it.  At least she's trying to go, right?  That's huge.  (Again, no pun intended.)

Good luck!

Are you kidding?  Russian water works as a laxitive?

My son is almost 3 and he's been blocked up for close to 4 days now.  His constipation has lasted about a week, and he's had 2 really hard #2s.

We tried using Karo syrup this past week and we didn't have much luck.   We think it loosened him up enough to help a littler earlier, but it doesn't seem to be doing much now.

We've up'd his juice intake, and I think it's time to try Miralax or Mineral Water.

Our oldest had this problem at about 2 years old.  Honest guys, all the symptoms you described above, oversized, hard poop, painful for all.  We tried white grape juice and got results in 30 minutes.  Any time he pooped less than once per day, we gave him more, not diluted, and got very quick results.  Cheaper than meds, you can go organic, all natural.  It never, ever failed.  We keep some on hand at all times, just in case.

Jim

Boulder, CO

Dad to Cole, Luke, Trev & Delaney

Regional Coordinator,

DaddysHome Inc.

In lieu of all the fruits,  change the diet to include yogurt on a daily basis, and change to a more regular diet.  So, decrease everything and include yogurt into the diet. You can do some internet searches about yogurt and constipation.

my daughter had bad constipation as a baby and young toddler and I fed her baby oatmeal made with either prune juice or pear juice instead of water and made it to a pretty watery consistency.  Also the other thing you can try is adding a few drops of olive oil to a couple ounces of water and having her drink that, although be sure to try thins one in the morning or right after nap.

contrary to popular belief apples do not help constipation.  I found this out the hard way!!! literally!!! My daughter has the same issues going and i called the doc he said no bananas or apples.  give pears, peaches, watermelon etc.  they lubricate and give much needed fiber.

My son had constipation issues and the doctor recommended Karo syrup...worked like a charm. 1 teaspoon to every 8 ounces of milk/formula.~Krista, TN.

Your daughter probably has slow gastric motility or transit time which is the reason her stool is so dry.  A normal person's transit time is under 24hr which means from the time food enters your mouth until it exits as stool it should be less than 24hrs.  My child's transit time is 50hr.  Hers is so bad she even vomits if she does not have a BM by day 3.   You should figure out your daughter's by carefully observing what you feed her and when it comes out.  A cup of corn is easily spotted in the stool.  Then, you must do all of the follwing :

First, exercise.  If the person does not move such as being wheel chair bound, it would be much worse.  I always encourage my dd to walk vs. being dropped off at the front of the pre-school.  Second, water.  Large quantity of water causes peristalsis.  So, I have taught her early on NOT to sip on water slowly, but to drink a 4 oz cup within 1min at the age of two years old.  Now, at 4 yo, my dd can drink 12 oz of water within 4 mins.  This stimulates gastric motility.  This is especially important as she is prone to vomiting due to her extremely slow peristalsis.  So, 15mins prior to a meal, we try to drink 12 to 18oz of water to stimulate peristalsis so her meal will actually go down instead of staying in her stomach for another 4hrs (once I scheduled a dental cleaning at 4:30pm, when the dentist gave her a fluoride treatment, she gagged and threw up.  It was her lunch undigested eaten 4 hrs prior).  Third, fiber or bulk.  Fiber and bulk also stimulates gastric motility.  That is why she is still on a high fiber, 85% vegetarian diet.  Fourth, natural lubrication.  This is my discovery of omega 3 / DHA fish oil by Xtend-Life.  My dd has only been on it since 3yo & 9mo, however, it has done wonders for her.  In the past, with Miralax alone, she can only have 1 soft BM per day.  Now, with the addition of one soft gel of fish oil cut open and squeezed onto her food, she is able to have 2 or sometimes 3 soft BM’s per day.  You should administer Miralax only after you have given her at least 18 to 24 oz of water about 30mins prior to Miralax, or else it will not work as well if the child does not have enough water in her system already.  Miralax works by pulling water into the stool to keep it soft.   However, if she has not had a BM in 3 days, you will first need to administer a glycerin suppository to "clean her out" then start the maintenance dose of Miralax and fish oil.  That was the recommendation by a pediatric gastroenterologist when we went to see one.  My 4 yo (35 lbs) with the slow motility drinks about one gallon of water a day to keep all of her stool soft and painless.