So, poor Ellie is constipated. (See, not for the faint of heart, this is one of those Mommy-Blog-poop posts).
This has never happened to her before, and it's heartbreaking to see her in pain and so very, very confused and upset by the betrayal of her body. She's just moaned and sobbed out all day, "My bum hurts." I don't really know what to do to help her. I've let her spend the afternoon playing in the bathtub, where she seems to be distracted from her pain the majority of the time. But every five minutes or so, she'll suddenly cry out, hop out of the tub and we'll sit her down on her potty and I'll 'coach' her through trying to go to the bathroom. It's sad, she writhes around a bit, breaks into tears then climbs back into the bathtub defeated. This last time though, I was sitting on the floor next to her potty and explaining that she was going to have to push the poop out . . . she exerted her best effort, writhed around in pain, then sadly looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I just can't do this anymore. You do it now?"
Broke my heart. And made me almost laugh out loud. Is that bad?
(So, anyone have any great getting-kids-through-constipation-tips? Seriously, my children have NEVER dealt with this and I feel just helpless!)
9 comments:
I am Bobbi's cousin and happen to see your blog. I have a 2 1/2 yr old who gets like this sometimes. I use pedi-lax, it really helps her when she is plugged up. My doctor suggested to not use it all the time, just when she is way plugged since I guess it's habit forming. Just a suggestion on something that works for us.
Poor Ellie! It must be going around.... We had a constipated little girl here too.... We did a glycerin suppository followed by prune juice.... Seemed to do the trick!
I have a blog award to pass along and after reading through your blog posts I really think you deserve it! :)
Feel free to pick it up at:
http://grammytsamazingadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/guess-what-this-is-award-i-just-from.html
Hope you'll enjoy my blog, too!
Aw, poor Ellie!
But I can totally relate to the coaching part. I totally felt like a doula telling Eva, "Take deep breaths, you can do it..." when she was having trouble pooping several months ago. :-)
Both of my kids have dealt with this. I would suggest the suppository also. Good Luck! I know how miserable it can be.
I give my kids a can or two of mandarin oranges when this happens. Maybe we're weird, but it seems to clear them right out.
I love how everyone has a "try this" suggestion! And I am no different! A side effect of Magnesium is diarrhea. Which in general is not so great, but every time my kiddos have had this very problem, I break open a magnesium pill and put about 1/4 of the powder in a sippy cup and just wait for the side effects to kick in. In less then 30 min, they are on the potty, happy as can be. Works every time for the Triplett kids.
Miralax is wonderful too. Whitney has constant constipation problems, so she is on it daily, but you can give her a big doasage to help soften the stool. It is tastless and you just put it in milk or water. Just make sure you stir it well and wait for it to dissolve. Hope things go better soon!
I don't know if this is too late, but my daughter went through the same thing when she was around 2 years old. I made her smoothies with coconut milk in it. And it worked like a charm. She did not want to drink the smoothie however so I put it in a medicine dropper and told her it was medicine to help her poop!Hope you are doing great Hilary!
Post a Comment