Miralax

Aislyn has been crying and carrying on for 30 minutes because she doesn’t want to drink her Miralax.

I’ve taken away screen time.

I’ve taken away book at bedtime, which I hate doing.

I’ve told her she has to drink it before she eats any birthday cake.

I’ve told her she has to drink it before opening any presents.

I’ve told her she needs it to poop everyday.

I’ve told her if she doesn’t take it, it will be hard to poop and her belly will hurt.

Nothing is working.

She drank it before. For a year, she drank it. Nothing has changed that I know of. Maybe just her.

Help!

They both get this problem from me. I take Miralax, too. But as a kid, I never got constipated so badly that I had to see a GI doctor. As an adult, I did. Last summer I got bound up for two months. I had a colonoscopy and everything was fine, they just said I needed more fiber. Eventually the Miralax got me back on track, but like I said, it took months. And I tried everything. Even enemas didn’t work.

I think it was the protein shakes I was drinking that got me into that mess. I knew from past experience that they weren’t good for my stomach, but I was desperate to lose weight, and they worked very well that way. I was drinking two a day. I paid for it in the end.

So it’s been an hour, now. I’ve got to toss the milk and give her something else because it’s been sitting out there. I seriously don’t know how to get her to take it. Bribery? She’s already having a birthday party today. What more would she want? And yes, I’ve offered apple juice, even Skittle juice (water enhancer). She doesn’t want it.

I just don’t want her to get sick.

She won’t take Dramamine anymore, either. She never would take Tylenol or Motrin.

Desmond, the firstborn, dutifully, if begrudgingly, takes whatever we give him. It’s fascinating, the difference in birth order.

She’s smart and beautiful and goddamned stubborn. She’s going to be our tough teenager, I think.

What do I do?