ha ha ha!! poor Leta and her constipated tummy!!

on a side note, I love how "King Chuck" just sits there and behaves so nicely while you take his picture!

Your description of a constipated two-year-old is the picture I see ... oh, I'd say ... just about every MONDAY morning and usually lasting into Wednesday afternoon. It's heartbreaking and yet oddly hysterical when she eventually calls out for prune juice ... she calls it "poop juice."

You should get that book "Everyone Poops", because studies have shown that, well, everyone poops!

I think I'll use that the next time I get pulled over. "Officer I'm pooping"!

Poor Leta. My son had that problem a week ago, as he sat on the toilet yelling at the top of his lungs "mom the poop won't come out". I told him he was constipated and he was clearly offended by being called that.

Sometimes I wish my daughter didn't want to poo. Since we've switched to formula, the diapers have a personality of their own.
Chuck is so tolerant. My dog would never put up with that. I'm surprised he even lets my daughter pet him(read: grab and pull his ears). She's getting sneaky at it now - she reaches out and pets him once gently, THEN grabs ahold of his ears.

I think you're on to something: Laxitive lotion.

Laxalotion. Saving the world's bowels one swipe at a time!

But, seriously, I'm with Leta. If I could banish pooping from existance, I'd gladly do it. Think of how that time could better be spent. Like slamming doors.

Is it wrong of me to yearn so badly for a picture of her vein-bulging, cutie pie face??

Poor Leta! My Melanie (almost 4) seems to be a bit backed up too, coupled with a slight lactose intolerance and her favorite foods being yogurt, cheese, and any other dairy item! Hmmm...maybe I should give her the Lactaid pill, then sprinkle MiraLax on top of her yogurt, and then be ready with the Children's Mylanta after that! Oy vey!

And I love Chuck's crown...Melanie word those Old Navy pants today too..only not on her head.

Love your stuff Heather!

Just about the time I get all cocky thinking my teenagers are so easy, you come along and remind me how entertaining the drama of toddler-hood is.

PS - I'm a longtime (pre-Leta) lurker. Hi!

MiraLax is just a miracle drug in my opinion. You can mix it with water and you can't even tell it's in there! Try it in her milk or juice...again, she'll be none the wiser. My son had to take it when he swallowed pennies to be sure they moved through the system quickly and that stuff is great.

Be careful with her fear of pooping. I went through a horrible ordeal when I was young and honestly had pooping problems until I was about 14.. pooping problems that are too embarrassing to mention.. pooping problems that NO ONE but my family knows about, if you get my drift. I would hate for Leta to have to go through that.

MiraLax looks suspiciously like artificial sweetener, you say? Veeeery interesting...... I hope the next person who screws me over takes A LOT of Splenda in their coffee.

You could probably write The Big Book of Conspitation, the amount of wonderful tales that you have...

How cute! We have the opposite problem with my daughter. It's a complete poo fest. We're starting the potty training now and to encourage her we bribe her with toys. She refers to them as poo toys. She's currently running around in the "nudes nudes" playing her "poo flute". That sounds kinda bad but it's really cute.

I have a crazy mother-in-law who was once pulled over by a cop for speeding. He came to the driver's side of the car to talk to her and she rolled the window down and said, "I have REALLY BAD diarrhea!" Then she sped off. He didn't chase after her.
Seems to me that distressed bowels can get a person out of many bad situations.

My daughter, Lucia, who is 21 mo. old will go into a corner or in another room and crouch down when having a bowel movement. I have asked her if she is pooping and she looks at me and says, "No." Well, I know the look on her face when she is pooping and I can smell it. (Baby diapers have nothing on toddler diapers!)

So, now I say something like, "It looks like you have to poop. Let's go into the bathroom." (My mom says not to ask a child a question when you don't intend to give them a choice. Very difficult.) Sometimes I can sit her on the toilet in time, but mostly not. I don't know how to bridge this gap between her knowing she is pooping and being able to acknowledge it. Perhaps I should get the book about everyone pooping or the Elmo doll. Elmo is like crack for kids.

One of my nieces was afraid of pooping at about Leta's age. We tried everything we could think of to make it OK for her. Nothing we did ever helped, but she eventually got over it on her own.

Afraid of pooping? I get excited every time I do it, because I think of that King(?) who had forty pounds of feces in his colon when he died, because he would hold it in instead of just go.

And so when I poop, I think to myself, "That's two pounds less of feces that I'm going to have in my colon when I die."

You're doomed! When is her first date, next saturday? ;)

So much like Baby G's poop pattern right now. She is not as constipated but we do have to give her the drops every few days if she hasnt gone. She is so super focused when she is pooping and you can always tell as she will just get something and stand really still and act like is is so seriously looking at say a napkin for 5 mins. Dont dare ask if she is pooping she will shoot you the slant eye and scream NOOOOOOO!!!! Sometimes she sneaks over to the dining room table and stands next to one of the chairs and kind of hides while she poops. Poor thing. Wouldnt it just be easier to get on the potty and close the door? Dont they know its easier to squat and poop then stand and poop?

Poor Leta. My son had chronic constipation. We tried Miralax, removing bananas from his diet, stuffing him full of bran. It was terrible! He would be so torn between his need to poop and his fear of pooping. Such a dilemma.

And to make it worse, he did the same thing - using pooping as his trump card. All things stopped - yelling, crying, demands - when Anders needed to poop.

Here's a piece of advice (I know, you didn't ask for it) - we solved the constipation problem by removing dairy from his diet. Turns out my kids inherited an intolerance to dairy proteins from me - that and a cranium that is too big for his skinny body. Sorry buddy.

Good luck!

Maybe Jon startled the poop out of her when he yelled? Just a thought.

My 20 month old has a similar issue. It's so sad to see her stuggle to poop! She loves bananas and cheese, but they just don't love her. We haven't gotten to the Miralax phase yet, but I think we're almost there. Tell Leta my Olivia feels her pain!

OOO poor little Leta!!! I feel sorry for her! I hope she feels better soon!!!! She is a doll baby!

Awwww. Poor little Leta.

My niece is only a few months younger than Leta and she is doing the SAME THING with her food. I see her everyday since they live so close and she will drink juice and water and eat these things, but other than that? Nothing! Very frusterating. Hopefully they will both start eating agian. I am very greatful for the vitamins. Oh yeah that is the other thing she will eat. Kids. haha.

Cute that she is using the poop thing to her advantage. Oh! There is an upside!

That sounds just like me. For my entire life. Well, except for the last month or so when the coffee that I reintroduced to my diet after many years apart has been forcing me to be regular. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, though, and I'll be back to my normal, poopless self.

This entry totally reminded me of a conversation I had with my husband the other day.

"Is it possible that I'm pooping more because I'm drinking coffee again?"

"Um, you know how some laxatives say 'Without any harsh chemicals'? Do you know what those chemicals are?"

"Caffeine?"

"Exactly."

"So why was I constipated in high school when I drank three cups of coffee every day?"

(pause)

"I guess it probably helps that I'm actually eating food now, too."

no poop here, just its favorite Dooce co-stars - a toddler and a dog.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/58impala/chickenjoke.gif

My daughter has entered this stage of life where she, too, does not want to poop. She does the red-face trying to hold it in thing too. When she poops she wants to look at it and says that it is hers and she doesn't want to say bye-bye to it. Alas, I know this stage will pass! And it leads to potty training!!! Hooray!

I was in SLC 2 weeks ago, and my sister took her 3-year-old daughter to the toilet, but didn't meet with any success because, as my niece declared, "The poop is too scared to come out." 30 minutes later, they again went to the bathroom, and after much effort, my niece pooped. She looked in the toilet and declared, "Those poops are BRAVE little poops. They were scared to come out, but they did." I never thought I encourage the idea of poop with volition, but I'm of the opinion that it's less icky than poop in pants.

Oh man Heather! I just saw the pics of "King Chuck" and I must tell you that people at the office must think I'm insane for laughing so damn loudly! I love Chuck! He's hilarious!

And poor Leta. I hope all goes well with her in the poop dept!

Poor little Leta, I feel for her, I am sure it will pass.....eventually. At least she doesn't take off her pants and diaper while supposedly napping in her crib and smear the poop all over the place only to surprise you when you go in to check and make sure the little angel is in fact napping, that's my son's little trick and so horribly disgusting. If I had my way we would no longer have to poop, just hit the delete key and it would vanish.

My husband used that Miralax stuff. Or at least pretended to once. Poor Leta. I remember from psych class that some children have issues during the whole potty training with the bowel movements because they feel as if part of them is being flushed away. Kinda screwy to think about. Gabip, my son does the same thing with the poop. We've tried reversing the diaper, pull ups...nothing works. He flings poo and that's what I get for having a child in the Year of the Monkey!

Reading through the comments reminded me of something I had log--er, I mean, long suppressed: giving my toddling son a glycerin suppository. Ew, ew, ew. Like the other commenter, he was able to voice his concern about the whole mess, which basically sounded like this: "NOT THE BUTT MEDICINE, MOMMY! I DON'T WANT THE BUTT MEDICINE!"

Never had I felt more unworthy of motherhood than when I had to foist a tiny capsule of colon lube up my son's ass.

Oy...

But, yeah: thanks for the reminder.

That same tactic works just as well for adults. When confronted with an uncomfortable situation I just drop to the floor, flail my arms and announce that I am pooping. Come to think of it, maybe that's why the situation is uncomfortable.

If you'd like, I'll send you my couch.

Evidently, going behind the couch makes children poop. Whether or not they're wearing a diaper. It's a miracle laxative, my couch. I think it might be the putrid color that causes it, but I'm not sure.

Ha. My teenagers still use the 'I'm pooping' defense, only now it's so they can hide in the bathroom and get out of chores.

When my oldest was still a little guy, he too had severe pooping issues. When he was 4, the (new) pediatrician diagnosed a hernia that he'd apparently had since birth.

One little day surgery later, the kid never had a problem pooping again.

Or maybe he was just afraid to tell me about any issues since he got circumsized at the same time.

If only we humans weren't so disturbed by our own bodily functions. Then we could be like my roommates' cat and do celebratory laps around the house after every poop in triumph and pride.

Re: photo of the day - Chuck is the coolest dog on the planet. Sorry other dog people, but it's just the way it is.

Re: comment section - I've never read the word 'poop' so many times in my life. I feel like I need an enema just to get the word out of my head. I feel dirty!

We have Miralax in the house as well. Thankfully for a short term thing. Made for some frequent and stinky toots. *sigh* The things we worry about are never the what we thought they would be are they?

I had to post. My son was on MiraLax, after trying many other things, for almost 2 years. He was able to be taken off the medicine at age 3, and we've only had a few incidents since. We were able to put it in a small amount of juice, put it in a sippy, and he'd slam it. It worked WONDERS - my son was able to outsmart suppositories and mineral oil. Good luck with it - and hang in there. It is torturous when you just want to help them and they are panicked!

All hail King Chuck. That is the most patient dog on the planet.

And i agree with whoever suggested smoothies, you can sneak anything into them and they just think you're giving them ice cream. Poor Leta. We've been through this,too. One day, on what was like Day Five of no pooping, Lucy was having some horrific farts at daycare and her teacher, who was the kindest, most mild-mannered woman in the world, asked me (very gently) 'Is Lucy having some troubles with her BMs? Because she's had some, err, umm, gas problems.' Poor child. I plan to torture her with that story when she's a teenager.

Oh, and one more thing, we (shamelessly, because it works ,dammit) reward with jelly belly jelly beans.

My 3 year old granddaughter that lives with us is fascinated with poop! She'll sit on the potty chair SINGING - I SWEAR it - "I'm pooping, I'm pooping" - calls everyone in the house in to inspect the final product - and this past week, while she's been sick - has been chanting the word diarrhea around the house. It's pretty hard not to roll on the floor laughing sometimes!

Leta is such a character! When I was a baby, my mom says I would hide behind the couch to poop in my diaper. If anyone came over to see what I was doing, I'd hold my hand up to block their face from view and yell, "Go 'way!"

ah, yes, my younger sister learned a similar trick long ago. our dog tulip died when i was seven and she was six. understandably, she cried and cried, saying, iiiii missssss tuuuuu-lipppp. my parents comforted her accordingly, providing ice cream and hugs.

little sis was quite the troublemaker, however. days later she did something traditionally mischievous, broke a chair, or deliberately poured grape juice all over the floor. or something. i don't remember exactly what. when mom came to scold her, (what did you do NOW?), i remember her looking up at mom, nervous, and then, a lightbulb, she smiled, blinked and began to wail: "I missss Tuuuuu-lipppp!" i think i recall a popsicle being offered as condolescence this time around...sneaky little girl.

I remember the potty-training years and the books talking about "how difficult it felt to some children to let a part of them go and then (horrors!) to see it flushed down the toilet".
On the whole entire other hand, in your house, it could be just that bowel issues reign and she's just joining in the fray!
Before you know it,this too shall fade and there will be some new persisting(pun?)issue that requires your attention.
Eventually, we get to start worrying about our children's children!

I have two with this problem. It is so heartbreaking. The older of the two finally stopped holding it. He's 9. We have switched from Miralax to Fiber Choice. They each eat 2 every morning. Kind of like vitamins. Works wonders. Much less tears. Good luck with Leta. May the fear of pooping be brief.

That is quite possibly the best Leta story EVER! I can just imagine her in all her pigtailed fury, veins popping out of her forehead, as she tries to withhold her poop from the world. Poor child - such a young age to be traumatized by the terrors of constipation! My niece - she loves to crap her pants, and she revels in the glory of running over to me, pointing at her diaper and saying "Pooey!" or something of the sort, with a big grin on her face. And when I open up the nasty diaper, she grins even wider, because she knows I am being gassed out. For a 15 month old, she creates some man turds.

Thanks for making me laugh on an otherwise uneventful Friday. And the pictures of Chuck - amusing as always!

Ah ha! Manipulative punk! I have a theory that whatever you deal with when a kid is two, that's exactly what kind of issues you'll have with them as a teenager.

As for the pooping, yeah. We tried it all: Dulcolax, high fiber diet, pullups, no pullups. We even tried **reasoning**. All failed in the face of Constipatio's desire to keep it all in.

What finally worked: Bribing him with pure cane sugar. He gets a chocolate treat every time he poops.

Yes I know there's something very disturbing and wrong about A) connecting bowel movements with yummy candy, B) bribing children, and C) the fact that the treats are suspiciously poop-colored but you know what? It works. We call it a "positive reward system", and we plan on using this approach well into his teen years.

Oh my god, that is funny. I'm sorry she has that problem, but shit I needed that today. Thanks Heather. I wouldn't worry about her being a teenager, just hope she makes it past two and go from there.

I can't help you much with the pooping issue - our daughter seemed quite happy to poop her little brains out (for too many years, I might add) - but she, also, refused to eat much of anything for a period and so I heartliy recommend to get to the library or bookstore and get a copy of Bread and Jam for Francis by Russell Hoban. Hoban's series of books about his adorable badger (yes, badger...) addressed all sorts of issues that seemed easier to manage once our daughter realized that her buddy Francis was going through them too.

there are already too many comments here to read, so i wonder if you yourself even read all of these. nevertheless, i feel the need to expose my fight with constipation to you, and the world at this very moment after reading this entry.

for some reason, when i was younger, post-potty training, i just was constipated, all the time. so, when the time finally came when my body could just not contain another ounce of poop, there i landed in the bathroom, screaming, crying, red face, didn't know what to do to stop the horrible pain. my parents tried to make me eat prunes/drink prune juice, and to this day i will not go near anything prune, or "plum" as they are so deceitfully labeled, as they are the most foul tasting things on this earth.

during these times, my mother would sit there with me in the bathroom and say soothing things to me, but i could only concentrate on the imminent pain. i hear you leta, i do. and i can also still remember them once using some kind of laxative suppository, and after it was inserted i ran around the house screaming like a maniac until i hit the bathroom and exploded.

11 years after i was born, my parents had another daughter, and during potty training she would always always wait until you put a diaper on her for her nap and then she would hide in a corner and poop, and since she would hold it and hold it and hold it waiting for the diaper/poop receptacle, the same saga happened to her.

and somehow, it just stopped. [or stared, depending on how you look at it, i guess.] we have both been constipation-free for many, many years. i don't know why, or what changed, but i am definitely grateful for it.

so there, here i am, admitting to the internet i too was a non-pooper.

the end.

"electricboogaloo said at 04:28PM, 03.10.2006:

Ah ha! Manipulative punk! I have a theory that whatever you deal with when a kid is two, that's exactly what kind of issues you'll have with them as a teenager."

That's a frightening theory! What if Leta builds up magnified telekinetic powers as a result of her poop denial, and she goes all "Carrie" on your ass when prom night rolls around?

Just promise me you won't ever use the word "dirtypillows"...

Heather>

I used to work at a childrens home and Miralax goes down nicely in a glass of juice =).

Try using these pee and poo dolls - they are cute and maybe Leta can eventually call the process elmo-poop.

http://www.scandinaviandetails.com/s.nl/category.42/it.A/id.1324/.f

I was so going to say the f word, the one that ends with t. Not the one that ends with k. But then I realized it would violate the dooce comment policy and I DID NOT want to make Heather B. Armstrong mad, because that might be the very end of my existence as I know it.

But I will say this. Because I don't have poop problems. I don't. Seriously. I have the opposite problem. Of being able to poo anytime. Whatever. No problem. Which can also be annoying. However, I realized some of my favorite foods are to blame. And this part of my 'problem' is helpful. Because I like malt o meal. I hear the chorus of "GROSS" from around the nation, but I do. With serious butter and brown sugar. I don't even need to poop, but it makes me poop anyways. So that is idea one.

Then there are yogurt covered raisins. I have three kids, they eat them and have no clue they are semi-healthy. And they will so make your bowels move. SO, just a thought. Sure, Leta won't eat, but just tell her the yogurt covered raisins are candy. Hey, it could work.

Try involving other young children. For some magical reason children are obsessed with each others poo and love to compare notes.

This also helped me when my daughter, then 4, was showing signs of this behaviour. Her twin brother sorted her out by creating massive big ones whilst grinning. And then, gross but helpful, showing her the fruit of his labour. She must have then realised that it's normal and it doesn't kill you.

Problem solved.

My six-year old gets backed up on occasion. At which time, I'm informed that his 'poop is pointy' and that I need to 'make broccoli-the poop food'. His father told him that one. Like it isn't hard enough to get kids to eat their vegetables.

Hi Heather! I'm honored to join you here.

Poor Leta! I hope this poop thing gets easier for her soon! I've been having the opposite happen with my 3 year old. Been working on potty-training since last summer and she got the poop in the toilet thing down pretty quickly. Seems she loves to go poop, 'cuz every time I sit her on the potty she says "I poop". The child goes poop at LEAST four times a day, if not more! I get so tired of wiping her little poopy butt, and I'll be glad when she can do it good enough herself!

my 33 month old daughter, camdyn is on the miralax too. her doc. told us we could mix it with juice, milk or water. it has no flavor (i've tried it). camdyn has had pooping issues her entire life - since birth. straining and crying and turning red in the face - veins bulging, eyes popping out of their sockets, etc. she would only poop once every three or four days. i tried changing her formula, adding fiber, getting her to drink more water. i have even used my own fingers to get the stuff out! we went to a few doctors who never seemed to know what was causing her constipation...

finally we found a doc. who knew her shit (literally)! she said that after 2 1/2 years of chronic constipation camdyn's colon had completely stretched out. this usually happens because of one really bad pooping experience. the child gets scared to poop again because it hurt so bad the time before. so they hold it in for as long as they can until they just have to get it out - which hurts even more than the last time. it's a vicious cycle... so the miralax is supposed to soften the stool to make it easier and less painful to poop. the tricky part is getting the dosage right. you have to mess around with how much and how often you use it. sometimes camdyn will have runny poops - so i've probably been giving her too much and vice-versa. her doc. said she should be having two small soft poops each day. we're not quite there yet... she also said that it could take a year or two for camdyn's colon to shrink back down to it's regular size.

whew! sorry for the long comment - i just SO relate to what you're going through! stick with the miralax, try adjusting the dosage and definitely try putting it in her drink instead of sprinkling it on her food. it has been a lifesaver for us! good luck!

btw - leta is a beautiful little girl! i LOVE her hair!

I love that there is actually a product out there in ciruculation called "Miralax." It makes me happy inside to know such laxative creativity exists in the world.