How long should little ones go without stooling

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anonymous

New member
Hello,

I have a 15 month old. He is having trouble stooling (started last week). How many hours should we go before I get concerned? Tomorrow morning will be 48 hours. The clinic on saturday put him on 2 teaspoons of a laxative (forget the name..) and another one that I am to give him once a day for 4 days (17 grams of powder mixed into liquid). Just curious... thanks!! Paula
 
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anonymous

New member
Hi,

When Samantha starts getting "stopped up" we try to compare the number of stools to her normal number. She usually goes twice a day. When we see that she hasn't gone the whole day we give her additional Miralax. If she really gets backed up she will start spitting up or vomiting. She also gets extremely crabby.

If the laxative is not working, you should probably contact your clinic and see what they recommend as the next step. Samantha has had to have "Go Litely" (another liquid laxative) at the hospital. Not a pleasant experience, but it worked.

Don't wait too long because it might lead to a blockage. They can check how backed up your child is with an x-ray or scan.

Maria (mother of three daughters, the youngest, Samantha w/cf)
 
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anonymous

New member
My daughter is almost 3 with CF and she has digestive issues. One preventative thing we have done is give her prune juice, which has a natural laxative effect. She actually really likes the taste of it. They also have baby food prunes, it's very sweet and children tend to like it. as the other posters stated always best to err on the side of caution.
 
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anonymous

New member
He threw up twice already this morning. I called the clinic and they wanted me to bring him to the ER. I asked if we could wait another 3 hours. He then had a stool but the doctor said he could still be backed up. That makes no sense to me. Can someone explain? Thanks!@
 
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anonymous

New member
Sometimes you can have a bowel obstruction (blockage of poop) and some stool will still work its way around that poop and you will have a bowel movement (usually loose stool). My daughter has had obstructions and will continue to have a bowel movement. Sometimes she will start vomiting when the blockage is high and she has literally vomited stool.
 
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anonymous

New member
If he's throwing up or in any pain today, I would take him to the ER even if he has passed one stool. My daughter passed one but still needed help because she was suffering from intussusception(sp?).
 
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anonymous

New member
To the original poster.

If our 4 year old doesn't have a stool for more than 24 hours then we know he is starting a blockage. He too will vomit and not beable to keep anything down. He has went for a whole week like this and he normally gets the miralax once a day and 2 tsp of laculose twice a day every day when he starts the blockage I will give him 2 doses of miralax and extra lactulose daily. When it goes past 3 days we start enemas, he has had up to 4 a day and then the go-lightly. You will get to know your child's bowels and when they are starting to have problems. He will be 5 in March and since the day he was born I have everyday marked in a notebook how many stools he has went daily--- sounds weird but it helps alot, I even mark when he had his medicines and each of his 4 daily breathing treatments, etc., etc., the sitters/grandmas also write what he does during the day so I know if he is not stooling. It is a normal thing we all do now. Good luck!!! I know how painful it can be on them and you feel helpless!!
 
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anonymous

New member
Bennett was able to keep lunch and dinner down but he is really fussy and I had to rock him to sleep (which I have never had to do). When I was rocking him he was letting out a little gas but not much. I will call the clinic in the morning. I really wanted to avoid the ER on a holiday but not I am not so sure I made the right decision today. He seemed like himself this afternoon though. I will call in the morning and I am sure they will want us to come in. Thanks for all your help. I do appreciate it. Live and learn!

Paula!
 
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anonymous

New member
Hi Everyone,

Bennett has been pooping on his own for four days now. I actually stopped giving him the meds to see if his system would "start up" again on its own. It has. I also noticed he has not had as much stomach discomfort/tightness as before. I wonder how long he was "backed up" for. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> thanks for asking about him. He is doing great now!

Paula
 
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