3 year old girl holding poo in

[laaloo89]

My little girl is three and a half, always has a high fibre diet,active and drinks plenty. She has never pood on a daily basis since potty training and over the last year it went to every two or three days. The last six months she started holding it in and it got to the point a couple of weeks ago when we had to use movicol daily to remove the impaction. Shes on a maintenance dose of lactulose twice a day and senna in an evening. She hasnt been in nearly a week again now. Her tummy is big and round again. She wakes in the night and her behaviour is awful. I think its all behavioural....the poo holding that is. Im at my wits end trying to get her to even attempt a poo. She wont sit any longer than for a wee. We've tried bubble blowing, sticker charts,bribery!help

[SallyCal]

It could be fear to go from the early stages and then painful now as she is holding it for so long. Does it hurt when she goes? It was definately psychological for our daughter who started to withhold at age 4 after a painful constipation episode. She was scared to poo as it had hurt once and then by holding it in and the poo getting bigger and harder it would hurt again when she did go and that reinforced the message that poos hurt and we were in a vicious circle. We tried improving diet, increasing water intake, blowing bubbles, reward charts but the only thing that worked for her was regular Movicol. Once she had soft poos for quite a few weeks she started to realise it didn't hurt and was happier about going. It took us until after she was 5 to realise this and get the Movicol so I know how horrible it is and how it can rule your life. She is now 6 next week and she has a maintenance dose of Movicol still bit she is happily pooing on her own and is a changed person. I hope this info helps and best of luck. Xx

[laaloo89 in reply to SallyCal]

I definitely think this has whats happened with her, her maintainance dose is 5ml lactulose twice a day and 2.5 ml senna on an evening. Im not sure if this is correct or if movicol needs to be in the mix? She hasnt actually pood this week on that maintenance dose so im not sure and she's got a pop belly again. Im certain its affecting her behaviour as it all coincides!

[SallyCal in reply to laaloo89]

We used Lactulose for a year and it didn't work for us at all. It was only when we went onto Movicol that we saw a change. We didn't have to do a disimpaction but got up to 4 sachets a day to get really loose poo (cow pat) so she couldn't hold it in anymore and then slowly reduced it and now she has 1 sachet 3 times a week. Our daughter has been on Movicol for nearly a year now but things are really good. We had huge behaviour problems. She stopped eating when she was needing a poo, wouldn't have a bath as she knew it would make her need to go, she was grumpy and defiant. Everything was an argument and I will be honest I found it hard not to get frustrated as it just seemed simple, poo everyday and it won't hurt! But in her little world pooing was so scary so just couldn't do it on her own. The behaviour improved massively and now she is just a normal troublesome 6 year old! Lol xx

[laaloo89 in reply to SallyCal]

Thanks so much! Sounds just like our little girl and its so hard not to get cross with her! Im going to take her doctor again next week to see about using movicol as a maintenance med rather than lactulose

[SallyCal in reply to laaloo89]

Good luck and let us know how you both get on. Xxx

[laaloo89 in reply to SallyCal]

I've started using movicol as a daily maintenance dose instead of lactulose and we've had two successful movements this week without too much fuss!!

[SallyCal in reply to laaloo89]

Thats fantastic news. So happy for you and your little girl. I hope it carries on like this. Xx