Help! My 2Yr Old Daughter Constantly Only Goes Tiny Bit of Poop like 6X/day

Other "foods" to try to help it slip out are
beets - these work really well when my son gets hard stool
flax seeds - buy them whole and grind them your coffee grinder. Keep them in a container in the freezer and add a tsp to her food
slippery elm powder - buy in health food stores
oils like fish oil, flax seed oil
+ plenty of water and vegetables

if she is picky with veg, puree them and stir them into her other food so she won't notice them so much

or for more comprehnsive advice, consult a naturopathic doc who may be able to help with why the stool is dry and therefore painful in the first place

1 mom found this helpful

Hi, my daughter went through a similiar situation when she was younger. We tried EVERYTHING including miralax with no real results. What finally worked for us was mineral oil. I just put 1 to 2 tablespoons in some yogurt and mixed it up. If it doesn't work the first time do it the next day. Since then she has been regular but if she goes a day without pooping, I just give her a little mineral oil and it has worked everytime. Good luck!

OH W., I can really to your situation. My daughter at 2 and 3 while potty training became constipated, then it hurt to go and from then on she decided she just wasn't going to go and held it in. Then of course it hurt to go and the cycle started. A wonderful neighbor, a pharmacist, advised us to try Fletchers Castoria. It was heaven sent!!! It is a very, very natural laxative that doesn't cause that sudden urge to go or really runny bowel movements like many of the suppositories do. Nor does it cause the cramping so it is virtually pain free! It naturally softens the stool and make it easy, easy for them to go. Even when my daugther (now over 10) was up to 6 and 7 years old she would have bouts of constipation and we always went straight for the Fletchers and it always worked like a charm. And a bonus, it tastes good! A root beer flavor so the little ones like it. If you don't see it on the shelf ask your pharmacist. Unfortunately, it is used by many young girls with eating disorders so they keep it less accessible in most stores. I hope this helps you! Good Luck!

I highly recommend that you get her bowels moving quickly. If left in your daughters current condition, she is going to have bowel/digestive problems. Her body is actually learning to adapt to this type of situation and she may not be able to have a regular bowel movement.
My recommendation would be to try using a suppository. She will not be able to hold it in and hopefully her stool will be loose enough (from the Miralax) that she will not have any pain. The suppository just encourages their bowel to move, so she will be forced to PUSH the entire poop out.

Up her dose of Miralax to get it so soft that she has no choice. My daughter was on it as well, and it is great stuff.

Unfortunately the toddler has the upper hand in these situations. The best thing for you to do is just keep changing diapers. She will come around when she is ready. I have potty trained 3 kids ranging in ages form 5 to 25. 4 kids if you count my grandson. They are all different. My quickest was 18 months when she was wearing big girl pants with no accidents. My hold out was 4 when he decided one day he was going to use the potty and he never had another dirty diaper. As long as the Doctor has checked her out to make sure she has no other problems like a bowel blockage or hernia, this will be a bide your time and be patient experience.

My son is 2 1/2 and has been chronically constipated since he was 9 months old. He is prescribed Glycolax which seems to work when NOTHING else does (that includes enemas, glycerin suppositories, milk of magnesia, mineral oil, prunes, pears, you name it!) We saw the head GI at Swedish a while back and she said that it will/can take up to a year of non-painful poops before he stops withholding. He was doing really well and I took him off the medicine and did well for a while then got constipated again and it took him 3 entire days of major straining and pushing before he pooped (I don't know how many days before those three days since he had pooped... long enough to be "full"). So, he's back on the medicine and he will stay on the medicine until he's fully potty trained because I don't want to go through the straining anymore. My suggestion: ask your doctor for something stronger (or maybe just something different to see how she responds) so that she's more likely to get more out at a time... rather than a little bit all day long. Good luck! I know how much this sucks!

Hi W.! The trick here is to distract her when you know she is doing that, what ever it takes!! As soon as she realizes that it is a natural physical function, and dosen't require her concentration she should start to relax. Because she is associating this to her pain, she has to feel it 'flow smoothly'!LOL Be careful not to give her too much cheese, or any thing that can cause constipation, and stick with milder things to keep her from cramping. Good Luck, R.

Hello W.,

I wonder if she is not getting enough water. I would suggest that she drink more water and start eating oatmeal for breakfast. I can guarantee you that she will have a normal bowel movement. It is important that we all have these 2 in our daily diets. I do this for myself and for my family. I'd be light on the sugar in the oatmeal too. Sometimes, I just eat the oatmeal with some fresh fruit, walnuts and milk with NO sugar, because this type of meal is good for the blood sugar. I'm trying to help prevent diseases, such as diabetes into my family and promote good and healthy eating habits. Don't forget exercise. We can't leave that part out at all.

I have done so with my daughter since she was a baby. I fed her fresh veges, of course, I chewed them then fed them to her. So today, we don't have any issues with her eating any vegetables. I'm very happy about that!\''/ She's practically a vegetarian, but will eat some meats, depending upon how they are cooked lol! She's 11, soon to be 12 and she makes really good choices. She puts a lot of thought into what she wants to put in her body. So she is very well aware of good and bad choices. I remember when I was 16 and hating cooked vegetables. I hated it but ended up eating it anyway. It's funny cause I grew up eating vege's. Dad had to have it. When you grow up around a hard working man, they are the one's who love to eat hearty meals with vegetables at every meal.

So, good luck to you and your family. I would keep in contact with a nutritionist.......they will help you to get on track with eating the good foods. They are unbelievably helpful. I hope that you navigate your family into great health . For me......so far, it's been great here. I wish you the same!!! \''/
Take Care

You have a lot of good answers. My daughter also had chronic constipation. 2-3 prunes/day helped, also bananas will imediatly constipate some people so I would exclude them from her diet. Karo syrup (In the baking section of the store) worked wonders for my daughter. I didn't use it very often because it is pure sugar, but when she was really constipated and going to the bathroom was painful, I would give her 1-2 tsp of Karo syrup and she could go to the bathroom in a matter of hours.
Make sure that going to the bathroom doesn't become a power struggle. I have 4 kids ages 18-6 and my best piece of advice is don't push them to use the potty. Rewards are great but don't punish for accidents or get frustrated when they refuse to go. Constant encouragement to try and asking if she needs to go are also very useful. They do grow up! Before you know it she will be trotting off to Kindergarten and then on to college. Potty training is a milestone but don't stress about it. When she is ready, she will go.
B.

My son had similar problems related to chronic constipation when he was a baby and toddler. After ruling out any other problems our pediatrician ultimately referred us to Nancy Glass Quatrin @ the Encopresis Treatment Center in Edmonds and she was very helpful, encouraging and informative. My son (now in 2nd grade)still has bouts of constipation from time to time but it is much easier to deal w/ now that he is old enough to be an aware and communicating participant in his own care. It is really hard when they are so young! Best of luck to you.

Try feeding her Manna Bread by Natures Path, it will make her stools come out easier. Also, when she is having a poop, try singing to her and distracting her as you hold her over the toilet with her knees up to her chest and her bum hanging down, this will force the poop out. Or you can even hold a diaper over her bum and just walk around with her holding her in that position. With manna bread and that, she will definitely have fewer poops that are more complete.

Try some Maalox or prunes.

I'm assuming with that many little poops, she also has diaper rash...my son always did. My guess is the one painful poop may have caused a tear or abrasion in the rectum and now any amount bigger than what escapes by chance continues to keep that area tender. The reason the miralax isn't working is because it is all stopped up by the impacted stool still in her body. You are so ahead of the game on this...it took me two years to understand what was going on with my son. Another thing that happens is when the stool is impacted like that, they loose feeling in the rectum...meaning they stop feeling the sensation of having to go until the body begins to force it out and then that starts to hurt that tender spot and they try to stop it from coming out.

This is what we did with my son. We gave him an enema every day until we cleared all the impacted stuff out and got his body to start moving regularly. By keeping the colon empty, it also let it shrink back to normal size. After TWO weeks of this my son said that he could do it...and that he now understood what we meant about "feeling" the need to go. We also gave him Aloe Vera juice...best buy at Trader Joes. This helps to heal abrasions in the insides. Because my son had this problem for so long...almost 4 years...it also has behavioral implications now. When he is feeling stressed or experiencing a sudden change, he often resorts to withholding. I give him maintenance Miralax once every week or two...but in times when he is stressed I do it every other day. If you catch this early and fix it...hopefully she will not have developed the propensity for this behavior. Good luck.

My 2yr old (3/16!) broke her leg in December and was in a full body cast for 6 weeks. She became very constipated during that time. We had her on miralax during that time. Which worked OK. I think she is doing the same thing as your daughter though with the mini poops. We saw the doctor today and he said to keep her soft- keep her on the miralax and to increase the amount until she is on the loose side and then back off a bit. I am worried that she is going to get in to trouble with potty training as well. We are working on increasing her fiber but it is difficult with a picky eater. I am going to watch the responses you get- I think I am right with you. Thanks for asking the question. S.