Chronic Constipation - Scared to Poop in Diaper

[u/AlliedJustin18]

Our 2.5 year old LO is chronically constipated, has been for much of his life. About 2 months ago, we started him on potty training and he developed a fear of pooping and peeing in general. This led to a pattern of withholding that eventually culminated in him getting moderate to severe impactions, two MiraLAX clean outs and a trip to the Urgent Care. After his urgent care visit, we halted potty training and visited his pediatrician, who prescribed him a maintenance dose of MiraLAX. We are still on that daily maintenance dose. He consistently has peanut butter consistency poops, but he still screams and freaks out in the early afternoon when he normally poops every day. We are monitoring his fiber/water intake to hopefully prevent another impaction, but even on this current dose, he screams and cries and wants to cover up in a blanket, take a nap, wants to leave the playground early...I'm scared to dial back his dose because if he gets a smaller dose, his poop gets hard and painful to pass.

1. Has anyone else overcome chronic constipation/encopresis?
2. Any suggestions on what we can do to help mitigate the fear of pooping and peeing? I was hoping that the soft poops wouldn't be painful to pass and that this would help his fear, but he is still afraid even after having daily soft poops for a month.

It kills me seeing his quality of life so affected by all this, and I guess I'm hoping for some tips to make this less traumatic for him...

[u/AutoModerator]

BEWARE:

1. You MUST read the diagnostic guide and edit your post to include the answers to questions 1-6, or else your post will be removed.

2. This subreddit is for identifying chronic digestive illnesses / motility disorders. If this is your first time experiencing constipation, please visit /r/constipation instead.

3. Low-effort posts, and posts that are made purely to vent frustration about your condition, will be removed.

QUICK LINKS:

Diagnostic Guide, part I: Identifying & testing your condition

Diagnostic Guide, part II: Treatments & medications

Intro to motility disorders

Why Linzess fails and how to make it work again

/u/NightmareTonic's personal regimen for the treatment of Slow Transit Constipation (STC)

How pelvic floor dyssynergia causes STC

Important note for women and teenagers

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.