An extreme little boy

OK, I don't want to have to rename this blog "Bodily Functions of Little Children in M-town". It seems like a lot of my posts lately have been about vomit or bowel movements or pee. But I MUST tell you about this one, as it is just too exciting to keep to myself.

For those who do not know, Noah has had constipation issues since, like, forever. Even as a newborn totally-breastfed baby, he would have a bowel movement once a week. A big one. It didn't seem to bother him at all. This concerned me at first, but I looked online and read that this is normal for some babies, so don't worry. OK, I won't. But then when he started solids, it got worse and it obviously did bother him. He would not go until he couldn't hold it any longer and would scream from the pain. We took to using glycerin suppositories to help him out, though I hated doing this.

So this has been the story of his life for the past almost 4.5 years. Once a week we would sit him on the toilet and make him stay there until he produced. We took him to the doctor to see if there was a mechanical problem. The doctor suggested I give him more roughage, like Metamucil or something. I knew it was not a fiber problem; Noah gets way more fiber than most children as we eat brown rice, whole wheat bread, and plenty of veggies and fruit. Prunes didn't work either (he loves them). I had cut out milk for a few weeks at one point to see if that was the problem but no improvement. I had also tried probiotics before but had a hard time getting him to take it consistently because it was in a powder form. We have been praying for him as well, but I was still on the look-out for other (natural) things to try. I am aware that there are drugs and herbs for this but I did not want to go down that path. I was confident that 95% of Noah's problem was psychological. He held it in because he knew it would hurt. If I could get him past that, I knew it would be OK.

About a month ago I was talking to a friend of mine who is an herbalist. I mentioned Noah's issue in an off-hand way (we were talking about something totally different) and she suggested I try probiotics again. She had a product that was a chewable probiotic called Nature's Sunshine L. Reuteri (Lactobacillus Reuteri is the strain of bacteria). Since this would be an easy way to get him to take it consistently, I jumped at it. It was $30 for 60 tablets (dosage is 1 tablet per day). Expensive, but I would pay $100 if it would fix Noah's problem. I gave both Noah and Claire one tablet each immediately. They liked it and ask for it every morning now. (Well, Noah likes it, Claire tolerates it.)

Well, 2 weeks into it, I noticed that Noah's bm looked softer. After he got over being sick w/ the stomach bug, he started eating a lot more. I don't know if it was a growth spurt, or trying to put weight back on after being sick or what, but he has become quite the little piggie lately. So he could only go 3-4 days between bowel movements. I decided to try putting him on the toilet every other day, and he started doing that, though I had to give a few suppositories to help him along. Then I said, let's go for broke. I explained to him that he was going to sit on the potty every single day after breakfast and that if he pooped every day that it would not hurt his bottom (we have been telling him this for the past 2 years). The first day I put him on, he went w/i a few minutes of sitting down (a minor miracle) and said it did not hurt. This seemed to give him some confidence. The next day, more success. That night he did something he has never done in his entire life. He asked to sit on the toilet. I about fell over from shock. I put him on and he did not go, but I was excited nonetheless.

He has gone everyday for the last 8 days. In fact, yesterday he had 5 bowel movements and today he had 6. Some of them were pretty small, but that is irrelevant. He is GOING! He is excited and we are excited. He has told everyone he's seen about his success. We are praising him and praising God.

Noah has gone from one extreme to the other -- 1 bm in 7 days to (almost) 7 in 1 day. I'm hoping he'll settle down soon and keep it to 2-3 times per day, but I am not going to tell him he can't sit on the potty.

If you've made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back. I'll try not to have any more posts about bodily functions for at least a week. I've been going to extremes lately, too.

P.S. I found the L. Reuteri online for $19.95 a bottle w/ free shipping if you order $40 or more worth of Nature's Sunshine products. I went ahead and got 3 bottles as it is also helping Claire's skin considerably.

P.P.S Noah's breath has also improved. It used to be pretty bad but now is pretty good. I attribute this to the probiotics.

P.P.P.S. I think I need to write a post extolling the virtues of probiotics, as they are an absolutely essential part of a healthy lifestyle (whether via supplements or natural stuff like kefir and other fermented foods). We started using them over 2 years ago and they are good stuff. We prefer kefir and Garden of Life's Primal Defense (or PD Ultra).