2-Year Old Suddenly Refusing to Go #2 - San Diego,CA

In order to prevent this from being an issue for the next several years (once a child has become constipated, they may hold it to prevent the pain/discomfort, which begans the vicious cycle that believe it or not can plague them for years to come). Right now, you don't want anything habit forming to be given to her to make her go poop- at least not on a regular basis. Your Dr. may want you to do a few enama's to clean her out (do this ONLY if your Dr. recommends it) then, you'll want to A) give her foods that will make and keep her poop soft and B)per your Dr. a safe non habit forming laxative like Miralax. If your Dr. isn't familar with kids holding in their poop and what can happen (for example, encopresis) - then seek the advice of a specialist. Trust me, you want to catch this early. Once a child holds their poop for a extended amount of time, their poop becomes impacted, stretches out the colon and then although full of poop, they are unable to poop.

Speaking from experience here, my daughter started out just like yours, only a little bit younger and didn't get better (in fact extremely worse) until after turning 5 years old. She is 7 now and doing great but I have to stay on top of it or we could easily go back to the "good" ol days.

Best wishes,
M.

This commonly happens in toddlers.
My daughter, went through that at about the same age.
We had to take her to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist... he said this is common in toddlers.
BUT, he does not recommend suppositories. It can create a habit. I don't know if that is what you used.

For most toddlers, the more constipated they get, the harder the stool gets internally, and the MORE painful to get it out. Thus, they do not want to poop. So it is a 2-pronged "problem... biological and emotional (because it causes pain) and so they "avoid" voiding. But they more they avoid voiding...the harder the stool gets... and it is a vicious cycle.

In any case, this problem does not just go away in 1 day or 1 week. Per our Specialist... he said, over the course of 2-3 months... it should get better... because the child has to get over the feeling of "pain" that going to poop does to them.

For us, he recommended unfiltered apple juice, water, and natural things that will soften the poop internally.

I would take your daughter to the Doctor.

All the best,
Susan

PRUNE JUICE!!! I used to give this to my son when he was a baby and couldn't poop. I now still use it if he hasn't pooped for a few days. I put about 2 oz of prune juice into a cup of diluted apple juice (half water, half apple juice). It usually works within 24 hours. She may need more as each kid is different. Also try V8 Splash (my son loves the mango peach flavor) as it will help push things thru her and its very tasty!

Hi

we have the same problem. My son is now 5 and all it takes is that one bad poop. Lol we give him miralax which his doc told us about its very safe. When he was little it was Karo syrup that they told us to use then. Sitting him on the potty helped a little Cus tryin to poop in a diaper i guess is fun lol. I hope this helps. Its very common. Like i said our son five and he will hold it until make him go.