Poop hurts
For a week now, our little Jake has been struggling with constipation. He has pooped every day, but each poop has been an hour-long struggle fraught with pain and fear. During an episode, he comes up to me about every five minutes, shrieking "I'M POOPING!" and near tears, begging me to change his clean diaper. Finally, when the poop does come out, it is large and rock-hard.
After two days of having his precious time at the pool cut short by his near-lifeguard-alerting screams, we decided it was definitely time to go to the doctor. We didn't see Dr. M, but rather this cantankerous old coot with a bad reputation among our friends. He had a spiel rehearsed for me, telling me nothing I didn't already know from Dr. Google. What I had found out before was that there was probably no precipitating event or food that started Jake on his painful poo spiral. We have started informally potty-training him, and his heightened awareness of his bodily functions probably caused him some distaste over pooping in general. So he held it. And it got bigger. And when he did finally have to poop it out -- cause the kid eats SO MUCH that there simply was no more room in his gut -- it hurt. So he held it more. And it got even bigger. You see, perhaps, the vicious poop cycle.
Dr. Grump wrote us a recommendation for Miralax, a stool softener. He said to give it to Jacob for the next two weeks, at least. He said, as I had read, that this is soooo common in kids Jake's age as they become aware of their bodily functions. So far, his poops seem less painful, and are slightly squishier as I roll them around in his diaper. But they are still a production. I hope for his sake he quits holding them in soon.
After two days of having his precious time at the pool cut short by his near-lifeguard-alerting screams, we decided it was definitely time to go to the doctor. We didn't see Dr. M, but rather this cantankerous old coot with a bad reputation among our friends. He had a spiel rehearsed for me, telling me nothing I didn't already know from Dr. Google. What I had found out before was that there was probably no precipitating event or food that started Jake on his painful poo spiral. We have started informally potty-training him, and his heightened awareness of his bodily functions probably caused him some distaste over pooping in general. So he held it. And it got bigger. And when he did finally have to poop it out -- cause the kid eats SO MUCH that there simply was no more room in his gut -- it hurt. So he held it more. And it got even bigger. You see, perhaps, the vicious poop cycle.
Dr. Grump wrote us a recommendation for Miralax, a stool softener. He said to give it to Jacob for the next two weeks, at least. He said, as I had read, that this is soooo common in kids Jake's age as they become aware of their bodily functions. So far, his poops seem less painful, and are slightly squishier as I roll them around in his diaper. But they are still a production. I hope for his sake he quits holding them in soon.
posted by Claire at 11:38 AM
2 Comments:
Claire, I think you can buy Miralax OTC now too, if you need more. I hope you won't need more, but your brother, the other Ross Doctor, thinks it's the greatest thing--he told me once that he would recommend it for everyone! Doesn't have any side effects,and is cleansing. I'm glad it's working to help Jakey do his thing. Love ya! Meemaw
I did buy our Miralax OTC. After 3 days on it, Jake stopped screaming like he would die when he pooped. Yay.
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