18 Month Old Has Appt. W/ Gastroenterologist for Constipation. What Can I Expect

do you give him massage? This is extremely soothing and beneficial. In a clockwise motion start at his belly button and either glide (with oil) or gently rock your fingertips in a widening circle eventually ending on the left side near his pelvic bone. Also, I highly recommend a pediatric chiropractor or cranialsacral therapist. His torticollis could very well be affecting the nerves that govern his digestive and elimanitive system. By the by, does he have allergies? These tend to start in the gut so it's good to get help for him now.

Both of my daughters have had alot of trouble with constipation. My Dr. put them both on Miralax daily. My oldest was on it for about a year (the Dr had told me it would take 6 mos to a year to get her regular) and now she is fine-I no longer give it to her. I have just started my younger one on it because she is having so much trouble...with my Dr.'s help, we have figured out a good dose to make her go and were able to avoid the gastroenterologist. It may be worth a try.

My daughter has also suffered from constipation since birth and we also tried to manage it at first with diet. Lots of fruit/veggies, no dairy or bananas, flax seed every day. Still, we went to see the GI doc at Childrens when she was about 18 months also. We see Maria Rubio and she is great with my daughter. They are very good with kids and our daughter is never scared when she is there, has never even cried there. For the initial consult, they will get his history. How often he goes, what the stool is like, what symptoms he has, what you have tried to correct the problem, etc...They will spend alot of time talking to you about the issues. They did a super quick exam which consisted of pressing gently on her belly to see if it was distended. They do a super quick rectal exam to get a bit of poop, I think with just a gloved finger. That was the scariest for my daughter, but still not bad and over in a second. You will always stay with your child no matter the exam. They will most likely suggest a suppository or enema to clean him out of any hard stool he is holding. Then they will have you start on Miralax and possibly pedialax strips also to maintain until he is regularly having at least one bowel movement a day. They feel this is the way to go. My daughter has been taking Miralax for over a year now, and we have just tried taking her off of it. We feel now she is older and can understand she has to eat things high in fiber, drink alot of fluids, can't have dairy. We put flax seed in her food every day and also have started her on a probiotic for digestion. I am not sure yet, if we will have to go back to the miralax, having just one hard bowel movement makes her hold it in and then she gets constipated fast. I am sure you know how heart wrenching it is to watch your little one in pain or holding it because they are scared. At 18 months, we really needed to use the meds as she was just too little to talk through some of this with. She is almost three now and is starting to understand better. I hate that she was still on the laxative after so long, so we are trying to make an attempt to forgo them again, but we'll see what happens. I think the GI docs are great at Childrens, but they also feel the Miralax is the answer....honestly I don't feel they work too much at getting them off the meds at that age. It is a hard decision, but I say use the meds until he is a bit older and you can reason with him. Good luck and feel free to send me a PM if you have any other questions.

I don't have any referrals for you. I do, however, strongly urge you to interview ped gastros and ask them exactly the same things you're asking us on the board. Hopefully you'll find a doc that is on the same page as you are about your son's health!

Best of luck toyou.

my daughter was diagnosed early at one with failure to thrive. She also had ____@____.com story short, (at the age of 18 months) one dr that we had to see was a gastroenterologist. He did a complete exam, including an upper GI. If you are not familiar with this, they make them drink this horrible liquid and watch (on a television w/ ultrasound) as it is digested. This was horrible. My daughter screamed the entire time because it tasted so bad and because we had to hold her down so she would stay still. She went through all of that just to have the doctor tell me that she is going to be short (like me). She had a series of other tests and basically we were on our own to figure out how to help her. My daughter is now six and I still have to watch everything she eats. She is not much of a junk kid but she loves cheese & milk. Cheese, if you did not know, is very binding. She screams and cries sometimes with certain bowel movements. In the last 5-6 months, I started using Benefiber. It is a powder that you can mix with anything, including water, pasta sauce, whatever. It does not have a taste. I give her two teaspoons in her drink two - three times a day with her meals. She is very good about telling me if she pooped or not that day. If she hasn't, then I give it to her 3 times. Two times is usually enough for her. We have NOT had one hard bowel movement since! I recommend that you try this right away and see if it works for you. You can find it in any store, it's located by the vitamins and pharmacy items. If you have a Costco membership, buy it there. You get a big bottle for a great price. You will go through the small bottle pretty quick but if your son is as bad as my daughter was, it is worth every penny! That upper GI is hard thing to watch.

Good luck! Let me know if it works if it works for you!

My son had a lot of food sensitivities as an infant and was on a rice-based formula, but lots of rice based foods. He was always contipated since rice bulks up your poop. His doctor put him on Miralax daily for about for a least a year. It's is a very mild, now OTC laxative that is really safe and effective. It causes no cramping and works great. Never had to go to the gastroenterologist.

We went to a gastro at 18 mo for constipation.

She felt his belly, did a rectal, and then ordered blood tests (since he was under weight too). We talked a great deal about natural remedies and other options. We choose to use Miralax (which at the time was not over the counter, it is now). He was on a very minor dose for a year and now we use Probiotics (Kiefer, mostly) to maintain regularity.

Hi A.,

My son also had problems at birth, and actually attended physical therapy through Easter Seals for six months. He currently has a seizure disorder, and is taking a low dosage of Keppra to control his seizures. He is 4 years old now, but at about 3 years old he also had problems with constipation. He got to the point where he was afraid to go to the bathroom because it was so painful. That was scary! At the recommendation of his pediatrician, we changed his diet, but that did not help much. He was still afraid to go. His pediatrician recommended a very low dosage of Miralax. We were apprehensive at first, because we didn't know if there would be problems with the Keppra. The Miralax helped, and made it easier for him to go. We kept him on it for 5 months, which helped him forget the bad memories of constipation. He has been fine since. I hope this helps.

Have you considered chiropractic? It is safe and natural and very efdective! I am a chiropractic assistant and have seen hundreds of kids start pooping regularly after starting care. I call my Dr. The PoopDoctor because nearly all kids cannot get out of the office after an adjustment without pooping (we had to install a baby changing station)!
All 3 of my kids have been adjusted since birth and they are the healthiest kids i know. I even get compliments from friends and family about how healthy they are. I believe it is due to diet and chiropractic.
Sorry to go off on a tangent, but it could be worth a shot for your little one.
What have you got to lose, right?

A.-
I definitely agree about seeing a chiropractor. Makes a world of difference. Also would recommend checking into probiotics, digestive enzymes & flax oil.
And most importantly check out a technique called EFT. It’s basically acupuncture without the needles. You tap on energy meridians. I wish I had taken this seriously when I first ran across it on mercola.com (which is a great website by the way) but I thot it sounded way too simple. IT IS & IT WORKS!
Their website is emofree.com. You can download a free instruction manual & read stories of its uses & successes. After discovering it did indeed work I bought several of the dvds which I am allowed to copy & give away. I would be more than happy to share with any moms who are interested. My family (& now friends) have been using "tapping" for over a year now on both physical & emotional problems (allergies, asthma, eczema, nightmares, work anxiety, trouble falling asleep, constipation, anger, grief, etc...) with fantastic results. I thank God everyday for this wonderful tool.
Blessings-C. B