don't know how to get her to pooh!!!!

[peppa]

Horrible subject but its really upsetting me now, dd is holding in her pooh! She squats, crosses her legs and squeezes her bottom cheeks together.

She can sometimes be trying that desperatley to keep it in that she goes bright red in the face and her whole body judders. Last week she went 8 days without doing one, and she hasn't done one now since wednesday.

 

Were now at the point that when she squeezes it in its beginning to come out in a small watery splat that has made her bottom so raw and bleeding which in turn makes her more reluctant to go.

 

She has been terrible today and is now at the point where its beginning to back up and come out the other end making her sick( think this was added to by a short car journey).

 

I took her to the doctors again about this on wednesday last week and was told theres nothing that can be done its just a toilet training issue! and given cream to put on her.

 

The only advice anyone has given me is "give her lactolose, syrup of figs etc, but shes not actually constipated, so this may only make the problem worse.

 

We have a sticker reward chart for toileting with extra special (peppa pig stickers) for number 2s, ive tried bribery, encouragement, comforting, etc etc and don't know what else to do, she won't go to the toilet anymore and gets so upset if i pick her up and take her when i see her squatting, she just becomes rigid and won't sit on toilet or the potty.

 

Don't like to see her so distressed and in pain but don't know what else to do.

 

Not the usual type of thread on here i know, but its really getting to me now, if anyone has any helpful suggestions i would be sooooo grateful.

Going to take her back to doctors if i can get in tomorrow or asap, cause feel there must be something else that can be done, aaargghhh!!

[JoolieDoolie]

hi ya, how old is your daughter? would she let you use glycerine suppositories? Rather invasive, i know, but they do work really well, when feeling "bunged up"!

[Cat]

My son has always passed cannon balls making his bottom very sore. He only goes to the loo for a pooh about once every five days but this is normal for him. I used to worry but I don't now. We use magic cream in our house also known as Vaseline. If he is having a really bad time I put the vaseline in some loo paper and wipe his bot with oddles of the stuff and it helps him. He is ten now and would seriously injure me if he knew I was making this post but I know how you feel. I would have thought that they need to give you something to get rid of the bulk and then you could try something like the Vaseline so that it is not so much of an effort for your daughter going to the loo. My son is in a total panic if we run out of the suff.

 

Cat

[JsMum]

She may be in pain when the muscles in her bottom squezze, there is also possible tears or fissures that cause considerable pain, and thats what she is resisting here if she has fissures.

 

A look at her diet may help with softening her stool, so its not so stretched, so pure fruit juice, this could be smoothies, mash potatoes, fresh meat sandwhiches and switch to wholemeal bread instead of white bread.

 

soups, with fresh vegetables are great, lots of water, apple juice ect,,,,

 

It could be she has a combination of constipation and loose stool.

 

Swimming regular will help the abdemen move better, and plenty of warm baths in the early evening to get the abdemen warm and soft.

 

I would give it another week and then if things havent improoved with her stool I would go back to the gp and explain it all again.

 

JsMum

Edited March 18, 2007 by JsMum

[peppa]

Thanks guys,

 

Jooliedoolie,

DD is 3yrs 8mnth, don't know if suppositries would work as she won't even let me near bottom now without a fight, but id give it a try.

 

Cat,

When dd does go she also is like cannon balls! can't use vaseline as she is allergic, have tried most creams doc can give but she is allergic to most, she has excema behind ear as well which we struggle with creams.

Ive been putting zinc and castor oil on at the moment, don't know what other ingrediants are in it, so don't know if thats helping or adding to soreness at the mo. She's also allergic to the fibres in toilet paper and wet wipes so have to use flannels a lot, also have to machine wash them and underwear twice and boil wash them all incase she reacts to washing powder but we seem to have sussed that one now and found a powder/softner combo that shes ok with. Bit of a nitemare really as don't know when im making things worse for her poor babes!

 

Jsmum

DD has always had a pretty healthy diet, I do the slimmingworld plan, so eating is fairly similar to your suggestions, have trouble getting her to drink enough though, which i think could be a huge contributory factor.

I bathe her each night which does seem to help soothe whilst she's in there but begins again as soon as she comes out, like your idea of swimming though, think i'll give that a go if we can arrange a lift, as nearest one is 5 miles away and i don't drive!! Got to get that organised!!!

Just done a google search and it appears a common problem with autistics, i hadn't realised.

She had reflux as a baby and had to change formulas 4 times until it began to settle so maybe theres a dietry connection.

She also has what looks like a small anal tag but docs weren't concerned (can be remarkably fague and blase at times) I wondered about fissures and tears

 

Going to give all your suggestions a try, hopefully something will help a little, thanks loads guys, sounds silly in the scheme of problems we face day to day, but hate seeing her in such pain xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[lorryw]

I would persevere with the lactolose. It softens the motions which make them easier to pass and helps to break the cycle.

[aro]

The loose watery poo if called something like "reflux"? and it is due to constipation. The matter behind the blockage liquifies and seeps past.

I think I would try the lactulose. Also a nice warm bath then put her on the loo.

 

Good luck,

A x

[JsMum]

How I got J to drink more is dress up his drinks with funky shaped ice cubes, straws and then a stiring spoon, you could add little lemons and oragnes on the side of the glass, I undestand she is only 3 so you could put it into little plastic glasses.

 

If she is a little young for this and she likes her water really cold is in wilkinsons they sell these bottle that have a tube that you place in the freezer then when its frozen you place into the bottle and its got a nozzle to drink out of with a lid to place on when they ar not drinking, a little pricey but for J its been great to get him to drink enough fluids down him.

 

Bottled water may also be nicer to drink than tap water, J has real issues drinking certain water, if its too warm, or has a metalic taste, or just doesnt taste right, so we have been throw the whole water saga and the water bottle with the frozen compartment has really helped.

 

so just wanted to share these suggestions.

 

Hope you dont mind.

 

JsMum

[baddad]

Hi Peppa -

 

One thing you could try is to get your daughter out of bed when she's asleep and toilet her then... My son's situation was slightly different (he had a bowel prob related to dairy intolerance causing severe vomiting too - WELL worth checking out dairy intolerance if you think it might be a factor, BTW!), but when he was severely constipated and trying to retain because of the pain it induced I would often find that half asleep meant muscles were more relaxed. I'd give him prunes or senna late afternoon/early evening and hoik him out of bed at about midnight as gently as possible...

 

Lactulose and fybogel were no help whatsoever - he'd just 'leak' as a consequence inducing soreness which made him even more reluctant to poo, and they didn't do anything to resolve the core problem which was milk proteins turning his stools to a solid mass. He gave some really amazing demonstrations of 'solid vomiting' I can tell you, which went down really well in Maccy D's!

 

Years later, if we ever go back to the town we used to live in he loves to tour the local eateries with me telling him where and how often he upchucked!

 

 

 

Wish you well with it, and keep on at those professionals because this is NOT the 'usual' toileting issues...

 

Oh - another thing that encouraged my son once he could face sitting on the loo was the 'tale of the lonely turd'... The story was basically that all the turds used to meet up at the seasdie at the end of the toilet pipe for a party, and that a turd trapped in a little boys (or girls) tummy wouldn't be able to go to the party and would feel sad and lonely ...*

 

When he DID deliver the goods we would wave the happy little plop goodbye as we flushed the toilet and 'listen' as it sped joyfully away down the U bend (picture the river rapids at Butlins!)...

 

 

 

Hope that helps

 

L&P

 

BD

 

 

 

 

 

* Sometimes i know just how he felt!

 

Just had a thought... If any budding artists out there want to have a crack at some artwork I'll knock up a PDF file of the story and bung a link in the batcave! c.2000 Baddad Enterprises inc.

[Kathryn]

The story was basically that all the turds used to meet up at the seaside at the end of the toilet pipe for a party,

 

That's the Labour party conference, isn't it?

 

K x

[barefoot wend]

Peppa

 

I'd be tempted to just bung a load of newspaper under her when she's squatting - perhaps she'll at least then get used to the whole sensation. Gradually, you could then move on to putting a potty next to her skin and then, hopefuly, when she's happy with this, she might sit on the potty?

 

Good luck.

 

Barefoot

[Clare63]

Poor little lamb, she obviously has expereinced pain in going to the loo which has totally put her off. My GP gave us Fybogel Natural Fibre Drink to help regulate my DS's toilet problems, it gently relieves constipation but more importantly in my son's case regulated his need to use the toilet, he felt he needed to go all the time, sort of the opposite to your DD. Under 6 should only take under medical advice. On the box it says itis recommended to help maintain a "normal" bowel function among patients suffering from IBS, haemorrhoids, anal fissure, constipation or persistant diarrhoea.

Like others have said this is not a usual toilet problem and I think once you have tried more fluids and fibre you should go back to your GP. It may possibly be due to allery or intolerence.

Good luck and hope you manage to resolve this very soon.

Clare x

<'> <'> <'>

[baddad]

That's the Labour party conference, isn't it?

 

K x

 

 

 

(Don's sparkly suit and 'buggles' glasses...

 

Wooh, a? a? Little bit of politics, a? a?... Thatch, eh? Tuh!)

 

 

 

Sorry, peppa, for hi-jacking your thread... You'll see I did offer some sensible stuff above... I will now exit and let it get back on subject!

 

L&P

 

BD

[oxgirl]

Peppa, I know it might seem like a step backwards, but would she prefer to go back to doing it in a nappy for a while until she feels ready to make the jump to the toilet again? Is it a toilet anxiety thing? Maybe if you went right back and she could become comfortable with regularly pooing again in a nappy, then she might be able to move on to the next step again at a later date.

 

Just a thought. Good luck, this must be so distressing to see. <'>

 

~ Mel ~

[peppa]

Thanks everyone, some really good advice thanks.

Like the idea of the ice cubes and glass js mum, we live just round the corner from a wilkinsons so will have a look tomorrow hopefully.

Did consider wether it could be a intolerance to lactolose due to the early feeding problems we had with formula milk and reflux.

Yesterday she was holding it in so much she ended up being sick.

Put a pull up on her in the end today but she wasn't keen, kept saying im not a baby anymore.

 

She finally had a motion today after five changes of underwear and lots of leaking! it was only small though considering she's only done two in a fortnight. She couldn't hardly sit down or walk today and was hysterical just being touched, so i got an emergency appointment at the docs this afternoon.

Ive been told to increase her lactolose to 3 times a day and if she hasn't returned to normal motions by next wednesday, to go back and she'll be refered to a specialist. So suppose thats fair enough and fingers crossed!

Going to give all suggestions a go, really appreciate everyone taking the time to offer their help and support, thanks guys.

[Kathryn]

Hi peppa

 

I hope something works soon, it must be so uncomfortable for her.

 

(it was me, not BD, who hijacked the thread - sorry!)

 

K x

[Hamble]

Hi Peppa

I'm new and haven't yet introduced myself but we had a similar problem when my son was 2. The GP prescribed lactulose and it didn't work and suppositories but they didn't solve the problem. The HV told me to get him to refer us to the constipation clinic. He didn't even know it existed. The nurse there prescribed him with Movicol Paediatric Plain which is a powder to mix in with water. It worked within days and he took it on gradually reduced doses over 6 months.

I hope things get sorted out.

Hamble

[peppa]

Thanks hamble and welcome to the forum, so glad that i joined just wish i'd found it earlier, hope you find it as informative and friendly as i have).

 

Gp did say if lactolose hasnt worked by next wednesday then she will refer her on to a specialist, lactolose doesnt seem to be making a difference at the moment, she's still holding it back!

Reassuring though to know its likely to improve in time, thanks again.