My advice for helping a child who suffers constipation and soiling

As I have told you my little girl has had a huge trouble doing her poo's.  It has been going on since June and a couple of months ago I decided that the problem was getting worse.  I did a lot of research as the doctor was beyond useless.  Annabelle is so much better and has gone from soiling 10+ times a day to telling me she needs a poo.  We have done this on our own.  We are not there yet but she has come leaps and bounds and I am so very proud of her.

This is how we turned a corner......

How did we combat Constipation?

• I researched why she was soiling.  It is because of a blockage and as the big poo is stuck the runny poo seeps round the blockage and they have no control over this.  
• I then had to find out how to get rid of the blockage... we used movicol.
• I then had to research how movicol works and the effects after the blockage as I needed to know what was normal.  
•   I got told by a lady in the continence office at the doctors via phone that as she is 3 and a small 3 year old in size I gave her 1 sachet with approx 60mls of juice and gave it her in the morning. We then had to stick to 1 sachet at the same time and wait for it to soften the poo. When the blockage was there we could feel it in her tummy and so we gave her a good long tummy massage.  We could feel lots of popping/wind in her tummy and she was able to release some gas which thinking about it she never did.  We waited 4 long days and she couldn't hold it any longer.  I have to let you know it was large and very painful for her.  We talked about a present she will get once it is out and it really helped her.
• You have to know that once the blockage is out a LOT of rubbish poo will follow and we kept a nappy on as it was so sludgy.  This happened for a couple of days as there was a lot of backlog.  
• Keep taking the sachet/s even though there will probably be lots of accidents and if like Annabelle she was probably so impacted. We have been naive before and thought the movicol was making her worse but just stick to it and eventually she/he will stop soiling.
• Next look into food and drinks.  The usual lots of fibre and water/juice.  Lots of fruits like raisins   We had to stop giving her bananas and bread other that a bit of wholemeal.  The whole household stopped with her and we love wholemeal now.  Do search for more.
• We then realised she wasn't constipated exactly.  She was withholding causing the blockages.   I then had to research how to help with this problem.
•  I found out about a charity called ERIC which has lots of information and has a fantastic facebook page with links to downloads as well as a helpline.

How we helped combat Soiling?

• First I reseached Soiling and found it is very common and usual is behavioural which explained why my daughter who development was fine was withholding.  It started when moving from nappy to potty.  I should have sorted her slight constipation issue first.
• We then used a Reward Chart HERE
• Lots of talking about poo and pooland- I found a story on youtube
• lots of praise and encouragement
• having a potty nearby
• Do not let your child sit on potty or toilet for too long.  If possible let them play at home pantless as if like my daughter will not want to poo on the floor and tells me but if she had pants on would be happy to poo in there.
• Realise that you need to find the right dose of movicol for his or her system. Also not you will have sloppy poo's for a while.
• I found out about a charity called ERIC which has lots of information and has a fantastic facebook page with links to downloads aswell as a helpline.
• Also ask at your local doctors for a referral.  Even if you need guidance for when to stop movicol.

 I really hope I have helped and please comment or send me an email victoria2322@hotmail.co.uk if you found it helpful as I would love to know I have helped another parent and child x