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I have read alot of information on this site and got a few answers to my questions. But I have a few remaining. My daughter is 31/2 yrs old. When she turned 3 she had been trained for about 6 months. Her bladder started spasming and she had her BM's in her pants. That has come and gone and has been gone awhile now. I can only assume it was stress related and can only figure that it was the end months of my brother's life who was suffering with colon cancer. She wanted to go back into pull-ups so we did and then she wanted underwear 3 months later.
I am trying to remember, but I believe her stools were never the easiest since around 2 years. I remember that she was put on multi-vitamins plus iron as she was slightly anemic at 2 years. My pediatrician suggested pear juice and diet changes. On the bad side she will not eat vegetables but does eat alot of fruit and eats wheat bread. But she loves peanut butter and milk. She would live on milk alone. Alot of what she likes is constipating. The above worked for awhile and then stopped. Like we had to do more becuase she got used to it.
Then we were told to try mineral oil and wean down as seems she is ready. We did and were down to 1 tsp/day from 1 tablespoon. THen that stopped working and they weren't really soft at that. Now we have returned to 1 tbsp/day and things are good. I try to ignore 'it' and let her do her thing as she will by herself now that they are softer. Before I had to coax. I still drop hints every now and then.
My questions are:
1. She is no longer should I change her to a regular multivitamin or would this not help and cuase anemia again?
2. Should I do something about her milk intake? I read that in the site and had never heard that before. We tried it once to try to increase her food intake as she was on a basically liquid milk diet at 2+. She improved a bit and now eats like a normal 3 year old. WE don't give her her milk until she's eaten some of her food.
3. Is it okay to mix her oil with milk? WE used to do applesuace and yogurt but then she wouldn't eat all of it. We know she will drink all of her milk. Would juice be better. At bedtime though?
4. We mix her MO with her dinner milk? I understand we should do it at night time but she doesn't typically get enough milk at that time to mix it with to help decrease night wetting. What is more important?
5. She witholds and has very large painful stools. I am thinking MO only is good for her as it is working. She has 1 BM every day or every day and half. I wouldn't think I'd use Metamucil as a bulker doesn't seem appropriate since she has large stools. Only rarely are they small and hard. Usually big and very hard. Am I right in your opinion?
6. You are sure there is not a concern in her age and using MO at 1TBSP/day? Will we need to increase amount? At times it seems her body is getting used to it and we may need to, or I am just so worried as nothing has worked 100%.
Thank you for your time. Aimee
In Reply to: constipation/witholding stools posted by Aimee Jones on March 14, 2003 at 10:36:19:
Hi,
A friend of mine used 2 tablespoons a day (one in the morning/ one in the eve) of BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES on a daily basis for a very long time. She said it worked like a charm on her young child and she did not need the surgery the doctors had suggested. Make sure it's Blackstrap Molasses. You get them in a healthfood store, they are different than the grocery store bought molasses.
H.B.
In Reply to: constipation/witholding stools posted by Aimee Jones on March 14, 2003 at 10:36:19:
Dear Aimee, I feel you pain and have been there with my daughter. She is now 4 and 1/2 and doing very well. I have had many questions answered on this site and I do believe it will help you also. My daughter would withhold because of the fear of it hurting or at least it started that way. The number one thing you want to do is make sure that the BM's are soft enough that she can't control them and they don't hurt. Over time she will realize that it doesn't hurt and willingly go when the urge hits. There are two things that worked for us. I would mix the regular metamucil in a muffin mix and bake muffins with that I would give her the MO and diluted juice to drink. The key is mixing the MO with the fiber (metamucil)to let it work through the system together. The MO alone helps but it is not as helpful as working it together. If you try these and it doesn't work you can as your doctor about Miralax. That worked well also when I was not successful with getting her to get the other combination together. As you know the dairy products are a huge contributing factor, if I were you I would try and limit them as much as possible. Once my daughter realized that it wouldn't hurt she did great. I still have to watch her very closely and if it seems a day or two went by without her telling me she went I break out the muffins for breakfast and but 2 in the afternoon we have usually had success. Good Luck
In Reply to: Re: constipation/witholding stools posted by ds on March 14, 2003 at 14:39:16:
Something else that you might try is getting a "juicer". Fresh apple juice or grape juice is very helpful. Also you would be surprised what other things you can fit in apple juice. If you get a fun soild colored sip cup she may not even notice a spinach leaf in the juice. :)I will take whatever I can get. :)
In Reply to: constipation/witholding stools posted by Aimee Jones on March 14, 2003 at 10:36:19:
Dear Aimee! I have been there with both my 6 yr old daughter and 4 yr old son. They have both been on Miralax for about 6 months now and we have been problem free. I still need to limit constipating foods, though. We only have milk at breakfast (7oz) and very little yogurt, cheese, etc. Mineral oil worked for me when they were withholding to help the stool "slide" but it did nothing to make stools smaller. After kids withhold a lot, the lower part of the bowel becomes reshaped and actually encourages round, hard to pass stools. The Miralax (and I imaging the Metamucil regimen, too, but I did not find this site soon enough to try that) anyway, the Miralax draws water into the bowel creating long and skinny stools which are easier to pass. This also allow the lower intestine to return to its elongated shape, which can take weeks or months. (weeks, in my case.) I am gradually weaning my kids off the Miralax, but not too quickly. I am told it is not habit forming. Another thing, I found in my kids that taking allergy or cold medicine created constipation. (These meds can dry out the intestines as well as the nasal pasages.) If they must take decongestants or antihistamines, I must increase the water they drink (hard to do) or slightly increase the dose of Miralax. My kids are both doing great and no longer fear big, hard, round stools. Both my kids started this at around age 3 and a half - my daughter suffered repeatedly for over two years until we found Miralax. Feel free to email me anytime for support, encouragement, or whatever!
In Reply to: Re: constipation/witholding stools posted by Linda on March 14, 2003 at 15:18:53:
Oh, I forgot, we are also gradually changing our family diet to include many more whole foods and even soy. I do believe our overprocessed, high in sugar and carbo diet contributed to my kids constipation. Even though my kids ate lots of fresh fruits and some veggies they still became constipated. We really need to limit all the "fun" stuff, like chocolate (especially!) sweet cereals, white breads and pastas, etc. I'm starting slow with things like cous cous, brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, etc. Good luck!
In Reply to: constipation/witholding stools posted by Aimee Jones on March 14, 2003 at 10:36:19:
Hi, Aimee.
You are not going to like what I have to say but I am not here to make you like me only to tell you what will most likely help.
You are going to have to start somewhere.
My first question is: Since when is a 3 1/2 year-old competent to know what she needs to be eating??? IF she only got whole foods, her appetite might be competent to guide her but ONLY if that is ALL she was offered. So long as she gets any empty calories her appetite will be confused and then YOU have to decide what she needs.
If you can handle this, perhaps we have enough common ground to help her.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: constipation/witholding stools posted by Linda on March 14, 2003 at 15:18:53:
Hi Aimee. Sorry to be a pest, but I know I made the offer to email me and I don't think I included my email address correctly. This time I did and I think you click on my name or something to get it. Just read the reply by Dr. Stoll, and I'm not sure I get it! I do agree that a whole foods, vegetarian diet is probably best, but since I wasn't raised that way and I didn't start out that way with my kids, IT IS VERY HARD!! I am doing my best, making gradual, permanent changes in our family diet, but I also needed a solution to my kids constipation, large stools and withholding. I have experienced that adding more fiber, etc. (all good) DOES increase the stool size (VERY BAD!) which is a problem for these young kids. More water to drink is probably the answer, but now in winter, my kids will drink nothing before they drink water. (in summer they drink water because they're hot and thirsty enough!) Anyway, in closing, I wish I had the knowledge and determination to change our diet completely, cold turkey, but the truth is, I don't. So for me, the answer to help my kids immediately has been Miralax. (again, the metamucil/mineral oil probably works, too, but I didn't know about it, and I'm not going to change now and rock the boat. besides, I'm not convinced that mineral oil every day long term is great either.) Sorry son longwinded and I hope you're not tired of hearing from me. I just wish I would have heard some of this stuff during the two years my daughter was in a terrible cycle of constipation/withholding. Best of luck to you. Linda
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