My wife and I took Lily to see the pediatric surgeon today. Originally, she was scheduled to see him on May 18th, but I had the appointment moved up, because she had become more constipated than normal.
In short, the doctor gave us good news and bad news. The bad news is that Lily’s constipation will be a lifelong problem. It will greatly restrict her diet and make potty training more difficult. However, her symptoms can be easily remedied with “an aggressive bowel management program” (his words, not mine).
As noted previously, Lily already has a high fiber, high liquid, and high prune diet. We have greatly restricted her cheese intake and have completely eliminated rice cereal and bananas. Although the doctor told us that the banana debate is far from settled. He said they are high in fiber and that it mainly depends on the make-up of the individual patient whether or not they should eat them. However, even with this special diet, she still only goes about once every two days.
On occasion, we have given her Senna Natural Laxative, but this is only if she doesn’t go for more than three days. He wants her to go every day, and if that means giving her laxatives every day, then so be it. I told him about my concerns that her body would begin to rely on the laxative, and that she would lose the desire to push, but he said this was a myth.
In fact, he said that if she didn’t need the laxative, then that would be abnormal. He said that some patients who were born with an imperforated anus require daily saline enemas. We don’t. So, that’s the good news.
There is one thing that I will miss, though, once the laxative kicks in: her belly.
She is pretty disproportional, but that is one of the things that makes her so cute. Just to give you an idea of how big her belly is, her waist is 2T, but her length is 12-18 months.
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