Pain and discomfort when pooing

I care for an 11 month old who rarely does a dirty nappy, however when she does she experiences a great deal of pain and discomfort. Her mum has taken her to the doctor who has prescribed lactulose in her water but is this a suitable solution in the long term?
She eats a pretty varied diet, even at this age and is willing to try new foods. She also drinks lots of water. Her stools are quite soft when they do come, but there isn't very much of them and it's the sheer effort and discomfort she goes through to push them out.
Mum has recently moved her onto full fat milk, but even this doesn't help her.

The reason I'm asking is I've just settled her down to sleep and she's woken up screaming because she's actually done a poo. She has been with me 6 months and I can actually count the number of dirty nappies she's done with me on one hand.

I've even tried gentle exercises like leg cycling and massage on her tummy to try and alleviate the pain (as directed by her health visitor) but the funny thing is her tummy is always soft to the touch (no hardness or distention) as if there's nothing wrong.

Has anyone experienced this with either their own children or their mindees?

It is quite common for little ones to get discomfort before they poo.......have seen it several times...my youngest had severe constipation as a baby even tho she had a ttally balanced diet and lots of water...she used to scream with pain and in the end her dad and I had to put vaseline onto her back passage with a cotton bud to help her open up....what came out shortly after was huge...I had never seen someone so small deliver something so big.......we used lactose syrup daily till we got her into a proper pattern......I know this isn't PC now but back then the HV advised a little sugar water....sugar being a natural laxative! while her stools were not rock hard they were dry.......sorry sounds gross but that little bit of sugar actually saved us hours of heartache.....on the upside......daughter has not suffered since and am sure she will not thank me for telling you all lol xx

My nephew had this from baby to the age of 3 and lactulose was prescribed throughout.

It was more physcological (spl?) for him though as he got older. He associated pooing with pain and would hold it and hold it and then when he did go it was painful as there was so much. He has slowly grown out of it though.

My daughter went through it for a short period after she was ill and became dehydrated. When she went for a poo, she tore because it was so hard. After that she had a little fissure that made it uncomforatble. After the fissure eventually went away she was fine.

Docs said it's really common for LO's to have trouble

Thanks to both of you for putting my mind at ease

My little girl was the same, from the moment she was born even though she was breastfed for the first 16 weeks. She could 5 to 6 days with any dirty nappys, but seemed uncomfortable. Any way we tried eveything that the doctor gave us but the lactose solutions just did not work. At around 8 months someone suggested prune juice in her bottles and from that moment on she has been fantastic and was a much more contented baby. At 2 and half now she sometimes can struggle to poo even thourgh they are really soft, and if this happens she is straight back on the prune juice and hey presto in a day she is fine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sillybeans

My nephew had this from baby to the age of 3 and lactulose was prescribed throughout.

It was more physcological (spl?) for him though as he got older. He associated pooing with pain and would hold it and hold it and then when he did go it was painful as there was so much. He has slowly grown out of it though.

My daughter went through it for a short period after she was ill and became dehydrated. When she went for a poo, she tore because it was so hard. After that she had a little fissure that made it uncomforatble. After the fissure eventually went away she was fine.

Docs said it's really common for LO's to have trouble

---

That is exactly like my son, as he gets older he is getting better though. There was times he was holding poos in for over a week :eek: but now he's old enough to realise the more often he goes the better he feels!