Yup. The poor kid has to endure the hardness of her stools that she bursts into tears at the pain of it.
And she pushes hard too. To the extent that today, Grandma told me that there was a spot of blood on her pants.
The poor kid does eat her greens, and a great variety of them too, by the way. I also believe she drinks enough water too, and I encourage her to when I am with her. But yet she still has hard ones. Over the weekend I have had the “privilege” of sitting by her to chat with her while she had to go (I usually do this while waiting to subsequently wash her up). Three sessions / days in a row she was in loud tears as a result of the pain during pushing / passing.
Grandma is going to start buying again some prunes for her to eat. I have also suggested that she get some papaya too- the former being super fibrous, the latter being something of a laxative (some family members of mine have had to experience this after enjoying too much of it!)
What do you feed your kids to ease this inhibition? I don’t want to start relying on anything artificial like medication or suppositories. Rather I prefer something totally natural that could even become part of her usual diet.
Caitlin on the dunny having a chat with Daddee. I will spare her some dignity in future, promise!
8 responses so far ↓
1 ladybughugs // Jul 9, 2008 at 2:00 AM
Apple juice. I had to switch Lil’bug to white grape juice because her stool was too loose. The pediatrician said it was the sugar in apple juice, which is counterintuitive because apples are supposed to help with the runs.
Stay away from bananas, rice, apples/applesauce, toast, milk/dairy.
Raisins, maybe? Too much of any fruit gave us trouble with loose stools.
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2 Ann // Jul 9, 2008 at 8:05 AM
Apples, I agree too. And of course that is the ABC in yogurt!
I take alot of yogurt actually and apples and prunes and papaya since constipation is a problem with me too.
But there are some days when water, enough oil and jumping exercises also does wonders.
3 Moomykin // Jul 10, 2008 at 2:52 AM
For kids: I would say fruit juices… but I honestly don’t know.
Micah sometimes had very hard stool and sometimes soft ones, but he eats the same all the time. Only when he feels rather poorly and drinks milk as meal replacements that he actually gets loose stool.
Max eats everything and occasionally still has hard stool.
So I can’t tell…
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4 hissychick // Jul 10, 2008 at 8:18 AM
Prunes are great. Just one is usually enough. Rockmelon also seems to be very effective.
Another thing: are there any iron fortified foods in her diet? Iron supplements are notorious for hardening things up so as to speak
One other thing to think about is that it isn’t always the diet. If Caitlin has had a couple of bad experiences she may be holding off as long as possible, which dries out the stools which makes it more painful and so on…
In this case Parachoc or the like (liquid paraffin based stool sofetner can help). It doesn’t make them go, rather it softens up what is there to make it easier to pass.
Last resort are glycerin suppositories…
The things we have to do for our kids.
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5 Daddee // Jul 10, 2008 at 9:20 AM
Thanks again, ladies, for your feedback here, too. Certainly some valuable knowledge and experience for us to learn.
Last night, as desert, Caitlin has had some papayas. So let’s see how she goes today. Grandma has also bought some prunes yesterday, which she is likely to start getting Caitlin to chow down today; which she does like anyway (what food doesn’t she like??)
Think it was last year that Hot Mummee once had to help Caitlin using her finger- yeah, that bad, or hard. Apparently it just wouldn’t budge and Caitlin was in agony.
Hope that won’t ever have to repeat, for anyone…
Caitlin doesn’t take any supplements. So it is really just the usual solid food diet that is suspicious, or helpful. She does still take her milk formula 3-4 times a day, but all these are nothing out of the ordinary for the longest time… perhaps that in itself is the “problem”.
Also, I don’t recall her “holding back” her pee or poop just because, either because of being in the middle of play, or due to any bad experience. She is one that will actually drop almost anything (even during mealtime!) and declare that she needs to go; which, on the flipside, can be a hassle when we are out in restaurants that don’t ensure hygiene / cleanliness or their public loos.
Will come back here to report on how she is doing, and also get Hot Mummee to read these suggestions.
6 Daddee // Jul 14, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Yesterday Grandma said there was again a spot of blood on her shorts and in the toilet bowl. But this evening Caitlin is better; was again with her when she needed to go, and checked the bowl afterwards and it was ok.
I had also earlier emailed Dr Pixie, and this is what she said:
Give her some stool softner, ie, duphalac ( lactulose ) 10 ml daily every morning for 3 days then alternate mornings for 2 times then stop. This is to relieve the hard stools stuck at the bottom and not obstruct the softer ones on top waiting to come through.
For me this would be the last resort; I think the prunes are “working”.
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