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Oh dear, I unfortunately feel like I have become an expert in constipation.
My daughter was on PEG powder for just about 3 years. She has been chronically constipated since beginning solids at 6 months of age. She was 100% breastfed until that.
As time went on, the constipation got worse, I can't even count the number of fissures she has had; she had crippling tummy pain and was miserable all around. SHe would hold back, because she knew it would hurt, but in the end made it worse. The doctors gave me a run around, "kids get constipated", "its ok, she won't become dependent on the PEG", "being on PEG for another year won't hurt her". I want to also say she has been chronically anemic the entire time she was constipated as well.
In April of last year, we were traveling for medical appointments (not related to her constipation problems), and she became so constipated, even the PEG didn't work. She became completely blocked up, she couldn't sit lay down, or walk comfortably, and I had to take her to the ER, to be manually disimpacted. The doc ordered her to be on a high dose of PEG twice a day for a month, to allow her rectum to heal, since it was completely stretched out. So, off we go, still on PEG, and no solid answers why our daughter cannot produce a bowel movement without medication.
In July of this year, she underwent a tonsillectomy/adnoidectomy, for her other condition she has. During recovery, she was only allowed a soft diet, IE: ice creams, yogurts, cheeses, mac-n-cheese, milkshakes, etc. One week into her recovery, she had completely debilitating tummy pains/cramping, and once again despite medication became severely constipated again. I took her back to the ER, and expressed my concerns, and told the doc that this is DEF not normal, and we need to do something to help her. I was tired of seeing her in pain, I was tired of seeing her struggle to produce a bowel movement. Doc agreed with me, and suggested we try a dairy-free diet for 2 weeks. I was shocked, no one in our family had issues with milk. DD has consumed dairy her whole life. But if this meant giving my daughter some quality of life, I was willing to try it. It was extremely difficult. But we did it, for her. 3 days, I kid you not, into this new diet, she began pooping on her own, without PEG! Tummy pain, completely gone. We went back to the doc for a followup, 1 week into the diet, and she was amazed! She advised us to stay on the diet long term, as the results were astonishing. We are now 6 months dairy free, and we have not had to use PEG not once. She produces a bowel movement daily, sometimes twice daily. She is a 100% different child all around. Apart from amazingly no longer being constipated, she is for the first time in her life, no longer anemic!!!! I can go on and on about the things that have improved in her life since being dairy free.
I'm not saying this is the cause of Isabelle's constipation, but it wouldn't hurt to look into it. We were shocked to learn our daughter had food restrictions. Its incredibly hard to live with, and if I could take it away from her, I certainly would.
Sorry if I rambled too much. I just like to share our experiences with constipation with people, simply because we fought long and hard to come to this conclusion. If you have any other questions, or whatnot, don't hesitate to ask.
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