My three year old son has had problems for about a year and a half now with having bowel movements. I am very unhappy with the results I have gotten from his pediatrician. He simply prescribes a laxative (Miralax) and sends us on our way. I have consulted another doctor in that same practice with the same outcome. It appears to me they are too busy to try to find out the root of my son's problem and just want to treat the symptoms.
My son is fine as long as he is on the medicine. However, once he's off of it, we're back to square one: the "poop dance," which includes him running back and forth, often screaming and crying, until he FINALLY (sometimes many hours later) has a bowel movement.
My son's diet is not that different from a typical pre-schooler, but he has problems when other children do not. I am starting to wonder if it's something more serious, like maybe a chronic digestive disorder of some type. He had colic as a baby. Could this be related?
Aside from the colic, my son was a very healthy, breast-fed infant who had no problems with bowel movements until about a year and a half ago. I remember that he started having problems when he began drinking cow's milk.
So, my question: what type of foods should I be giving my son? Does anyone have any guidelines and/or recipes they can share? Has anyone had this problem with their kids? My son and I are totally miserable because of this. I thought this was something he might outgrow, but it doesn't seem to be going away. HELP!!

All three of my kids went through this.

What helped each of them was me adding some flax seed oil to their food each day. You keep it in the fridge and put a teaspoon hidden in a sandwich (spread on the bread inside) or where ever you can think of to put it and it really helps them get over the retention.

They all grew out of it eventually.

|Thanks for the idea! I will try that.

We do flax seed oil with my younger daughter daily. She just chugs a swallow at this point, but at first I did have to hide it in things. She has very similar issues as your son, though her poopy dance is a bit different. ;)

We also have a pooping routine, so that every night (or nearly every night) we put her in a diaper and I read her 3 stories in a special spot. She needs this routine to be exactly the same, it seems. She's almost 4, but still vastly prefers the diaper, and after *years* of tears, screaming, crying, etc, I'd rather have her poop in a diaper till she's 20 than go back to where we were.

So...probably not overly helpful, but I completely feel your pain. :hug: Good luck to you.

ETA: Duh... I forgot to add that when she has more dairy, she's more constipated. For her, the less dairy, and more fiber, the better.

Thanks, Jennifer. I'm glad I'm not alone. It makes me feel like a bad mom because I can't seem to solve this problem. I am definitely going to buy some flax seed oil ASAP.