When your child has habitual constipation....parenting woes

Hi Everybody,

As the title suggests, this entry is esp relevant for parents of kids who are habitually constipated.....when your child is constipated - passes motions once in a couple of days, does not do it on the potty and the diameter of the stools are big if not HUGE, you can be sure that she has h c.

As a mother who has seen her child have this, the experience can be unpleasant for both - the mom and child...my 6 year old just would not sit on the pot to do the big job, she would end up doing it in small installments in her panty.

Traveling with her would be a nightmare, she would not eat well as her bowels would not be cleared and of course her panty would be soiled frequently.

There would be a kind of irritability and restlessness in her, when she would want to do IT but could not do it.

She would go from home in the evening to play with her friends and would have soiled her panty and not feel ANY sense of urgency in getting herself cleaned.

...to add to my sense of helplessness, my younger one who is three years younger than her had no issues at all and was toilet trained when she was much younger.

Doctors prescribed all kinds of medications that were basically stool softeners....that didnt help too. Highly fibrous foods and lots of fluids was the obvious advice given to me, but what does one do when one's princess just refused to take them!

They recommended Indian style toilet which is not built in my flat. And she would just not squat in the kiddy potty as it was below her dignity, when her kid sister had already graduated from it.

There were days when she would scream with pain when she could just not pass stools.

I put her on Aruvedic medicines which atleast relieved her of pain. But the constipation persisted and she was still soiling her panty.

Light at the end of the tunnel came when a relative suggested I make her squat on the seat of a WC, this I tried and it worked like magic.

Now she has kind of settled down to do the big job on the potty though there are times when she does soil her panty, but they are really really rare now.

The sense of relief I have is HUGE!

 

After forever being on the look out to feed her right, I am breathing a little easy and making life easy for her too.....though Lays chips and aerated drinks are bought VERY rarely.

Yup, tried raisins too and also prunes, she didnt like them too much and making her eat them was a big ordeal....