Toddler Can Hold in Her Poop for Days on End?
Ever since non-infancy, my 2 1/2 y/o daughter has never been a big pooper so to speak—she’s always gone 2-3 days without any poop, then would have a nice soft one. But for the last couple of months, she does this thing where she’s acting like she hates poop and is afraid to do it so she will literally hold it in until it goes back in. This is creating the vicious cycle of constipation. And before you give me suggestions, I’ve already almost everything to break this—last month I took her to urgent care bc she hadn’t pooped for 5 days. that was after many cups of prune juice as well. then they prescribed her miralax to take daily for 2 months until she poops 1-2 times a day, soft movements too. well I didnt do as followed only 1x a week bc I thought it would bne better or she’d get addicted. but now I realize I should do whats prescribed, so for the last 3 days I’ve given her miralax everyday in her berry-veggie juice for kids. i also have improved her diet by giving her more fruits and veggies like zucchini, tomatoes, grapes, broccoli, etc. Getting her to eat them is sometimes tricky, but she is getting bettertat eating them. This has been for the past few days. Oh she also eats avocadoes. I cut down on milk and have subbed probiotic frozen yogurt by yoplait for calcium and orange juice, so she only drinks 8 oz of 2 percent milk a day now instead of 20 oz she was drinking. She doesn’t eat a lot of meat, and though her diet has improved, she still drinks more than she eats. Today I caught her holding it in again, first she said "my tummy hurts" and I said "do you have to poop? it’s ok if you do, everybody poops" and she got really mad and ran off. then I tried to encourage her to go on the potty but she refused and I wont make her bc I heard that’s counter-productive.
it has been since Tuesday since she had a bm and it was very hard and large and you couldn’t even push it at all it was so hard. she cryed for like 5 min before and after.
I called the advice nurse yesterday and she said if nothing happens by monday to take her in to her dr. to be further evaluated since this is on-going.
I am getting so sick of worrying about this all the time and just want her to poop. I dont know why she acts so scared of it, I have never forced her to be potty trained, i have tried it may times but never force her to go on it. I never make it seem gross that she poops in her pants still. I always tell ehr it’s okay to poop and name all the people we know and that they poop too (lol). But she still acts like it’s something awful.
oh and my mil was watching her when she had the large hard poop and described it to me. And she’s not even a worryer like I am, but she said she’s worried she’s gonna get an obstruction and that’s what I’m afraid of too.
She’s still playing and laughing and acting energetic so she still feels good.
any one else have experience with this with their toddler/preschooler? and any idea why she/they does this? is it psychological, physical, or both? and is there anything else I can do?
also I am scared of doing suppositories—they are invasive and traumaztizing, and I dont even know how to do them.
