Is there anything I can give my 3 year old son to help him poop? He is very constipated.
32-year-old woman
My son has been constipated for quite some time, but for a while now he has been holding back from pooping. I know he wants to, but he just won't do it. Is there anything that can help him right now? I've already tried the suppository and it doesn't work
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Alexandre Chagnon · 4 years ago
Good evening ma'am,
How is he doing with his potty training? Do you think it is possibly "negative" for him to have a bowel movement?
And what is his recent weight?
32-year-old woman · 4 years ago
Hello, technically he was 100% clean on the pee side since October/November. We had the arrival of our 2nd child in early February, everything was pretty much fine until about 3 weeks ago. He would hold back on pooping for several days in a row until he was no longer able to and sometimes he would even pee in his pants. I feel like this is caused by the stress of the last few weeks, a lot of change. He has always been constipated, but I feel like it's worse now.
Currently he weighs about 33 lbs.
Alexandre Chagnon · 4 years ago
This situation frequently occurs when a second child arrives.
Have you noticed if her milk intake has increased in the past few weeks?
32-year-old woman · 4 years ago
No, in fact he only consumes milk in his cereal in the morning and it's not every day. He has a diet, healthy and normal...nothing changed.
Alexandre Chagnon · 4 years ago
Great, thanks!
The first thing to do in my opinion is to make sure that this "blockage" is not from pressure to be clean. In such a case, we could for example tolerate him wearing diapers again for a few days until he stops holding back.
This is necessary even if we use a laxative in my opinion. Because laxative or not, he will have to have the will to have a bowel movement, otherwise it doesn't work.
Also, in order to avoid him holding back because it hurts to have a bowel movement (constipation), we could try using Lax-A-Day, a powder to put in a glass of water in the morning. At his weight, we can give him the "adult" dose, which is 17g.
If this is not enough after 2 weeks, we'll go see a doctor.
Happy day :)
Alexandre Chagnon, pharmacist
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