toddler holding it in

Tefila

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 9:55 am

By teaching him to sit and try pushing alittle and by reading him a book whilst sitting. Not much else you can do unless you want to give him prune juice. It is very common w/h this age that they hold it in coz they are way to busy to be patient Wink

and have no time and little boys are more susceptible to this then girls. Exclamation

proudmom

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 9:58 am

The doctor told me if he continues this he will have to go for help. I dont know exactly what that is suppose to mean. I am scared that he will be constipated by doing this. Already he doesnt go to the bathroom every single day. He goes every 2 days or sometimes he goes only 2 times a week.

rydys

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 10:35 am

This is, actually, a really common problem. A lot of kids at that age are too busy to go or are scared of the toilet and of flushing away what they see as a part of themselves. Also, some are scared to go bec. once it was hard and hurt and they are afraid it will happen again. Here are some suggestions:

1. Give him lots of fiber foods and fruits and some fruit juice to keep the stools soft.

2. Make him sit on the toilet for 15 minutes twice a day--after breakfast and after supper. Eating stimulates a reflexive contraction of the intestine and this is an "auspicious" time for him to go. Even if he doesn't say he has to go, make these regular "pooping" times.

3. If the above doesn't work after a week or 2, try giving him mineral oil. You buy it in the store and give him 1 tsp once a day, then build up by 1 tsp at a time until a maximum of 3 tsp twice a day. Your goal is that he should have a little bit of leakage out of his bottom. Mineral oil is not absorbed by the intestine, just acts as a lubricant and makes it very difficult for him to hold it in.

The above 3 suggestions will work for most healthy kids. If they don't it is time to see a specialist. But don't worry--this is really common and is usually fairly easy to treat.

rydys

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 2:03 pm

mineral oil is not addictive like a laxative is. It doesn't actually stimulate a BM, just makes the whole intestine so slippery that he can't hold it in. What he is going through is just a stage of life and it will pass. Once he is regularly going on his own, you can cut back on the oil.

queenie

Tue, May 03 2005, 12:15 am

I have also used mineral oil. There is nothing that is addictive in it. It just makes it harder to hold it in. You can also chop up prunes 1 -2 a night and have him eat it. Ask you dr for a prescription for the mineral oil bc it is usually covered by a drug plan and it's about $12 a bottle.

If he holds in more than 2 days I would give a glycerin suppository for children. Two days of not going is enough. The stool will get harder and bigger and could really hurt him when it comes out. Not only will it be harder for him to get it out it might actually give him hemmerhoids from the pushing and then a vicious cycle starts bc it hurts to go, then he holds it again.

I believe it's all a control issue - or rather power issue. He isn't scared it's just something they have power or and can control. Kids know how worked up we get about this stuff and then they get a lot of attention. Even negative attention is attention right?