My five going on six year old son recently had a bout of not too serious e. coli; which by what the state health people said he probably got outside of the home seeing as how no one else in the house became ill. After the diarrhea was over i noticed he had not been number two so i called the nurses line and she said the constipation was a normal thing following e. coli. When he did finally poop it was solid and every sense of the word. Now he will try to hold in his poop until he can't anymore, though he is never constipated it as always normal though quite large. This week he has ran a low grade fever, and i know what poop being in your system can slowly seep toxins back into your body. I think that is what is happening. I try to encourage him that pooping is a positive thing that everyone does. But i think he just has a mental block. Though i understand because when i was his age i had a more than difficult time pooping. Any feed back would be appreciated thanks
Thanks for all the advice. This is the first occurrence of this and i hope we do not have another. But he is almost never constipated so i think he is linking pooping with pain. He did have several normal movements. Thanks again everyone.
Talk to or see the pediatrician about an over the counter stool softener. Pedialax is what I use for my kids since it is safe for age 2 and up but the doctor may have another suggestion.
It sounds to me like he got scared of pooping because it hurt -- either the constipation alone, or the diarrhea followed by the constipation. I know that major diarrhea by itself can cause rectal discomfort, as can constipation alone; put them together, and it's easy to see that he could have a deal of fear about it.
Tips: increase his fluid intake (preferably water, but also juice if that's what it takes); increase his fiber intake (preferably fruits and vegetables, but you can also give him fiber bars or add powder into his water/juice); perhaps give him a low dose of laxatives as well (many OTC options, including senna, Miralax, etc.).
My gut feeling is that once he has a few non-traumatic poops where he realizes that it *doesn't* hurt, he'll be back to normal. But you may want to talk to him about what happened, ask him what he thinks, see if he will admit to fear, ask him if there's anything that you can do to help, and see if you can assuage his fear, in addition to making sure that his poop is soft and easy to pass.
Constipation is usually caused by dehydration. Extra large stools are a form of constipation.
If your son recently had a run in with any period of diarrhea, what occurs is usually dehydration that leads to an electrolyte imbalance. Low electroyltes will cause constipation. The major electroytes are SODIUM and POTASSIUM with calcium and magnesium following. You can replace electrolytes with pedialyte. Soups are high in sodium. Bananas and potatoes are high in potassium. DO THIS. I would give him a 2 parts magesium to 1 part calcium supplement.(not milk) Soaking in an epsom salt bath will help absorb magnesium. Magnesium will help with constipation naturally because it is getting to the root of the problem.
If the body is dehydrated It shunts fluid away from the colon area so it can re-route it to organs that are life saving-particually the brain- which is mostly water and CANNOT function correctly without high levels of it. That is what your body does when it faces dehydration mode. It doesnt take much water loss at all to get into that state. ANY form of diahrrea will get you there quickly.
. MIrilax works by pulling that water away from the other organs, skin, nervous system, brain , stomach, etc, and moving it to the colon and into the stool. So it is just "moving" the location of the body fluid- but no increase in body fluid has occured. So it dehydrated the organs that the body says cannot run low in water without damage occuring.
Instead of using mirilax, I suggest you give him more water, with a pinch of salt in it. The salt will cause the kidney to retain more body water instead of urinating it out. And again, the pedialyte. Canned soups are high in sodium which is good. That is why the old remedy of Chicken soup works so well and eases flu symptoms- it replaces lost sodium!
If antibiotics were used for the last bout of infection, they will alter the gut flora . They remove good bacteria like lactobaccilus and allow candida and e coil to flourish. Replentish the good bacteria with a good probiotic. Ask you pharmacist or health food store for recommendations.
Constipation does not produce a fever....unless he still has e coli in it. Fever is the bodys way of saying there is an infection present.
Chronic bacterial infections can cause irreprable damage, IE; they can cause the body to get sepsis. That bacteria can circulate and cause tissue damage, especailly to the adrenal gland-where a large percentage of blood circulates. My daughter got adrenal disease from a Chronic bladder infection of e coli that the docotrs misdiagnosed 3 times. By the time she was DX'ed and treated with antibiotics was 8 days later. She now has Addison's disease from the sepsis /shock that occured due to circulating bacteria. The body goes into shock when electroyltes are depleted and low blood pressure ensues. Sepsis can show with dark circles under eyes, lethary and sleepyness, not eating, fever, possible vomiting, low back pain or leg pain, halucinations, pale skin, blue lips, slow brain/verbal responses or lack of ability to answer questions, a basic feeling of having the flu.
Get him in to his pediatrician. He may have a condition called encopresis now. Look it up on Google. Our son has had it off and on for years and if your son has it, you'll want a doctor's guidance.
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Check out the book It Hurts When I Poop. Sometimes children are encouraged to realize they are not the only ones with this problem. I've heard this book is extremely helpful.
When he had the really solid poop after being sick, it probably was really uncomfortable (painful?). Maybe that is why he's so focused on trying to 'hold it' - because mentally he's linking pooping to being painful. Have you tried talking to his pediatrician to see what they think?
I actually googled "child won't poop after being sick" - a lot of the results were about the child being afraid to poop while potty training, but one pediatrician response was that there was a possibility that the child's bowels were impacted and that they should schedule an appt to have that checked out.
Other suggestions were to try changing the child's diet (adding bananas, yogurt, high-fiber foods/supplements...
I really hope you get some good advice - good luck!
Check with the pediatrician to be sure, but when we went through this (not the e coli part, but the hard poop sure sounds familiar), our pedi had us give our kids Miralax a few times a day on an ongoing basis until the issue completely resolved itself. Miralax is not habit forming (it doesn't make you poop, it just makes the poop softer). It was a lifesaver for us. If the kid is really REALLY backed up, then our pedi said to give them about 3 tablespoons of mineral oil. That takes about 10-12 hours to work, but WOW when it works, it really works. We only had to use that a few times, thankfully. Try the Miralax first and see how it goes. I'm sorry your little guy is having such a rough go of it.
