Miralax help and an allergy question???

[Anonymous]

Hi all! I took Sarah to the doctor for a routine physical for her new daycare. The discussion turned to constipation when the doctor realized that Sarah has little ‘rabbit poops’ 99% of the time. I have always known since the zegerid and alimentum days that she had little jelly bean poop but I didn’t think of it as a problem since she goes regularly.

The doctor disagreed and wanted an overhaul of Sarah’s diet. She wanted an increase in fluids, more fruits and veggies, added bran to her liquids, and AVOIDING too much dairy.

She also suggested miralax. Is it available over the counter? If I go ahead and use it without talking to the doctor, how much do I give? What is the rec. dosage for a 2.5 year old? Does the bottle have dosing for children that small? What have been your experiences with it? Is it going to cause blow out diarrhea if I give too much or anything? Any other side effects?

I’m also curious to hear your opinions on the connections between her (possibly continued) milk intolerance and her allergic shiner’s under her eyes. Her doctor mentions allergies to me EVERY visit because of Sarah’s dark circles but we didn’t see much improvement on zyrtec or claritan. Is it possible that her chronic dark circles and chronic bad breath (which the doc ALSO thinks is allergy related) could possible be from a milk intolerance or allergy? I hate to take away dairy from Sarah since YOGURT is her absolute favorite food…along with cheese, milk, ice cream…you name it…but if there’s a connection I’d love to figure it out!

Any thoughts at all? THANKS SO MUCH!

[Anonymous]

You know, Amy, we have had “poop problems” with Claire for almost her whole life, and I too also thought it started with her PPI days. But it never really cleared up. I always wondered if it were allergy or intolerance related as well because she really would have more trouble during the times she ate more dairy. We have never had her tested by an allergist, simply because her pedi suggested that it was pretty common among kids for them to have some problems with dairy. Looking back, I think I would have taken her to get tested just to be sure. She has been on Miralax since about a year old, and that keeps her going regularly, but she would still have days when she wouldn’t go at all, followed by a day when she would go a TON, I mean like fill up the toilet! It used to blow my mind. Sorry if TMI, but these times would always be accompanied by her complaining of tummy cramps. I think the cramps were caused by her tummy being full of poo though, not from the Miralax.

I will say, however, that she is now doing so much better than before. WE haven’t had the tummy cramps and bowl filling poos for about a year now, and she does seem much more regulated than before. She is still taking Miralax, but it is a very small dose. Her pedi said that many kids “outgrow” this by about the time they start kindergarten. We are hoping this is true for her.

As for the Miralax. Yes, it is OTC. You can find it at any drugstore. It is white with a purple cap and label. The dosing is for one capfull (17 grams) each day. Claire was insanely backed up when we started it, so we started with the full cap each day. This was WAY too much. Her poos weren’t even formed. So, we moved down to a half a cap and stayed there for awhile, and now she gets about 1/4-1/3 a cap each day. This keeps her stools nice and soft (this was the main concern for her because she will hold it in if it is too hard or seems like it will hurt coming out), and it keeps her going.

With Sarah going everyday, I would maybe start at 1/2 a cap and try that for a few days. It make take awhile for it to get through her system, but you should know soon enough if you need to back off or try more.

I will say too that you may want to try the modified diet first before going to the Miralax because with the additional fiber, fluids, etc., adding Miralax into the works might be too much all at once. Claire was eating tons of fiber but still wasn’t really going.

HTH!

Bensmama2009-01-19 15:15:20

[Anonymous]

Naomi – THANKS! That does help a lot! It sounds like, yet again, Sarah and Claire have a lot in common!!! I will probably buy the miralax tonight and see how it goes. I hate to see her struggle (she has cried a few times on the potty because she said it ‘hurt’ to go! )

I’m NOT saying that Sarah eats as much veggies and fruit as she should, but I DO feel like she eats veggies and fruit VERY well for a typical toddler. I just can’t imagine her eating more than she already does! That’s why I’m skeptical that changing her diet will help much…and I added benefiber to her bottles forever with no change…The only thing left to do is to drop dairy and I don’t know if I’m ready for that…

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

hi,

i just read your initial post ( these days i dont have much time)…. so i dont know what naomi said but shane has the same issue if he eats too much dairy (cheese).. but luckily yogurt is fine! and might help her system.

i am curious to see if it helps if u decide 2 do that…

[Anonymous]

Hi Amy! I just wanted to let you that my DS was just diagnosed w/multiple food allergies. I have to say, also, that he has very similar symptoms to your DD. I WOULD get her tested. Ryan was never diagnosed as a reflux babe, but they said colic. He suffered for 6mths like that, then that eventually subsided, but he cont. to have yeast diaper rashes constantly, eczema, bad breath, and the allergic shiners. It wasn’t until just recently I had him tested for food allergies. Weird how it all came about, it was b/c he’s been having really bad leg pains in the night(disrupting his sleep). Anyways, I’m glad I got him tested b/c usually the only way for them to outgrow these intolerances/allergies is for the offending foods to be out of their diets. Also, you may think that milk is the only culprit(that’s what I thought) but you may be surprised as to just how many foods they’re allergic to. Ryan(so far) is allergic to milk, eggs, beef, soy, almonds, peanuts, wheat. I was in total shock when his Ped called and informed me(on Fri). Anyways, JMO, but I’d get her tested. Good Luck! valentine4mommy2009-01-19 19:32:56

[Anonymous]

Amy the dietitian in me is coming out. Send me her typical diet intake all meals/snacks and what her fluids are and i will tell you if you need to increase it. Luckily the addition of miralax is an easy non habit forming fix that you can do without harming her in any way. The big thing is probably making sure she drinks enough fluids esp if she is going regularly.

I will say that cheese is very bad for constipating children (intolerant or not to milk products) and bananas have the same effect. My quick fix for Cooper to help when he has too much cheese or is on a banana kick is to give him 1/2 cup of applesauce and that usually does the trick. But either post here or pm me or fb me her typical daily intake and i will tell you what the professional non mommy side of me would tell a client I saw at work!! HTH.

[Anonymous]

milk could definitely be causing the circles under her eyes—-and i’ve heard for years that cheese is notorious for “binding” you up.

[Anonymous]

Kaelyn had a lot of issues with constipation before we discovered her allergies. She also had an awful issue with allergic shiners. They’ve calmed down some now, but she still has dark circles under her eyes. It makes me worry that there is some allergen in her diet that we’ve somehow missed with all of the testing that we’ve done.

Naomi gave you great advice on the miralax. That’s what we did with it as well. Since Kaelyn’s diet has so much soy in it we still need to give her miralax on a regular basis. It helps keep her comfortable.

Have you had any allergy testing done? I would ask for it if you haven’t. It wouldn’t help with intolerances, but it would at least help you rule out any allergies.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful replies! I have tried to add more veggies/fruit to Sarah’s diet (although I don’t have control over her lunches at daycare…but they’re supposed to be ‘balanced nutrition’)

I guess more than anything I’m afraid of a true milk intolerance. I was used to the ‘screaming baby’ symptom as a baby so we switched to alimentum. She never showed any signs of eczema, mucousy diapers or anything. Now that she’s older…I don’t see the ‘screaming baby’ stuff anymore so I had been lulled into thinking that she was doing OK…but maybe she’s not!

We have not been referred to an allergist although I will probably request a referral because the ped. continues to bring it up at every visit. Although, an allergy specialist won’t be able to pinpoint intolerances, right??

Again, I truly appreciate all of your input. We have done Miralax for 2 days now and I haven’t seen it working yet…but it says it can take 1-3 days. We’ll see!!!

[Anonymous]

Sorry I’m late to this post but I just wanted to chime in.

Brodie most likely has a milk intolerance (& also wheat). He LOVES milk so instead of dropping all dairy I just limit it very carefully & we do Miralax + probiotic.

We started out w/ 2 tsp/day (I do tsp b/c the cap measurements drive the OCD in me crazy-lol). Once he started going everyday & the consistency of his poo was like peanut butter (this is ideal consistency) then I backed off to 1 tsp/day. He was still doing well so I backed off to 1/2 tsp/day but that wasn’t enough. So we are @ 1 tsp/day (or every 2-3 days).

I will say that overall, if we are doing Miralax then he can have as much dairy & wheat that he wants & is fine… but if I limit the wheat & dairy we really don’t have to do Miralax but every couple of days – so for him it’s definitely related I believe. His stools are his only symptom that I see really…if I had been documenting better I believe there might be a correlation b/w his language explosion lately & me really cracking down on limiting his milk sippies & bread.

We aren’t doing the allergist for now w/ him b/c I don’t think it will show anything.

Keep us updated!

[Anonymous]

Peanut butter consistency is normal? Wow we’re a long way from that!

I will say that the miralax worked tonight because she went to the bathroom, carried on a complete conversation with me, and then without skipping a beat said “I’m all done”. I couldn’t believe she had already gone because it usually involves a lot of grunting and pushing, but sure enough…she filled the pot! Yipee! It was a softer consistency than normal too!

[Anonymous]

I don’t that I would say it’s ‘normal’ but it’s definitely ideal/the goal for kiddos that have had pain, etc w/ passing stools in the past.

Glad to hear that the Miralax seems to be working!

[Anonymous]

when leif was little, he seemed to have a problem with milk. he would get dark circles under his eyes and he would tell me, “the bubble is in my throat.” i took him off of drinking milk, but still let him have cheese and other dairy products. for some reason, that seemed to help him. now that he is in his 20’s, he can tolerate dairy products as long as he doesn’t have too much, but i think he still has problems if he overdoes it. sometimes with an intolerance, a certain amount of the offending food can be tolerated in smaller amounts.

a funny thing my twins used to tell me when they were little and constipated—–while trying to go poop they would say, “my poop is too strong.”

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