The last couple of weeks have been hectic on the #parenting front. One day #OhBoy retuned back unwell from school. We initially thought it was just a simple stomach bug, as he had a temperature along with it. Soon the temperature came down and all the tests came out negative as well. He slowly recovered and we never knew what was the cause.
So after a week, we went to a friend’s place for dinner. He was his normal self, but then eventually he refused to have dinner and said his tummy is aching. I got him back home and put him to sleep. By this time he was crying and it was a long night. He would wake up every hour and complain about the aching tummy and then go back to sleep. The whole night was this in repeat mode. At times he would be sobbing without actually calling and waking us up. It was sad to see him like that and tough when as a parent you can’t do anything to provide relief. In the morning he eventually pooped and was a different person after that. That is when it hit us that he could be constipated.
But then he was regular with his bowel movements and after an earlier warning from the paediatrician we always keep an eye on his toilet habits and spoke to him about it as well. So we were not sure what exactly it was this time.
We eventually got an appointment with the doctor and did a few tests to reveal that it was a case of paediatric constipation. The doctor said that it was pretty common among children. He is now on a bunch of medication to ease things out for him. Finally the pains have gone away and we are back to a regular schedule.
Below are my notes on things we need to do as parents to reduce such incidents. #OhBoy was doing most of this already. The only area he was slipping was withholding during playtime at school. And that eventually triggered all of this.
Notes on paediatric constipation
- Constipation is when either child does not pass stools or the stool is very hard and large
- The symptoms for this are
- less than 3 bowel movements a week
- dry and hard stools that are painful to pass
- bloated with abdominal pains
- stomach pains that improve after they poop
- traces of liquid or pasty stool in the underwear
- blood on stool
- poops like pellets
- The cause for this could be any of the following
- Diet — lack of fiber, not having enough fluids, more junk food, lots of daily products (Cheese, milk)
- Lack of physical activity
- Withholding (due to involvement in play or hesitation to use the toilets)
- Emotional — Stress in family/life
- Busy children — Who ignore body signals for want to play, too packed schedule
- Underlying physical condition
- Changes to reduce such occurrences
- Change in diet to include more fiber (Fruits, vegetables)
- Intake lot of fluids
- Get more exercise or physical activity
- Good toilet habits — twice a day sitting on the toilet for 10 minutes, approximately 30 mins after a meal
You can read more about this at the following links