Talking About Poop

I just need to vent for a few minutes. We have been dealing with constipation with Autumn since she was 4 months old, honestly there has to be something more we can do. Every night she wakes up around 10 and then again at 4/430 with tummy pains, I can't take much more of this. Of course I say that and then God sends me just a bit more energy, strength, patience to make it through another day. One of the worst things I do is sit and watch Autumn struggle to poop while screaming and saying "owie poop mommy". I used to be able to hold her but now she doesn't want that. I hate this part of my day. Granted things have gotten a little easier with some medication but still there are a couple times a month when I would do anything to take that pain away from her.

I had no idea that childhood constipation was as common as it is and that it can have one or more of about a hundred different causes! Holy Cow! There really is a lot of good information out on the web about childhood constipation and how to talk about it with your child but all the things are geared to kids who are older and school age not toddlers who are having a hard time understanding why they have "owie poop mommy". While I was eagerly waiting for 3 word sentences from Autumn, that was not one I really wanted to hear.

The 'experts' say get your child moving (ok, mine doesn't stop moving, next!). They say drink lots of liquids, yep, got that one down she loves water so no problems there. Then they say make sure you are giving your child the fiber she needs, grains/fruits/veggies. Then right after that they say but if you are still having troubles cut way back on the grains! HUH?!?! Which is it. And getting Autumn to eat veggies ends up with "nonononono". Granted I've learned to be sneaky about pureeing veggies and adding them to meals, I need to be more consistent about it though. So did you knwo that the food with the most fiber per serving is a banana which is a constipating food?!?!?! We really haven't ever given Autumn bananas, she knows what they are and loves to say the word but she spits them out and says "eeeww" when she takes a bite. Not a bad thing in my book if they are just going to cause more problems. I would so love to get this resolved before we start potty training.

Poop has become a common word in our house, we talk about it all the time, not to mention it is a fun word to say. I swore I'd not be one of those moms who talks about their child's poop everywhere I went but I found that you can't avoid it. When they are babies and your friends have babies it is a natural topic of conversation. Who knew?! And as they get older and start to potty train you talk about it again, so if I could send a letter to my past self I'd say: "get over it, poop is natrual we all do it, though apparently some of us have a harder time of it than others, and oh by the way, don't forget to mark it down in your poop journal". Yep, we have a poop journal, wanna see it? :P

I had some little figures out to play with yesterday and a few of them were Whinnie-The-Pooh characters. Autumn picked up Pooh and siad "poop" and that's his name now. We have a few of him around as I love those characters (Eeyore being my alltime favorite) and everytime she sees him she says "dere poop mommy". Well, hopefully he doesn't mind too much. :)