So, neither of my children are pooping. Seriously. Now, I know most parents aren’t thinking, “Man, I sure do wish my child would poop more. I just love changing dirty diapers!” If they are thinking that then there’s something wrong with them. But, my kids really aren’t pooping at all.
Let’s start with Noah.
In the past Noah has had problems with constipation. This past summer he was pooping small boulders. I felt so sorry for him, it hurt so bad. Luckily, we were able to handle this problem by changing his diet. Good bye cow’s milk, Hello Almond milk. We also increased the amount of water he was drinking and temporarily had him eat dried prunes and drink apple prune juice. That took care of the constipation. Unfortunately, in the mean time, Noah figured out that every time he pooped it hurt. So, he just decided he wasn’t going to poop anymore. Fun!! Now this [picture left] is what he does about 10 times a day. Hides and tried his hardest not to poop. It doesn’t matter where we are. He just sits on the floor and turns all red. Then people around stare, or try not to stare, and say funny things like, “He’s really working on that.” And I’m thinking, Yeah right, I wish he were. I know every parent has to deal with their child pooping in public on occasion, but if we have a busy day it happens like 5 times!
Mostly I feel sorry for him because it hurts him. He isn’t just straining but crying too. It is painful to watch. On the other hand it is so FRUSTRATING! I mean, that is one hard headed kid. No matter how many times I tell him that he needs to let the poo poo come out, he won’t! Seriously, I have told him this about a million times. I’ve even listed everyone he knows telling him that everyone goes poo poo and he needs to as well. So, yes, if you know my son, then chances are I have discussed your pooping habits with him. Sorry if you feel that your privacy has been violated. 😉
We met with his pediatrician a few weeks ago and she said that he did have a lot of hard stool in his tummy and he needed to be “cleaned out.” So, yeah, that was fun. We had to give him two doses of milk of magnesia and warm apple prune juice 12 hours apart. Then he pooped non-stop for like two days straight. Now we are giving him Miralax everyday. And he is still managing to hold it in! He poops couple of days, but in between that are bouts of “holding it” with lots of crying.
Now I’m trying to convince him that the poo poo needs his help to come out. 
You can’t make this shit up, pun intended.
Bryce’s problem is a little less complicated. He went 3 1/2 days without pooping. This is pretty normal for breastfed babies. I immediately thought, this is no big deal, Noah used to have this problem. And then with perfect timing Noah curled up on the floor turned bright red and started shaking and crying. Oh shit! I thought. Bryce is going to be just like Noah!!!
Two things kept me from writing off Bryce’s lack of poop to just breastfeeding. First, this little guy was passing gas that could make a grown man cry. Seriously, made me tear up on more than one occasion. Secondly, he was in pain. He would turn bright red and his stomach would get rock hard and he would scream. So finally on day 3 I decided to take matters into my own hands. First I laid him on the floor in the playroom grabbed some oil and gave him the “I Love You Massage.”
This helped get rid of some of the gas he was having and made him feel better, temporarily. I also laid him on his activity mat for some tummy time. The kicking and wiggling made him use his stomach muscles which can also get things moving. The combination worked! He pooped! It wasn’t a lot though and he was still pretty fussy. So I was ready to try something that I had heard is helpful. I read that you can basically take their temperature, rectally. We have a digital ear thermometer that we use most often, but a regular thermometer in case we ever need a more accurate temperature. Unfortunately, since the move I haven’t used the regular thermometer and had no idea where it was. So instead I had some pediatric suppositories that my sister had given me in case we needed it for Noah. I figured since Bryce was only 2 months old I couldn’t really give him the medicine, but the applicator would pretty much do the job. And man did it! In less than 5 minutes he had a HUGE poop. We are still having some issues with Bryce, but I don’t think we will have to resort to this again. Hopefully.
The teeny tiny silver lining in all of this?? Well, less poopy diapers for starters. But best of all, in trying to convince Noah to poop we have started getting him on the potty. It’s supposed to make it harder for him to hold it if he is sitting on the potty. And he has gone 4 or 5 times on the potty!! Woo Hoo!
To sum up, our live revolves around poop these days. Such fun.
If anyone has any tips PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH ME!!! You can leave a comment below or on facebook or twitter.
Thanks!!
