pain after BM?

[Anonymous]

Okay, now that the C-Diff is gone (we think) and I have my 4 month old son (a Neocate baby)on a good (I think) dose of Miralax, he should be feeling much better right? Sort of. He only poops every 2 days. When he does, it is a great peanut buttery consistency and there is a ton of it! Problem is, for a few hours after he goes, he is REALLY uncomfortable. Does anybody know what this is all about? He has had diarrhea most of his life, so having ‘normal’ stools is a new thing to me.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like he was backed up and the Miralax is helping him go. Didn’t you say he was a bit constipated after the C-diff fiasco was straightened out? Maybe you can up the Miralax a little bit so that he’s going every day (I know you are probably terrified of him getting any kind of diarrhea again) and see if he’s more comfortable. I bet he’s just getting straightened out still. Keep us updated.

[Anonymous]

Yes, without the Miralax he is VERY constipated…we are talking huge, rock hard, and tearing him on the way out.

Yep, I agree with your thinking so I did up the Miralax. But, I wonder if he is even capable of emptying his colon with his bowel muscles yet. I think most babies at 4 months have developed a fair amount of muscle control. Tre, however, hasn’t ever had to do anything to go, its just blown out of him his whole life (sorry to be so graphic). It seems like he doesn’t go until there is a lot of built up pressure, which would make the pain after make sense. The stool that was causing the pressure would then too quickly rush into the newly created space. So, here’s the question….keeping his stool really thin would help the comfort issue I think, but would it help the overall goal of getting his digestive system to function properly on its own? And, you are right…it scares me to death to come anywhere near diarrhea! I don’t know?! What do you all think?

Thank you all so much for your support and for listening. When I try to analyze poop with my freinds, they think I’m crazy. They just don’t get it….poop is SO important to us! Right now, it is literlly the most important factor in my families life!

[Anonymous]

LOL about analyzing poop! We all can certainly understand!

I think it is perfectly OK to keep things comfortable and “soft” for him. His body should learn how to control that muscle anyway. You are probably right that his discomfort stems from not knowing what to do now that he has some control over what is going on now that it’s not just shooting out of him (poor thing!)

I just know that contipation is sooo horrible for reflux anyway. Keeping his poop soft and “manageable” is going to probably be best for him. You’ll figure out the best dose of Miralax too, we had to play around with the dose to get landen’s just right too.

[Anonymous]

When we finally found a helpful ped GI, he dx’ed my then-18-mth-old son with retained stool which was contributing to his small, frequent BM’s and horrid intestinal cramping and gas. (Before we learned of my son’s MSPI at 7.5 mths, he had stopped pooping on his own at about 6 weeks old and after that would only have diarrhea immediately after we gave him a suppository. So his poor system had been messed up for a long time!) The Ped GI told us to give him Miralax and explained that Miralax goes through the system untouched until it gets into the lower intestines(?) rectum (?) – I don’t remember which – where the Miralax draws moisture into the stool which causes the muscles to feel the urge to expel the stool. He explained that once the rectum muscles have been stretched out by repeated constipation or not used properly due to so much diarrhea, it takes the muscles a long time to get working properly. He indicated for us that it might even be a year or more before his poops would come out easily and “normally”. He said that, in general, he doesn’t purposely try to wean toddlers off from Miralax until after they are potty trained and he said that Miralax doesn’t cause dependency issues. HTH.

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