GD afraid to poo

This is really common, the health visitor should be able to refer her to the appropriate support

Ask the GP for paediatric Movicol. Quite often when a child is frequently constipated, the bowel stretches which makes the bowel less effective at expelling poo. Then, it gets hard in the bowel so runny poo leaks past it. Movicol softens the hard stool so it will gradually get expelled. You keep using the Movicol for 6 months so the poo remains soft and the bowel then shrinks back and things return to normal. It doesn't cause stomach ache like laxatives can and it is tasteless so can be added to squash so it isn't unpleasant. Some children use up to 8 sachets a day in severe cases.
I don't know how a GP can make a sweeping statement that everything is ok. Without a Paediatrician doing a proper investigation, your GP cannot know whether she has slow gut motility which can cause this and cause much bigger problems if untreated.
I don't know how old your GD is but if she is "double-jointed", then digestive problems often occur because the connective tissue isn't as good as holding strong which is why the bowel is extra stretchy to cause this.

My son had this when little. Would be so bad tempered whilst holding it all in. And the relief when he finally went! He also refused to go at all, despite desperate, while away from home. He did grow out of it.

Good post from icanholdthemback I found most GP's were reluctant to prescribe adequate softeners, and hardly any gave the correct information about how long treatment was require for - icanholdthem back is quite correct. Basically as things stand at the moment, if the child is able to still hold for four or five days, then the treatment (Lactulose) can be deemed ineffective. Find out which GP in your practice does paediatric developmental assessments and make an appointment with them.

If the child is under 5, the Health Visitor can prescribe Movicol.

If the child is in school the School Nurse may be a good contact. They are so much experience of dealing with children (obviously!) and will have more time than the GP.

The problem is getting worse as time goes by. Now she will physically fight not to sit on the toilet. The pain she has is horrendous. At the moment it's eight days since her last poo. I have found out that her school has a counselling service so I'm waiting to speak to them. Trouble is, if the stool softener has any taste then she won't take it. Last night she howled in pain almost non-stop from 7pm until she fell asleep at 10.30pm. Then of course she was very tired this morning. The last GP she saw suggested the School Nurse but apparently the nurse only pops into the school now and again.

We're at our wits' end with this and I feel so sorry for her. She's obviously suffering badly but seems to have this mental block that she can't get past.

If only I could buy a magic wand!

4 GC in the family had this " performance " which is what I called it. Both parents over-protective and over-fussy . Other parents in the family just got on with things with their children and didn't make them a focus or their toilet habits and as a consequence they all did what came naturally without any fuss and palava. 2 boys within the family later went on to suffer appendicitis.

It does seem to be a psychological thing going on with these children but getting to the root cause is the problem.

I also read somewhere on GN (but I don't think it is on this thread) that letting the child put her feet on a little stool helps - it's difficult to do a poo without your feet resting on the floor and, of course, they are too small for feet to touch the floor.

Perhaps they could see the practice nurse, because straining could cause problems such as an anal fissure which will make it even more difficult and worrying for her to try to pass a motion. The GP really needs to do more, sorry, that is not acceptable to suggest seeing the school nurse.

I still have nightmares about this. I was that child. I'd sit on the kerb on the way to school to hold it in. No idea why. My siblings didn't have this need.

I still feel the course of treatment I had as a six year old was barbaric - enemas in hospital, twice a day (the smell of rubber tubing is still with me) and impatient nurses standing over me in the hospital toilet demanding I deliver..There were no angels back then or parents on the ward. I was just a naughty child, all alone, terrified, and this seemed like punishment. I'll never forget it. (I am crying recounting it...)

Thank goodness we do things differently now.

supernanauanal a few thoughts come to mind.

Why are you waiting to speak to the school counselling service? Should that not be down to the parents?

You also mention that if the stool softener has a taste, she won't take it. Can it not be slipped into another drink? Perhaps even try a new fruit squash or milk shake etc.

Day6 you poor thing

You can get natural flavoured Movicol and it can be disguised by juice. I know some parents give it in milkshake but ensure that their children drink plenty of water too.

That is the best advice !

Oh Day6, how awful ....glad you are back to 'normal' so to speak .