constipation, getting desperate!

[~Roo'sMama~]

Allie's poopy problems have gotten a lot worse over the last few weeks, and I'm at my wits end. She's always been prone to constipation, but usually as long as she drank a glass of juice a day she'd be ok. She had a really rough few weeks and then it finally started getting better, but now she's back to only going once every two or three days, and in between she's constantly "leaking" little bits of poop in her underwear, or when she goes pee and I wipe her there will be poop on her bum but no matter how long I have her sit there she can't go. I've been giving her juice, and pears, peaches and fruit cocktail... and staying away from bananas and carrots. She hates veggies so I don't have a lot of luck getting her to eat those. I'm trying to get her to drink lots of water too, but I have to keep reminding her all day and sometimes I forget.

I just don't know what to do anymore. We've used liquid glycerin suppositories a few times when it's gotten so bad her tummy hurts all the time, but just the mention of that is enough to make her cry, and I don't want to use them much anyways. We've been giving her fleet's fiber gummies, and they seemed to be helping for awhile but not so much now. I don't want to give her laxatives on a regular basis either- does anyone have any ideas for natural things I can give her that might help? I would love to take her to the chiropractor to see if that would help, but we just don't have the money for that right now. Any thoughts?

[boyohboyohboy]

Maybe a trip to her ped is needed? I would be concerned of a bowel obstruction that isn't completely blocking so she has leaking.
How about miralax? It's more of a natural laxative and you can hide it easily in her juice.
Also she may have developed a fistula from the pushing of the constipation.
I know it's hard with the health insurance but the leaking of liquid bowel is a red flag for me as nurse.
I hope you find a solution for her soon.

[PrairieMom]

our ped had us use miralax with ben from the time he was real little. must be 12 months or so. He would have bloody stools it got so bad. the miralax was a life saver.

[~Roo'sMama~]

So is miralax something that she wouldn't get dependent on then? That's my biggest fear with giving her laxatives and why I've been trying to just get her to eat enough fruit and drink juice.

Stacy, it's not liquid bowel... I guess leaking probably wasn't a good word to describe it. It's hard and sticky, but always just a little bit... now that I think of it, it's probably just all she can get out when she's trying to go.

[boyohboyohboy]

Miralax is a laxative and she could become dependent on it, but how about calling to see how many days consecutively she could take it to get back on track?
I think we did it two weeks straight, but Jakob had other issues.

[~Roo'sMama~]

That's a good idea... I think I'll get some today and try it. Fleet has a children's laxative with senokot in it that's root beer flavored and I'd thought about trying that one too... I don't know which would be better. But I need to do something! She's pretty observant and always notices if I put something in her juice - and she always watches me pour her juice and if I try to turn my back and hide it from her she asks what I'm putting in it lol. So it might be that the root beer one would be easier to get her to take since I wouldn't have to hide it in anything. I'm going to make myself a fruit smoothie now, and I'll give her a glass of it too. I really hate this battle... I have dealt with this crap since I was a kid and it's never gotten any better. I really hate the thought that she might be the same way.

[MyBrownEyedBoy]

Logan was horrible about pooping. I had to use the glycerin supositories, occasionally. We kept up on the juice, the water, the fruits. I finally asked his ped, he said to make a habit out of it. Choose a time about 30 minutes after she's eaten a meal and make her sit on the potty every day and try.
Logan would hold it in, then it hurt to go, so he'd hold it in some more. He had the "streaky underwear" in between going, too. He was going every 3 or sometimes every 4 days, but after a few weeks of this daily "try" routine, he's more regular than me now. He has trained his body to go regularly and we rarely have the constipation issues now. The ped told me that making him try daily was key, as was doing it about 30 minutes after he ate because it allowed the bowels to start moving and gave him a better chance of success.
Good luck, it's so not fun when they're hurting.

[julesmom]

My oldest has "chronic constipation" as the pediatrician put it.
He had it from the time he was little and it's just like you described. Alittle will leak out, that is part of the whole thing.
We did the suppositories, miralax, etc. Then I found those Sunsweet prunes. I kept a bag in the fridge and just made sure he ate one everyday. We still have to keep up on it because if we relax and think things are ok, we find they are not.
Good luck. It's a tough thing to deal with, even when your child is 12.

[jcc64]

MIRALAX!!!!!!!!! It's as advertised...miraculous! I'm telling you, this was a HUGE issue for my dd when she was that age, and this was the ONLY thing that worked. She did not b/c dependent on it, and it's not a laxative, it's a stool softener. We gave her 3/4 cap full mixed into her orange juice, and she didn't even know it was there. The dosage varies by the individual--we started with a smaller amount, and when that didn't work, we kept increasing it until we got some results. My brother is a pediatrician, and both he and my own ped. recommended that we keep her on it for at least a week after she had started going regularly, to establish a normal pattern, and to help alleviate all the emotional turmoil around pooping as well. I feel your pain, believe me, but miralax will be a lifesaver for you, I promise.

[~Roo'sMama~]

Well, I read some stuff on another forum about miralax that made me want to try a more natural route. we got some childrens natural liquid senna - that turned out to be the stuff that's root beer flavored that I mentioned before, but it was a different brand then I'd remembered. We'll try that for a week or two and see if that gets her back to where the fruits and juice are enough to make her go every day. I'll have to try the 30 minutes after she eats thing, too. I've been making sit and try for a while almost every time I put her on the potty though, since she almost always has the streaks in her underwear.
I wish she'd eat prunes... she used to kind of like them, but the last few times I gave them to her she said she didn't like them and wouldn't eat it. I even tried the individually wrapped ones and she still wouldn't eat them. She won't drink prune juice either. I got her some plum juice today at the store so we'll see if that helps. I can try the prunes again too, maybe she'll change her mind about them. She likes dates... I wonder if they'd have the same effect?