So my 4yo is whining about not being able to poo and her lower belly hurting. Whining a lot in some cases. I’m 98% sure she’s just over tired and a bit hysterical, since she is a bit prone to that, but is there a risk that something badly urgent is wrong and she’s going to die horribly because we didn’t take her to hospital? Can you rupture your colon this way?

Currently sleeping now which is a good sign I suppose.

Hang on. I thought your family was going through the opposite of constipation at the moment?

….yes, I am an avid subscriber to the Molgrips soap opera 8)

Squeeze her really hard and see what happens?*

*don’t do this.

Hang on. I thought your family was going through the opposite of constipation at the moment?

Lol.. yeah so did I.. it’s been a ridiculous week. I think we’ve all puked up so much we’ve upset our gut flora. Now my wife’s puking, I’m knackered, my eldest is whining continuously and my youngest is trying to secure an equal amount of attention to her sister.

And I’ve taken holiday this week…

Sit her on the toilet and sit with her till something happens.

Or go to a pharmacy and get something to loosen it up.

Raisins, that is all.

111

Prune juice mixed in with something more palatable to a 4yr old. Works everytime for ours.

We’ve been as far as taking ours to A&E, thinking it was appendicitis. Turns out they just needed a big fart/poo.

Prunes?

Prune juice mixed in with something more palatable to a 4yr old. Works everytime for ours.

You can boil dried prunes, then use the water to make something else. We used to make up our eldest’s dried baby cereal stuff with this when she was younger and got a bit bunged up.

Or make her her an espresso

Make sure she is well hydrated, lot of fruit and veg in the diet helps keep everything moist on the way thriugh but if she doesnt drink enough she’ll stilk struggle even with loads of fibre.

In smaller babies and toddlers they say gently rubbing their tummies along the large intestine can stimmulate them. Thats from the bottom right side of the abdomen up to the ribs across to the left and down the left hand side – it seemed to help one of mine when he was little – worth a go if she will let you

My 6 year old has been taking Lactulose once a day for the last week and it has done the trick – had the same problem.

When I have a problem I find it best to write it down, that way I can work it out with a pencil.

U want me to dig out the Picolax thread?

After suffering with a two year old with constipation it really does become a viscous circle. She ended up under the consultant for 18 months. The main problem becomes psychological because when she did go it hurt like hell especially after a week of brewing it, unfortunately even at 2 she associated pain with poo. You need to get her to go ASAP and lactulose is a good start.

Little bit of orange juice washed down, worked for when my son used to suffer it.

We’ve had to use Dulcalax suppositories to help our 8 month to go. He gets really ratty when constipated !

Inside Health on Radio 4 covered this very topic last night.
Still available to listen to.

Newcastle Brown ale 😀

Movicol paediatric FTW. Not sure if it’s available from a GP. We got some from a consultant my son was referred to.

They need to be taking on more liquids.

eric.org.uk

my eldest (3.5) went through this for a few weeks.. we simply tought he didn’t fancy pooping at daycare so was backing up and prune juice etc etc woudl sort him.
Turns out after a week of him ‘whining’ (turns out he was genuinely in pain – not just avoiding bed time) we had him down the docs..
He’d gone and got himself impacted bowels…. but caught before any major.
Xray to diagnose, suppositories and close on a month of laxatives later and he now goes when he gets ‘first askings’
We felt like pretty crappy parents!
Upon reading up on what diet for best intestinal/bowel health… yep.. all of that is what he’s already eating!

Turns out however that he actually had Giardia.. and that was likely the problem.
Stool samples with kids are fun fun un!

Have you tried pulling her finger? 😉

Give her a pint of Theakston’s Old Peculier – it never fails with me.

Failing that, all the Haribos out of your last Wiggle parcel.

miketually – Member
We’ve been as far as taking ours to A&E, thinking it was appendicitis. Turns out they just needed a big fart/poo.

Had the same a day before going on holiday at around 1am… That was fun.

Some kids get constipated because they just don’t drink enough water/fluids but unlike adults don’t really respond to feeling thirsty.

dig it out with a stick

Prune juice, raisins, plenty of fluids

far too young for a strong coffee

And I’ve taken holiday this week…

If you’ve been sick then you can do a holiday/sick day switcheroo and get your holiday days back.

I find 6 pints of Guinness and a curry do the job for me, maybe your little on want to try it 😆

Apples seem to do the trick with my kids…

Califig from the Chemist.
Worked wonders with our 3 year old last year.

Be prepared for a bit of a mess though. 😯

Thanks for all the widely known folk remedies. It’s not what I asked, but thanks all the same.

Did you hear about the constipated mathematician…

Yes, I did. Many times.

I have all this fun to look forward to (1 year old who never stops pooping). I’ve no idea in regards the possibility of colon rupture. Re-call my mum would shove raisins/prunes down us and make us lie on our fronts.

Much wind would follow, we never died (or if we did we got better).

Movicol paediatric FTW. Not sure if it’s available from a GP. We got some from a consultant my son was referred to.

This, it can be prescribed by a GP.

Lie her on her back and do the bicycle legs thing (plus plenty of fluid). Fruit wise, we found pears worked better than apples. Worked for my son who also had problems in this department.

If not, a coffee and a cigarette will sort her out – works for me.

My lad was the same a few weeks back. Doctors said its pretty common amongst kids. took about a week for him to have a shit. It was like a broom handle when it finally came out, had to snap it in 2 to flush the thing. 😯

In the end she was just hysterical. Lactulose and me finally persuading her to give up, go to sleep and try again in the morning.

Heard the radio 4 programme yesterday, defo worth a listen
Really important to tackle as early as poss