Poor Isobel got very constipated on Saturday and I wanted to share how we got through it. She was very emotional, upset and confused.
It started as any normal toilet trip, she told me she had to do a “stinky” and then I gave her a few minutes on her own. All of a sudden she started crying hysterically and shouted out for me. She told me “poo poo’s was stuck”. When I did a quick check, it defintely was.
I cuddled her while she stayed on the potty and rubbed her back for comfort. She kept repeating it was sore and stuck and continued to cry. She then asked me to put a pull up nappy on her, which I did. I think she thought it might help her get it out. She then asked me to put her in the cot as she wanted to lie down. I took her lead and did what she asked to make her comfortable.
As my husband googled what to do, I continued to hold her hand and kept offering reassurance. I offered her a drink which she wouldn’t take and a soother for comfort. I started a massage on her tummy which I was hoping would help and gave her some calpol for pain relief.
She continued to cry and eventually no longer wanted mama’s comfort. We read if you get them on their knees, it can help pass the stool and relieve the pain. We couldn’t touch her or move her as she didn’t want our hands on her, so had to gently encourage her into a child’s like pose position. I kept doing this myself so she eventually understood and said she was starting to feel better. She continued to cry though, which was heartbreaking as she refused to hold my hand or let me touch her. I told her mama’s poo gets stuck sometimes and she just had to relax and wait and it would come.
Eventually after 40 long minutes I could see her trying to push, I told her if she felt the need to push to gently push out stinky. She then responded with “stinky in pull up mommy”. We cleaned her up, back on with her knickers, she handed me her soother and sat up to the table to eat her lunch as if nothing had happened. I on the other hand was an emotional wreck. She mentioned at lunch it was a bad stinky, I agreed and she seemed happy about that.
For the rest of the day she was afraid to sit on the potty and had a few accidents in her knickers. She did manage another poo successfully just before bedtime. It’s been a few days now and she is still a little afraid of doing a poo, even though I have been reassuring her, so we have had some poo in knickers accidents.
I looked back thinking what did she eat to cause such constipation and realised we had given her a lot of milk the day before, this was the only real change to her diet.
It was so traumatic watching her in so much pain and not being able help. I tried to keep strong and avoid her seeing my tears, as she only wanted mommy, daddy wasn’t even allowed in the room, as it made her more upset.
I hope the above helps anyone with toddler constipation problems!
