3 year old afraid to do poo-poo

fitzie79

i have a 3 year old girl who is afraid to do number 2's. I say afraid as I don't believe it's constipation. She would usually only have gone every 2 or 3 days since she was out of nappies but recently it's been pushing out to every 4 to 6 days. When she does eventually go it's because she can't hold it in any longer but it has drawn blood on a few occasions. I'm afraid that it's a vicious circle as the longer she holds it in the more it hurts

We have her on Lactose for the past 6 weeks. Initially it seemed to work and she was back to going every 2 days and there was no pain but recently it's pushed back to 5/6 days. She eats a small box of raisins every day and eats a reasonable amount of fruit (Kiwi, melon, apple and some banana (but not much)). She's not a great eater of veg but does eat wholemeal bread for us and brown pitta breads.

I'm not sure what to try next. We tried prune juice before but it was too strong. As well as her diet I've tried both the carrot and stick approach but nothing has worked so far. Any ideas welcome!

LegacyUser

I have to recommend milled linseed, you can buy it in aldi ( where the cereals are) and just add a tablespoon into her breakfast ( wheatabix, porridge or readybrek are ideal) or any food will easily conceal it. Once you make sure she drinks plenty of fluid it will bulk up her stool so that she will feel the urge to go more. When she is going more often reduce the amount you use just to keep her regular. It is full of omega goodness so will benefit her anyway!

Horrible to see them having issues with poo, went through hell with my eldest
boy when he was tiny but linseed was my magic cure!

Penny Dreadful

fitzie79 wrote: »

i have a 3 year old girl who is afraid to do number 2's. I say afraid as I don't believe it's constipation. She would usually only have gone every 2 or 3 days since she was out of nappies but recently it's been pushing out to every 4 to 6 days. When she does eventually go it's because she can't hold it in any longer but it has drawn blood on a few occasions. I'm afraid that it's a vicious circle as the longer she holds it in the more it hurts

We have her on Lactose for the past 6 weeks. Initially it seemed to work and she was back to going every 2 days and there was no pain but recently it's pushed back to 5/6 days. She eats a small box of raisins every day and eats a reasonable amount of fruit (Kiwi, melon, apple and some banana (but not much)). She's not a great eater of veg but does eat wholemeal bread for us and brown pitta breads.

I'm not sure what to try next. We tried prune juice before but it was too strong. As well as her diet I've tried both the carrot and stick approach but nothing has worked so far. Any ideas welcome!

Does she drink a lot of water? If not that could be contributing towards a degree of constipation. Also, if her diet is very high in fibre then her bowel movements will be quite hard and possibly uncomfortable for her to pass.
You could also try some seeds (flax seed for example, or pine nuts) with her breakfast cereal or mixed in with fruit and natural yoghurt.

fitzie79

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

Does she drink a lot of water? If not that could be contributing towards a degree of constipation. Also, if her diet is very high in fibre then her bowel movements will be quite hard and possibly uncomfortable for her to pass.
You could also try some seeds (flax seed for example, or pine nuts) with her breakfast cereal or mixed in with fruit and natural yoghurt.

yes. drinks quite a bit during the day. maybe a lot of fibre - she has a good bit of fruit and will eat veg. bread is wholemeal and brown pitta breads etc. had thought lots of fibre was the way to go but interesting that this might be causing a problem

Penny Dreadful

fitzie79 wrote: »

yes. drinks quite a bit during the day. maybe a lot of fibre - she has a good bit of fruit and will eat veg. bread is wholemeal and brown pitta breads etc. had thought lots of fibre was the way to go but interesting that this might be causing a problem

Too much fibre can cause the movement to be very hard and so it is painful to pass. Water could help to soften it.

Clearlier

Even every 2-3 days is pretty infrequent IMO. I expect my kids to go 6 days out of 7. We went on holiday with my eldest when he was quite young (3 as well I think but not sure) and his diet was quite different which meant he went less often, it got very hard for him to go and he tried to avoid until he couldn't avoid it. This continued after we came home even though his diet returned to normal, and culminated in a minor tear. Our GP gave us something to ease it out and although messy for a few days he lost his fear and everything went back to normal.

Hope you can get it sorted soon. It's not a pleasant experience.