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Constipation, Withholding and Your Child

Constipation, Withholding and Your Child

A Family Guide to Soiling and Wetting

Anthony Cohn

Paperback: £9.99 / $14.95

2006, 216mm x 138mm / 8.5in x 5.5in, 112pp
ISBN: 978-1-84310-491-9, BIC 2: VFX MBNH VFXC

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Introduction

Constipation is very common in children of all ages. It is most common in toddlers. Although figures are quite hard to find, it probably affects up to a third of two-year-olds. It is often a cause of great anxiety, distress and pain for children and their families, but seems to be downplayed by professionals. I see visible relief when families find somebody who is taking their concerns seriously. Constipation devastates the lives of children and their families.

For example, one of my patients is a boy who has a serious heart defect that needs open-heart surgery. He came to our clinic because of his constipation, which responded to treatment very quickly. At his next appointment his mother was delighted and said that treating his constipation had changed their lives beyond their wildest dreams. She mentioned that the commonest topic that was discussed at the parent support group for children with heart problems was in fact constipation. They are dealing with their children's heart problems just fine; it's the constipation that drives them crazy.

The aim of this book is to discuss how constipation starts and to offer ways of treating it, so that affected families have a chance of getting their lives back to normal. I hope that the book is easy to read. Of necessity, some of our discussions will be quite lavatorial, and I am sorry if this upsets you.

These methods have been developed over many years – by learning from hundreds of children and their families who have presented with this problem, and from our team of community paediatric nurses. Most of my ideas and insights come from our families and nurses, and I am ever grateful to them. I am also receptive to new suggestions, and would love to hear of any ideas or tricks that have worked for you.

If you are reading this, the chances are that this is a subject close to your heart. You probably have a child, know a child or were a child with this problem. My aim is to change pooing from being your whole world to being no big deal. I think that we can do it.

For the sake of simplicity, in this book a child is generally referred to as 'he' but should be taken to mean girls as well as boys.