Taking The Pain Away

I am so sad tonight.

My poor sweet girl has struggled for two days to poop.  Or better yet, to not poop. Every ten minutes or so, she goes off to the corner, tightens her little body into a rigid plank, and strains to not let herself poop.  Any efforts by us to try to convince her to use the potty, or just to let the poop come out, are met with screeching and fighting us (if we are close).  We just don't know what to do.

The same thing happened last weekend, and when she finally couldn't hold it back any longer, she passed a rather large, solid poop - then went six more times in 24 hrs.  of course the first 4 times were extremely painful.  It's a terrible cycle - the more she holds it in, the more compacted it gets and then the harder it is to eventually pass.  This causes pain and fear which reinforces her holding in the next one.

I am making her an appt with her doctor next week, but in the meantime, we will be using stool softener as a preventative measure - to at least help her continue to go regularly without pain.  She eats relatively well with a good amount of fruits and veggies, gets exercise daily and isn't on any meds that might cause side effects.

I have no idea what caused it this time, but we are doubling our milk-free efforts.  We just cannot keep doing this.  Tonight our poor girl was spent - exhausted from holding it in over and over for two whole days.  She did finally go, and then screamed, cried and fell asleep in my arms.  I held her for awhile after she was asleep, simply because it was all I could do to comfort her (and me too!)

So, while I am happy she has gone, I can't see her poor little body be put through this week after week. We have to figure this out!  For her health, for her happiness, and for the hopes of ever getting her toilet trained...it's pretty difficult to go on the toilet if you are stiff and straight as a board and terrified!