My nephew is 8 years old. For as long as my mom can remember he has had large, painful stools. Recently she was talking to me about it because she is concerned for him. She said she thought he was holding it in because it is to painful to have a b.m. and then when he could hold it no longer he would squeeze his cheeks (sorry it is a gruesome but necessary topic) together while going. Trying to control the pain. He makes a mess and he gets fussed at for it. Not by her.

Mom thought that maybe he was doing it to try to get attention (which he needs). She cited two other family members that did that when they were young. She said they started doing it after a particular family crisis. Different families, diffirent crisis. I pointed out to her that my nephew hadn't started doing this after some crisis but that it had always been a problem and that it became a more pronounced problem after potty training at about age 4.

She said she didn't think it was gluten because his stool isn't like my daughters when she has been glutened. I reminded her that different people have different symptoms and for some it is constipation. She has been encouraging him to try to go once every day. I reminded her that he can hurt himself straining.

Whether it is gluten or not doesn't this sound like a food sensitivity? Especially since he has food sensitive relatives?

My brother has taken him to doctors twice and they were completely unhelpful.

I told her I would ask on here what you all thought. She has him for the summer and she is willing to put him on a gluten free diet to see what happens. I do not have much confidence that she will especially since she has two other grandsons with her for the summer and all three of them would consider such a die-it cruel and unusual punishment.

What do you guys think.

Gloria

My son started with very hard, painful stool when he was first introduced to cow's milk at 12 months. Throughout his early years he was always constipated and every doctor he ever saw (we had trouble finding a good ped.) would come up with a new plan to help him, stool softeners, prune juice, mineral oil, etc. Needless to say, nothing ever helped for long. We finally found my current ped. 2 years ago and around this time the constipation became so severe that nothing helped, not even enimas. So our doc sent him to a ped. GI who ran plenty of tests including a biopsy and he came up as having Celiac. What was always weird was that he would go upward of a week with no pooping and then finally go but it was like the flood gates opened and he would pass very heavy, mushy bowel movements (now it is my turn to be grusome). So we put him on a strict gluten free diet but he still had a lot of constipation alternating with diarrhea. I kept asking if it could be dairy and the GI said "no". It is now 2 years later and we switched GIs and my son has recently undergone his second colonoscopy (he is only 6) which showed evidence of another food allergy or intolerance. We decided to take away milk this time and low and behold, no more constipation or diarrhea. He just poops normal now. I seriously feel that most of his symptoms were from the dairy but we happened to find the Celiac in the search. Even when he has been exposed to gluten (which we try to be never) he doesn't react but give him a little dairy and he can't poop within a couple of days.

Nicole

Gloria, I agree with Nicole. Dairy has been shown to cause constipation and it sounds like it could be your nephew's main problem. It is possible that gluten is a problem as well, of course, especially since many people with celiac disease are also dairy intolerant.

But for starters, I think taking dairy away from him might be enough to relieve the constipation. Just make sure you do some research to give to your mother on alternatives to milk and ice cream, so he doesn't feel deprived before you let her know that it might be a dairy problem.

Maybe you can go in person, and bring over some rice milk and almond milk (to try which one he likes better, just don't take Rice Dream, as it's not gluten-free), as well as some nice sherbet and juice Popsicles for starters. Explain to her that she has to read ingredients to make sure no dairy is in anything she gives to him. I hope you can convince her to actually try it!

Thanks Ursa and Nicole,

Fortunately? Mom has been around for over a year now watching my little one and I go gluten free and casien free. She asks a lot of questions, many of them over and over. She has been supportive of us and seen the difference the diet makes.

It will be a lot different for her to actually follow even a casien free diet. She likes her food. I told her there are alternatives, Ice cream replacement and such. I will keep encouraging her to do it. She is concerned enough about him that I think she will at least give it a try to see if it makes a difference.

Gloria

The holding it in due to painful poop is my kid too. After years of battles,we finally saw the link and removed milk. Low and behold, not another poop problem and no more meds for pooping normally. Now she proudly announces that "it didn't hurt a bit!" She poops as needed now. She used to hold poop for up to 5 or 6 days and along with that misery came the clingy, needy, tummy aches, behavorial problems etc. Now she can have 1 dairy a day and that is getting phased out. Anymore than 1 a day and she has poop problems. BTW she is not a celiac.