Constipation in Eastern European Adoptees

Ah, the joys of parenting, right? All of us parents, whether adoptive parent or biological parents have been dealt with our fair share of poop…some more than others. Some of us have had all the poop we ever, ever want.

Many children from Eastern European orphanages have issues with constipation, encopresis, and holding their bowels. In fact, our son has problems with all three because of medical reasons, learned behaviors, and a drastic change in diet.

According to the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center, constipation is defined as:
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a decrease in frequency of bowel movements, compared to a child’s usual pattern (Some physicians define constipation as fewer than three bowel movements per week.)

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the passage of hard, dry bowel movements

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bowel movements that are difficult or painful to push out

The causes are many: diet, lack of exercise, emotional issues, busy lives, and even physical problems.

For AJ (and many institutionalized children) the causes are compounded because they most likely suffer from all of them. AJ had a poor diet (mainly bananas, oatmeal, cookies, and stews), he had little, if any, exercise, he was under high stress in the orphanage, and he was on a timed potty schedule.

In the orphanage the timed potty schedule is maintained by one of the caregivers in the room. She would instruct the children that every 2 hours they were to leave their play area, go to the potty area, site on their designated pot and go to the bathroom. They would sit until they went. If they did not go they would hold it until the next two hour interval. If they had an accident they would, most likely, sit in the mess until someone could clean them.

What happens in this situation is that many of the children learn to hold their stools so they become hard and dry. They become painful to push out and the children avoid going to avoid the discomfort. Eventually, the intestine stretches and does not feel the stool. In order to “heal” the intestine medications like MiraLAX Laxative Powder for Solution – 30 Daily Doses or Phillips’ Concentrated Milk of Magnesia, a stool softener that are used for a period of months or years (as directed by a doctor).

For tips while traveling with infants, toddlers, and older children visit adoptmed.org. Our full proof method while traveling was straight Russian Apple Juice. It has a punch!