Child's Hesitation to Have Bowel Movements

Drinking a lot of juice helps them go to the bathroom. My kids had to drink juice daily from the time they came home from the hospital until they were three to go to the bathroom regularly. Also they make laxatives that look and taste like chocolates you could try.

I think maybe you could try taking him in for a chiropractic adjustment. Just an idea.

Another thing: maybe he is just too busy a guy to stop and focus on pooping. He might need a little hand-held video game to use only when he's on the potty...so he can take his mind off the task at hand. I do think that there are some pretty decent little hand-held video game thingies (I really don't know the brand names). Just an idea!

I second the notion that his rectum might still be sore from the diarrhea bout, and/or that he may even have internal hemmorhoids. I've experienced both, neither are pleasant, and can take a LONG time to heal on their own. They make OTC suppositories that treat a sore rectum.

I had good luck with the Miralax, I see that you are trying that now. It really "unclogged" my son. He was serverly constipated. He had the "poops" but it really was that he was so constipated. We used to put my sons miralax in his sippy cup filled half full of liquid that he really liked. He could never tell anything else was in there. As he got older he would see us put it in there but he still could not taste it.

Good Luck

My guess would be it is slightly irritated in there. Having diarrhea for that long is bound to cause some sort of irritation if now internal hemorrhoids. I say this because our daughter developed internal hemorrhoids. And we couldn't figure out why she would hold her poop in. Our doctors keep trying to tell us it was behavioral. Then one night we got confirmation of what was going on in there. So, when it flares up we put prep H in there. Ask your doctor first of course. But after a few days of that she is good as new and goes just fine. Your doctor can also feel in there to see if there is anything.

I have a 6 yr old who also had some trouble going poop. What I ended up doing is just buying benefiber. It looks like sugar. I actually call it sugar and sprinkle it on her cereal in the am ( if she hasn't gone the day before) her problem was with anal fisures but this will help it come out better if he gets constipated. then you can use it as you go. also it disappears so you could give it anyway you'd like even in a drink. My husband didn't taste it in his milk when we tried it out.
But too much will lead to the diahhrea again so little bits... good luck1

Sorry no advice as we are too going through this with our daughter. Just wanted to give a little encouragement knowing that there are others dealing with a very similar situation (daughter holding in her poop, know she has too cause she will say poop and hold her butt but refuses to let it go in the pot or the diaper). Looking forward to any good advice anyone can give.

I see you already have quite a few responses but I have dealt with this so I thought I would add mine. My daughter is 3 now and she would hold it for sometimes up to two weeks! We did have to give her the liquid suppositories on occasion and that did do the trick. But what helped her transition to going every two days or so was giving her a fiber bar every morning. http://www.fiberone.com/ for awhile so she was going every day. There were some accidents as she would try to hold in the unholdable, but once she was convinced that going didn't have to hurt she was okay. Then we lessened the fiber a bit by modifying her diet (oatmeal or whole grains for breakfast) and she is going okay. Also just like with potty training lots of excitment and praise/bragging helped too.

I'm a naturopath and herbalist and have three children. Being in those two roles it is necessary to observe a lot of BM habits. It seems, no matter what the reason, that there are two types of people when it comes to bowel movements - those who go quickly when the need arises and stay in the bathroom for about one minute and those who bring the newspaper in with them to read - LOL! Your son seems to be developing into the later. Two of my children fall into the later category. Three things help the most in this later category:

1. Fiber (you are already doing that)
2. Rhythm - have them sit on the toilet at the same time each day. This can be first thing in the morning, at the same time every afternoon or at the same time every evening. Don't pressure him with results - they will come over time. Just make it a ritual. Like brushing your teeth. "Hey! We are going to sit on the toilet now!"
3. Make it relaxing. There are some adults who can't go without having a book with them - it takes them awhile to relax and let things go. Sometimes this reflects in their relationships as well - but that is another topic - LOL! Let him read or sing or whatever he enjoys doing.

Hope this helps!

Blessings & Health,
K. in Windsor Heights
wwwHERBNHOMEcom

I was just at the OR 3 weeks ago to help my daughter with this issue. I purchased a book called It Hurts when I poop that explains how and why to poop and she loves it! She has been going poop daily since we got the book.

At the ER the Dr told me to give her miralax if she starts developing hard poop. She also told me to give her suppositories or childrens enemas when she is backed up again and not to wait longer than 3 days between stools before treating it. Hopefully the book continues to keep her regular, we read it every day.

hmm.
if its a constipation issue (which isnt neccesarily not going, but painful passing) simply using milled flax seed - you can put it on just about anything. it doesnt affect the taste, but it might add a little 'crunch'.... yogurt, cottage cheese, on cereal, in sandwiches.. whatever. its basically fiber, and some people will say "well, its not good to hae to get used to using something like that in order to poop" but thats a lie... we NEED fiber in order to have healthy stool!
fiber absorbs water and makes stool softer and easier to go.

basically, im thinking maybe he had one bad experience and hes afraid of it happening again? maybe even had diarhea?

anyway, it sounds like you are doing the right thing; not pushing him, not making it a big deal. take it easy on things that constipate, and follow your instincts and his lead...

We have gone the miralax route as well and have had success by putting it in juice. We had to get the dosage right as too much gets you back to diarhea like. Our son was a little older and just stubborn about the bathroom so we actually gave him a timer and then 2 times a day we would have him sit on the potty with his timer and try to go - we told him to "beat the timer" if he didn't go we praised him for trying and if he did is was celebration time! We set the timer for 5-7 minutes - which may seem long but pooping became a motivator to be able to get off the potty. You may not need to go the timer route but it worked for us! Good Luck

My daughter still does the same thing and she is 4 now. The only thing that we can do is when we notice it has been a few days is start giving her miralax. She takes 8 grams a day. When she was younger, the dr told us to do that for a month until she was going regularly and then stop to see if she would go back on her own. They start holding sometime because it takes too long to go potty in the toilet and they don't like being dirty in a diaper. Then it becomes associated with pain because if they wait too long they can't hold it any longer and the movement is extremely painful. Use the miralax so that his movements are so soft that he can't hold it in. Then he will start going in the potty and hopefully create a healthy habit. Good Luck!