Right, My wife and I have a 14 Month old daughter - For as long as I can remember the poor wee thing has had issues with the number twos. She was heavily constipated in her earlier days and now she absolutely screams when she does a dump. Her Whole body is so tensed she can barely breath and just loses it.

We have seen 3 different Doctors all of whom show little or no concern even after my repeated attempts at telling them something isn't quite right. Her bottom bleeds occasionally and I think if i take her to the doctors again and they tell me that its normal I'll punch there heads in.

Has anyone had issues like this, how do we get them to do tests? we have changed her diet thinking that it was to do with food she was eating to no avail. A lovely nurse the other day suggested that she maybe allergic to wheat but the doctors don't seem to think so....

Severe constipation could be caused by being dehydrated, so make sure she is drinking enough water, and/or not enough fibre in her diet, so make sure she is eating plenty of fruit etc. It can also be caused by not getting enough exercise - which is difficult in children of that age, my DD wasn't even walking at that age! - but do try to get her to move around.

The bleeding could be caused by hemorrhoids. I've not really heard of them in a child so young but often people who are straining to go will get them because of the pushing motion that they are making. Alternatively, does she seem to have bad nappy rash? Sometimes the blood is coming from the skin around the bottom, due to nappy rash, and not from the bottom itself.

Anyway, here's how to get referred for tests. This is what it took with my daughter - she actually had the opposite problem, very severe diarrhea all the time. Don't go to different doctors all the time, just go to the same doctor and keep on at them demanding it. If you're seeing the same doctor, they think "well, it must be a problem if you're coming back so much." If you're seeing different doctors, remember it's only the first visit from their point of view.

I think you should demand a referral to a pediatrician and food allergy tests. The pediatrician is likely to take you more seriously than your average GP and will be able to refer you for other tests.

Poor thing, that doesn't sound good. If you have tried all the dietary things (i.e. lots of fluid, fruit etc) then yes I would also be asking for a referral to the paedeatrician. I can't believe doctors are brushing you off saying it is normal! Good luck!

We are currently coming out the other side of a very similar situation. My 3 year old was constipated and got an anal fissure - a small tear in the anus, which would sometimes bleed and was very painful, this caused her to be frightened of pooing as it would be so painful. As a result of this she started fighting the urge to poo and holding it in, which lead to her becoming more and more constipated (this is all the Doctor's theory, as we can't actually prove this happened). I tried all of the usual dietary advice (linseeds, kiwifruit, prunes, prune juice etc, etc) with no success, so took her to the doctor. The doctor prescribed lactulose (a stool softener) and a cream to ease the pain of the fissure. This didn't work and she was put on a bigger and bigger dose, she was also prescribed suppositories (which was the worst thing in the world as it traumatised her further in an already traumatic situation) neither of these worked. We are now 3 and a half months in, and we see the doctor weekly. We are at (at I quote) the last step before hospitalisation, thankfully it seems to be working. DD is now on Movicol (another stool softener) with an increasing dose (ie day one is 1 sachet, days 2 and 3 is 2 sachets, day 4 and 5 is 4 sachets and day 6 is 8 sachets - the doctor said that 'no one has made it to day 6 without going')
The problem with DD is that her bowel had become impacted and so it was just about impossible for her to push the poo out even if she had been trying to. Now she has the runs so can't hold it in. We have to keep seeing the doctor weekly until she has started pooing again, but he said that she will need to be on medication for months as if we stop giving it to her too soon it will start again almost immediately.
It is a horrible situation and has railroaded toilet training completely for us. It is very stressful and just awful really.
I hope that my story has helped in some way.

Just edited to add - I also asked about food allergies or intolerances and apparently in most cases of that the person gets the runs so it is unlikely.

Ask the doctor if they can feel her tummy as you can generally feel if they are constipated as it is hard and uncomfortable. Also you can tell if they are impacted as (eventually) there will be poo sitting right at the opening of the bottom but it doesn't come out, and liquid poo runs down the side so the nappy is pretty much always poo stained (that is what the doctor asked us - is the nappy stained but there has been no bowel movement).

dd1 is a terror in this department. She was holding it in for a while (due to the pain, i think) and made it worse sad

We give her parachoc in her milo every night. If we miss a couple of nights she backs right up again. You can buy parachoc from your chemist, it takes a few nights to get going. As long as you follow the instructions you will be laughing, when we put dd1 on it, she was a brand new girl.