The definition of constipation: having a bowel movement less frequently than your mother
I remember being given laxatives on one or two occasions by my mother. Why she felt I needed a laxative? Couldn’t tell you. My husband’s mother and sister were, to me, weirdly obsessed with bowel habits.
Regarding my own son, I can honestly say I have never, ever wondered if he was constipated. Nor have I made any note of when and how frequently he poops. I’m aware that he does poop, and he has no complaints, so why worry about it?
What about Dopers? Did your mom (or dad) worry about it? And, if you have kids, what’s your level of poop awareness?
After my kids quit needing help getting cleaned up after they went, I never gave it another thought. I do know when my youngest complains of tummy aches (she’s 9), that she probably needs to go, but that’s about it.
I don’t recall my parents discussing my habits with me.
My youngest child became constipated for a few months as a toddler. It can lead to real problems and if we went through it, obviously it can be a concern. I had to give him enemas every few days for a while. Not pleasant, but not as bad as you’d think. He’s 8 now and has no problem stinking up the bathroom on a regular basis, in private.
My other two sons never had a problem, and not much thought was given to it.
Never been an issue. I honestly don’t think I can remember the last time I pooped. Wait, no, it was yesterday. But I never think about how long it’s been. It’s really variable, but I’ve never had any problems in that arena. I mean, aside from the stomach problems everyone gets once in a while, but it’s never due to constipation.
I remember my parents asking me quite often when the last time I pooped was. I’ve never questioned my own kids. Then again, I’ve never had any reason to…
Well, obviously I was aware of it, at least, when he was in diapers. It wasn’t fun, because he had a severe case of “toddler tummy,” a rather cute way of saying idiopathic, perpetual, loose stools (that little kids outgrow and which doesn’t seem to harm them).
The moment he was toilet-trained I was THRILLED to forget all about his stools. If he ever feels like something is wrong, I’ll sure he’ll let me know. But I have no idea how often he poops, how regularly, how much, how solid, or anything. And I don’t want to.
Don’t care.
My parents didn’t care about mine, I don’t care about hers.
If there’s any heath problem, she’ll let me know.
She made her doctor lose it completely when trying to explain a slight bladder infection, in her very very serious voice, “My ***bits ***itch!” He thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
She was about three at the time, she’s more anatomically informed now.
I tend to find out about them against my will, either because they describe the process (often at the dinner table), or they don’t bother to flush the toilet. Yes, I’ve told them that both these things are wrong, in fact it seems like it’s all I use my voice for these days.
We went through the toddler constipation cycle - child withholds bowel movement, gets constipated, it hurts when she finally goes, therefore she withholds the next movement. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s hard to ignore your child’s bowel habits when every 15 minutes they’re yelling with the effort of holding it all in, and when they do go they scream, “My poopies hurt!” at the top of their lungs. Poor kid.
We had to resort to glycerin suppositories more than a few times. The doc said it was a common problem and that we were doing the right thing by pushing fiber and fluids and making sure she went every few days.
She outgrew it. And she’s toilet trained. Now the only reason I know she’s pooped is because she’s very proud of herself. It’s often one of the highlights of her day that she shares with me when I get home.
I will be happy not to know so much about her digestive system some day.
I’m aware of when my older son goes because he still needs a bit of help with the wiping. He’s like clockwork, though…once a day, same time every day. The only time I’ve ever been concerned is when we went on vacation a few weeks ago and he didn’t go for three days. I just gave him some prune juice, though, and he was back in the swing of things.
My little one poops every five minutes (at least it seems that way). He likes to wait until you’ve just put a clean diaper on him. Or, even better, he likes to take the new diaper off, go find a nice clean patch of carpet, and go there. He’s worse than a badly trained dog.
Are you guys kidding? This is probably an Asian thing, but while our families are not aware in detail, they certainly do ask if we are “regular”. And we always answer “yes, of course” even if we weren’t we’d answer yes because who wants the lecture that will follow about fibre?
When I say “our” I mean me and my SO by the way - his dad, and my aunt, are the ones that ask us.
Once the boys were out of diapers, I didn’t think about it much. Of course, they have a tendency to announce that they are pooping and most often poop with the bathroom door wide open.
Not anymore, but we’ve never had issues with constipation. I have noted that my son will sometimes have an urgent need if he gets an overdose of sugary stuff, say, at a birthday party, but otherwise I don’t give it much thought unless they are actually sick.
My daughter is only 22 months, and yes, I have on occasion worried about her constipation or diarrhea.
As a kid I remember my mom giving me some oily but tasteless clear liquid to help me poop (I have no idea what it was?), but I don’t EVER remember her asking me if I’d pooped lately, so I must’ve come to her complaining of a tummy ache or something.
Yeah, must be an Asian thing. I cannot imagine my parents or my husband asking me if I was regular. In fact, if I was having problems that I felt needed attention I would just tell my husband I was having “stomach problems” or something and go to the doctor. I wouldn’t mention it to my relatives unless it was colon cancer or something. I don’t really want to hear about my husband’s poop, either.
Sadly, my husband tells me about his poop. I do not want to hear about his poop, but he feels compelled to share, anyway.
When we have children, other than in case of illness, I am devoutly hoping not to have any awareness of my children’s poop after they are fully potty-trained.
My parents never ask me about my poop, and never have - and that is how I like it.
We’re still in diapers (well, she wears them, I buy them, lug them around and change them, so I use “we” like men use “we” during pregnancy…) and I’m not really concerned unless there’s something obviously wrong. She’s an infrequent pooper, tending to go three or four days between poopy days, but then four or five times a day on that poopy day. She’s been that way since they stopped giving her glycerin suppositories every three days in the hospital, and I noticed that she was indeed *very *regular: every Friday between noon and 12:30, she’d poop. That was it. I did mention it to her doctor, and she didn’t care either. “When she does go, does it hurt, is it black, white, red, hard like pebbles or totally liquid?” are her concerns, and so they’re mine as well. Since the answer to all of the above is generally “no”, even though she’s not that “regular” any more, we’ve decided not to worry about it.
I have noticed three times lately a severe case of burning diarrhea that lasts about a week, the kind that means even the most gentle diaper wipe leads to bloody spots on the skin (not blood coming from the rectum), and all three are correlated with fast food chicken nuggets (three different restaurants). It’s the sort of thing that I’m torn about “testing.” Do I really want to subject her (and me) to that once more to be sure I’m not just imagining the connection, or do I want to just declare chicken nuggets off limits for the next few years? I haven’t decided yet.
I assume my son has had bowel movements in the last 11 years, but once he was out of diapers I never concerned myself with it. Well once, when he had surgery and got constipated as a result of the narcotics. Then his tears and whimpers from the bathroom prompted me to hand him a tub of Vaseline and tell him to stick a fingerful at the exit, which solved the problem handily.
My adopted brother had constipation problems for several months after he came to live with us at age 6. My parents maintained a vigilant interest in his bowel habits until the problem was resolved. OTOH, I don’t recall them ever asking me about mine.
