Show down in the bathroom

PrairieMom wrote: We have had problems with The Boy and constipation since day one, he was on lactulose for a long tme, now he is on Miralax, but we are still having a hard time getting him to poo. he is scared that it will hurt, so he runs around all pucker-butt for days before he will finally go.

he has been potty trained for forever now, and has even been staying dry at night, but we can't get him to poo for anything!

Last night we had finally had enough, and sat him on the toilet for a good ole fashioned battle of the wills.

an hour and 45 minutes, 3 prunes, and a supository later We won!

The Dr visited with Ben about it today, so hopefully that will help, but it was suggested to me that we continue doing this bathroom battle until he will go on his own. Anyone out there been through this?

It frusterates me that he won't just poo and get it over with!

Kaitlin'smom replied: I know we have a few that have had issues and I am sure they will chime in and give you some advice. I have none just wanted to offer hugs and hope you find something that works for your family.

luvmykids replied: No advice here either, it sounds like misery for all and I hope you find something that works

luvbug00 replied: Brads little sister did this until she was almost 8. ( met her at 6.5 years old) she would cry and scream and they just had to do what your doctor said. she tried everything from prunes to enimas and for her, the smooth move tea was the only thing that worked. Granted she still fought the "prosses" but she finally learned to deal with it..She had a sincere fear of Bm'ing and now she'll still hold it in for as long as possible and is the infomous toilet clogger. Sorry to be so TMI but we are talking BM's here.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
I had a 3 year old daycare boy that had a fear of public restrooms. He would hold it in until he got home from daycare. I don't know how he did it!

I can't offer any suggestion, but I can offer a hug! That has to be tough. I guess the only thing you can do is stay strong and be consistant. Good luck! Poor guy, doesn't his belly hurt?

PrairieMom replied:
It HAS to. I have no idea how such a little person can hold it like that! he runs around panting, and wiggling, and fake crying. He says his butt hurts, which I think means his butt and belly and all that, but lately he has been complaining about his tummy too. I have no idea how a little guy can be on a daily stool softener and prunes can do that!

My2Beauties replied: Oh my goodness have I BTDT. Brenda, Jeannie, and I have all BTDT. Keep it up with the Miralax, that is a wonder treatment, without that Hanna would still be having issues to this day. It's called Toddler Withholding. It stems from a poo they could have had months prior that may have "hurt" them a little bit (due to being hard, too large, etc...) and they remember the pain associated with the poo. So the next time they have to go they hold it in for as long as possible. This causes their intestines to enlarge and the poo to compact. Eventually their little tummies learn to withstand days without going and the poo gets so hard and compact and so large that when it has nowhere else to go but out, it creates terrible painful poos for the child. Hanna did this for months before I finally came to the boards begging for help. I kept thinking this will pass this will pass. You can probably find the thread, it's in this forum probably 10 pages back or so but it's all about the same exact thing. I mean I would physically hold Hanna down while she was screaming and smacking until she finally went to the bathroom, this would go on for days at a time that she would run around and every 2-3 minutes she would get this horrific look on her face and close her butt cheeks really tight. She started to create small bowel movement in her underwear, looked like "streaks" in her panties all the time and it was just a huge mess. There is a medical term for what I just described, I'll have to find the article I read on it. Jeannie and Brenda have all kinds of information on it because we've all had these issues and they turned me onto the Miralax and also Milk of Magnesia helps a great bit too. Every once in a while Hanna still holds true to her poopy withdrawal days but for the most part, I'd say 95% of the time, she has no problem going and we're one big happy family. I mean we were so miserable, sometimes for days at a time, when she had her episodes. I mean she would go 7 days without pooping. It was awful! The Mirilax will obviously soften it and eventually he will realize that pooping doesn't hurt anymore and he'll ease into going more frequently. We don't even have to give Hanna any Miralax anymore. Maybe once a month or so if she hasn't went in a couple of days, I put it in a cup and she goes right on. PM me if you have anymore questions. I'm here for you because boy I feel your pain!

PrairieMom replied: I have heard a lot about that too. We call it Poo hoarding. I was so worried he would have this problem when he started getting constipated when he was just a tiny infant. They just kept telling me that he was fine and it was nothing to worry about. How fruserating. I KNEW this was going to happen. I;m really looking foward to our next battle tonight.

A&A'smommy replied: ugh thats awful!!! I hope you get it fixed soon poor thing!!!

amynicole21 replied: Sopha did this, too... not to the extent of Jama, Hannah or Corey, but it was bad. She would turn into a raving lunatic when she had to go. Screaming and freaking out. We had to hold her on the potty, too... it sucked. After a few non-painful poops she got over it, but it took about 9 months of that before we were in the clear. I hope you can get him through this without too much suffering.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I'm so sorry...I hope it gets easier for all of you.

Jamison'smama replied: Goodness, I just saw this. Oh I feel your pain also! We went through months of this---I think I filled my PM box conversing with Jeanne--then shared with LeaAnn. It is horrible--It was for the entire family. Jama's personality would change, she would get cranky and irritable a couple of days into it. The "poopy dance" that lasted for days. It was horrendous. My biggest suggestion is increase the Glycolax/Mirilax as much as you need to get it under control Jamison would take up to 3/4 capfull per day--then we gradually decreased the amount. Eventually we were able to decrease the days but she was on it for months before we decreased it and a year before we stopped. If you can, get him to go once, get that medication going and try not to battle. I will link the thread at the end because it may have some helpful information from all of the lucky few of us who've been there.

Here is one thread.

and here is another.

Hugs