Danger! Casual Cotton Swab Enemas.

*Please note that I am not a medical professional, so this content may lack accuracy. Please understand that this is strictly a personal account.

Cotton swab enemas are well-known as a countermeasure for when a baby is constipated.
My mom friends said they do it too, and
when my child was about 8 months old,
I was taught how to do a cotton swab enema when I took them to the pediatrician for constipation.

When I was taught, I thought, 'What a scary thing to do!', but
after that, when they became prone to constipation,
I felt so sorry for them having a bloated tummy that I did it about three or four times.

The other day, my child was constipated again, so I stimulated them with a cotton swab specifically for enemas.

Then, a small amount of stool the size of a pinky finger came out, and I felt relieved.
The next morning, a large amount of stool came out, but

I thought, 'Wait?! Is that blood?'

There was something slightly sticky and red attached to the stool.
My husband said, 'Isn't that a carrot?'
I replied, 'Carrots aren't this sticky! If it were a carrot, it would be this one here!'
Panicking, I compared it to the carrots in the stool, decided it was blood, and hurriedly booked a hospital appointment.
(It had a sticky feel similar to menstrual blood. Women might recognize blood immediately).
I was able to get a pediatrician appointment that afternoon, and since I was anxious, I had my husband come with me.

(The hospital that taught me the cotton swab enema above is one my husband doesn't like the doctor at, so we chose a slightly further hospital.)

When I showed them the photo,
the doctor said, 'I think this is blood. So they were constipated, please tell me more about it.'
I was asked,
when they last had a bowel movement,
about the cotton swab enema, and how many times they had gone, and I explained everything.

The doctor said, 'I see. First of all...
cotton swab enemas are only effective up to 6 months of age.'

Whaaaat?!
I was 8 months old when I was taught the enema at the hospital mentioned above! 😇😇

The doctor said, 'Also, you mentioned you did the cotton swab enema in a prone position because your child was thrashing about.
It is dangerous to do it on an infant while they are not lying on their back.
Because their bottom will inevitably move.'

That's right.
My child absolutely wouldn't let me do it while lying on their back, so we used a method where my husband would hold them in a crawling position, and I would insert it in that gap.
The method I learned at the pediatrician was the lying-on-the-back method, but I didn't think it was absolutely forbidden...

The doctor said, 'They are in a good mood and it doesn't seem to be any other illness, so the rectum was likely injured during the enema. But since there is no more blood coming out, the wound should be healed, so you don't need to worry.'

Hearing that,
I was in deep shock, thinking, 'I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry... I'm so sorry...'
I felt like a terrible parent who hurt my beloved child.

Even though I was told not to worry, I was in shock for a while.

And I thought,
when I was doing the cotton swab enemas, I Googled it a lot, but
there are too few sites that clearly state up to what age it is recommended,
or what you should not do... (I had never seen any).

The doctor said that when they are constipated, you should come to the hospital (they have enemas and medicine at the hospital). Everyone, please be careful...

Also, the doctor said that when blood comes out, even in a very small amount, you must come to the hospital.
I'm glad I went...

So, that's why,
even though cotton swab enemas are often on parenting blogs,
this was an article saying that if you are anxious, it is safer to go to the hospital.
I'm sorry for being a bad parent...