4 year old constipated - starting school, to scared to use toilet and wants to stay in nappies

[Mummy76]

Hi,

My 4 year old has suffered with constipation since she was weeks old. I’ve been back and fourth to the GP, she was only referred to a Paediatrician in January this year who basically gave her some tablets that she was unable to take, and they were absolutely gross, they either made her sick or she could taste them so spat them out. He also gave her a 7 day course of some cream to help her sore bottom! I was then advised by my GP that I could give her lactoluse in a drink which she shouldn’t be able to taste, because she wouldn’t take movicol either, so that’s what I did and she emptied her bowels after 3 weeks of not going! The Paediatrician called after 6 weeks and because I told him she managed to empty her bowels he has discharged her and referred her back to the GP. I am now giving her 15ml of lactoluse every morning in an actimil probiotic drink because that’s all she will drink apart from water because she thinks I’m putting something in other drinks. She also gets water infections on a regular basis so when she has one, she doesn’t want to drink anything because she thinks if she drinks she will have to do a wee so it’s really hard to get her to drink properly.

So she started school last week and they have put her on a care plan because I said she was not properly toilet trained because she has overflow poo ‘small squirts’ up to 10 times an hour if she’s in knickers. They did not want her in nappies or pull-ups and wanted her to go with lots of changes of clothes.

The teacher spoke to me on Friday and said she thinks my daughter does not get any sensation when she needs a poo, which I disagree with because she tells me she needs a poo but she is now petrified to wear knickers and says she’s not going to school because she wants to stay home and wear a nappy. I do put her in nappies when we go out because I can’t take her to town for example if she’s constantly pooping if she has knickers on.

This is breaking my heart seeing her suffer everyday, she is not able to enjoy life. It is having a massive impact on my 7 year old because my daughter constantly needs my attention which he is causing him issues. Its affecting mine and my partners relationship because she doesn’t sleep at night because she’s uncomfortable which affects my stress levels because I don’t get any sleep.

I am due to speak to the GP again on Monday but can anyone offer me any advice or your experiences or anything I should be asking the GP.

Thank you so much!

[Yaleamanda]

It actually sounds like she is withholding, you really need to disimpact him her fully.

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[Mummy76 in reply to Yaleamanda]

Thank you for your reply

[mabelrose4]

Hi there,

What a mess for you . I can really feel your upset with all this . It sounds to me like you have a few different issues going on,.

Have you spoken to anyone on the help line at ERIC . It takes a while to get through , but they are so helpful when you do.

What were the tablets for ? My daughter was recently prescribed Tindazole which are huge , awful tasting tablets but they solved 80 percent of her tummy issues . She has also been put on liquid Parrafin which is helping her have a bowel movement every day .

From the comments on here , what is obvious is the lack of help within the NHS for these issues . Some people have gone to their local bladder / bowel clinic . Do you have one near you ? That maybe a better route .

My child is 10 and we are still not really 100 percent .. but I only started putting the pressure on last year when she developed horrendous stomach pain along with impactions, and an ongoing bed wetting at night issue .

Just keep going , as she is so young .. and the younger they are the better in some ways .

I’m not sure if any of the above will help but just wanted to reply as a bit of support for you.

[Mummy76 in reply to mabelrose4]

Hi thank you for your reply, I have spoken to the gp today and they are going to refer my daughter to the paediatrician again, she also wants to see her tomorrow to check her over. She wants me to try her on laxido again in the hope that she has forgotten about the previous attempts! So we can try and get her to empty her bowel. The tablets were Bisacodyl. So fingers crossed something works for her because she is not enjoying school bless her. I hope your daughter overcomes her problems soon, poor thing it’s not nice seeing your children in pain.

[StellaA]

Are you letting her wear nappies to school or will the school not allow it?

I seems cruel to force a child with bowel leakage to wear regular knickers and soil herself around the other children in her class, she will miss significant amounts of class time to get cleaned up, further affecting her education.

I hope your call with the gp goes well.

[Mummy76 in reply to StellaA]

Hi, thank you for your reply. The school will not allow her to wear nappies and I feel very upset about it but I’m hoping we might get somewhere now (Fingers crosses!)

[mabelrose4]

Well maybe a note from the GP to the school would help ?

[Mummy76 in reply to mabelrose4]

Thanks you for your reply, that’s not a bad idea, I will have a word with the gp today when I take her in.