3 And a Half Year Old with Constipation and and an Addiction to Her Pacifier

Wow.....you mean the soothing binky godmother taking it awy to give to babies who really need it story didn't work??!! Yikes! OK..you need to rub lemon rind or orange rind on the nipple each and every time you give it to her. Give it a whirl, it worked for my girlfriend beautifully. Her baby was disgusted by the taste and always spit it out and within 5 days it was done. I have come to learn that Binky's are cold turkey, with the pacifier fairy story. You really can't wean kids off, it just becomes harder. As for the constipation, try olive oil instead of mineral and Naked juice. Costco sells several varieties, I get the one called "Blue Machine". Loaded with vitamins and fiber and made of berries. Also try prune and orange juice mixed together. 1/4 cup of each juice and dilute with water. If you don't care to go the juice route, give her blueberries. Blueberries were my daughters releif and are now my godson's. Good luck!

Hello! I totally understand the frustrations, we had the exact same thing happen with constipation and potty fears (or as we called it - the potty wars) with my oldest daughter who is now seven. Sometimes, even with a supository, she would go up to three days without a BM and then I would have to do the dirty work for her to help it out!

Try to battle one thing at a time. She is probably not letting go of the pacifier because she feels like she needs some extra comfort and support during this difficult time.

Let go of the potty too and make sure she never feels any sort of "pressure to preform". Careful with the added fiber - i know it may seem counter-intuitive but it can actually cause some people to back up if given too much. You want to not only battle the back-up but also the behaviour - it probably hurts because the poop is so hard and compacted so she holds it in - then it gets hard, etc.

Make sure she is getting LOTS of water and try to add olive oil or a high quality fish oil supplement to her diet. Another thing that I found helped - ground flax seed. Throw some of that stuff in some applesauce or yogurt and it makes a big difference. A surprise I found also was that gummy bears seemed to work! Perhaps everytime she has potty success you could give her some gummies - support both body and mind! There are great gummy vitamins out also that have no sugar and are sweetened and colored naturally and I have found that to be great for my kids. If all else fails and you are willing to give it a try, add a small amount of coffee to a glass of warm milk (maybe with a little sugar) - That will move those bowels quickly!

Last but not least, try this recipe for puerto rican style rice and beans - i know rice is supposed to "stop up" (BRAT) but man I have never found something to keep my kids more regular!

make a sofrito with handful chopped cilantro, half medium chopped onion and three chopped garlic cloves. Sautee in olive oil until softened about 7 minutes. Add salt or a seasoned salt like Adobo and about 3 oz of tomato sauce and simmer another 5 minutes. Add a can of red beans with liquid, fill can with water and add to pot. Simmer on med heat covered for about 45 minutes to break down any undigestible sugars from the beans. Heat rice (2 cups water for every cup rice) and serve beans on top of or mixed and mashed with the rice for kids - make sure you use a lot of the bean liquid. Use as a side dish for your favorite main course! Enjoy!

Good luck!

Hi ... I am not a doctor but a grandma. My grandaughter suffered from this, and it was diagnosed as retentive constipation. Apparently the child at some point in time had a very hard bowel movement that might have caused a small fissure in her anus and this "memory" of pain has intitiated and perpetuated a cycle of retentive constipation. This means that the child "remembers" the pain and willfully holds in her poop, this consequently causes a huge back up which gets wide and hard and makes going to the bathroom even more of a nightmare. If you notice that she is standing in a tripod stand, That means,standing with most of her weight on one leg while using the other that is off to the side ( and sort of knock kneed)to "hold in her poop". They will do this when they get the urge to poop. We tried everything, bran, flax, prunes, prune juice and even mineral oil. What worked was a prescription medicine that made her diahretic for about two weeks. What happens is that her poop was now so loose and liquid for such a long while that she "forgot" that it was ever hard and that allows for the cycle to break. It was a real ordeal but this worked. She would have one or two small recurrences but since we were on top of it, it was resolved. It is important to deal with this because eventually the sphyncter in the anus will loose its ability to contract and she will be soiling her pants even as she gets much older. Good luck

C. Magori

Hi, I feel for you as I've had similar experiences. On the constipation -- things with P. Prunes, peaches, pears. If she doesn't like to eat these foods, you might have to hide them in her food. Spinach puree always works for our daughter. Just simmer the spinach with a little water until is very soft. Then transfer to a cutting board and hit it with a knife a lot until is like a paste. Then put in a small pan. In a cup mix milk with a little flour or corn starch to make thicker and add to the spinach. Mix and you are done. She loves it and really makes her go. You can add the juices of the fruits to the water, if she doesn't drink the fruits... As to the paci.. I think you might have to bite the bullet. She will freak out for a few nights and eventually she will forget it, it's tough but children are more resilient then we know.. good luck!

When we went on vacation we left my the blanket in the back of the car and OOPS. He new it would be waiting when we returned but after 10 days he was used to being without it so it vanished forever. For the sucking I bought him a small cotton glove from a street vendor and said it was a magic glove every time he put it on he magically stopped sucking. At night I had to tape it loosely at the wrist with clear packing tape so he couldn't pull it off in his sleep. Every time we caught him sucking he put the magic glove on. He also kept one at school for morning meeting and the teacher had a sign that meant it was time to get the glove. It became quite fashionable to wear one glove to morning meeting. good luck! I'm paying the price at the orthodonist for not stopping it sooner.

I am a mom of a 3 1/2 yr old and year old. My 3yr old daughter was severely constipated after I introduced whole milk to her diet. I tried everything, fiber, suppositories, we even used to add one ounce of prune juice to each bottle. Surpisingly, I decided to try giving her a bran muffin (no raisins) daily. Since then, that's the only thing that has worked. (her stool was so hard, we had to disimpact it ourselves on several occasions.)

She was also very attached to the pacifier. I've heard that cutting the tip has worked for many,even dipping it in vinegar, though we didn't try either. When she hit her 2nd bday, I told her we could go to the carousel at a local park if she napped w/o it (one of her FAVORITE pastimes). Once she did, I made a big fuss about it and congratulated her. At bedtime, she cried a bit for it but I reassured her that she'd be fine w/o it; after all, she'd napped comfortably earlier in the day on her own. That was the last time she ever asked for it.

My 23 month old gets constipated a lot. We give her apple juice to keep her hydrated mixed with water. We also let her eat a couple of prunes when she seems not to go poopie because even though we call the prunes candy she knows they make her go. We find it more gentle this way.

Although my daughter is now grown, I had the same experience with her around that age. We had to hold her hand in the bathroom for long periods of time with still little results. The doctor put her on the mineral oil but that was not enough so I eventually started making "magic shakes" because they would always turn different colors when blended. Sorry I can not remember all of the ingredients I used but I use to puree all types of vegies while she was not around and pour some into the mixer and then call her to help me make the shakes. I allowed her to tell me some of what she wanted in them (cherries, bananas, etc), added with a little milk or ice cream and let her press the button and watch it blend. She loved drinking them and eventually her constipation went away.
Hope this will help.

B. M

I was having major problems with my son's binky use; well actually it was more along the lines of a binky addiction!! My friend absolutely raved about the cut method, and all of the psychology behind it. She found it on www.bye-bye-binky.com , which is great that it was also free. We went with it and OMGosh... worked so beautifully for my son with NO tantrums, not even one! Thank you God. Five days later he did not want anything to do with his binky. What a relief it was to all of us to finally be done with those darn binkies. Highly recommended! I am also interested in others experiences.... B.