Can you prevent withholding?

[123555]

Hi, I have a little girl who has withheld her poos since she was 8 months old and is now 3 years old. We have a maintenance dose of movicol and she goes for a poo on the toilet most days, sometimes if we have a change in routine or if she's not drank enough water she will regress a bit but we can usually get her back in a routine. I finally feel like we are at the end of this really difficult journey. I'm due another baby soon and although I will wean at 6 months I was just wondering if there is anything I can do to prevent baby number 2 having withholding issues. I still don't know if my daughters withholding was because she doesn't like the sensation of pooing or if she was constipated and I didn't know about it, but she has been withholding from a very young age. I did baby led weaning with her straight from exclusively breastfeeding and probably did give her foods that are more constipating without realising (bananas, toast, rice, sweet potatoes, yoghurts ect ect)

Any advise or experience to help me would be really appreciated thanks

[CheshireMama]

Hi. I’m following for tips and advice as have a 7 month old (no constipation) but a 3 year old who is now on 1 maintenance Movicol a day.

Wondered if I could ask, does your 3yr old have 1 sachet a day? Or half? Also, does the consistency remain the same all the time?

When she had a change / regression what do you do?

We were hoping to be ending our journey too but had some withholding & then had to increase to 1,5 one day which resulted in loose stools for a week... and so it’s been a weird, slow progression. She poos 3/week atm which apparently isn’t constipation now, so fingers crossed!don’t want to increase the 1 sachet maintenance as it’s too loose when we do this.

Thank you

[123555 in reply to CheshireMama]

Hi thanks so much for the reply! My daughter currently has two sachets a day, both in the evening and does a poo most mornings. Although she does have to sit on the toilet for a good 20 to 30 mins playing games on my phone which is not ideal but we will work on that in the future.

The consistency changes all the time so sometimes it will be really soft and hold no shape and sometimes a normal sausage poo. We have tried to reduce the maintenance dose by a sachet but she ends up soiling all day because its easier for her to hold it in and go back to her withholding. So we stick with the looser poos because we thought it was better that she was emptying fully than having a 'normal' sausage poo.

If she regresses we usually up her dose by one sachet in the morning so she can't hold back. I find most of her withholding is now in nursery because they don't have the time to sit her on the toilet for so long and wait. Its frustrating because she has made so much progress at home.

We are thinking about trying alternating 1 sachet a day and then 2 sachets the next and seeing how she goes with that.

Good luck! I know how tough it can be x

[CheshireMama in reply to 123555]

Thanks for the reply, great to hear you’ve got a solution that works - nursery aside.

We use tv / iPad for the longer sits too. Like you, will address that in the future... we’ve turned a corner at nursery & she goes at nursery. But finding she isn’t a daily pooper, I was initially still stressing but I think it’s okay.

Weaning my little one I’m now more cautious re any constipating foods but I’m hopeful that she won’t copy her big sister! An excellent Instagram account for weaning & baby nutrition is @sr_nutrition xx

[JJBill]

I found with mine that weaning did take a while for their tummies to adjust. From 6 months to 1 and possibly longer, i would give less food and more milk feeds every few days, to allow their tummy to process the food. Might be worth a try if you find your second child has the same issue.

[Atz2505]

Hi, I would love to see a study on breastfed babies and constipation/withholding possibly caused by dehydration on the mother's return to work. I don't know about your situation but I'm sure this is what happened with my daughter. I'm a real diehard bf supporter so not knocking it in the slightest, but when babies refuse bottles peer support advice is usually "baby will be fine without you, having fluid from foods and will make up when you're home" etc but now I've lived through caring for a child with constipation, who has to drink an enormous amount daily to keep the bowels clear, the amount of fluid she'd miss out on while I was at work is quite worrying. Sorry just pondering but interested to know your thoughts.

[123555 in reply to Atz2505]

It's interesting you mention the breastfeeding because my theory was that she went from exclusive breast fed poos that were always runny, quite small and only every few days to then having really solid poos everyday and this was at about 8 months when she started actually taking in foods and nursing much lessI have it in my head that this sudden change in her bowel movements made her really dislike the sensation of pooing since she started this so young

Thanks for your reply and interesting to know others have their thoughts about it