About IBD Podcast Episode 153 - "Boo Can't Poo!" With Iris Wang, MD

“Boo Can’t Poo!” With Iris Wang, MD – About IBD Podcast Episode 153

Leave a reply

Dr. Iris Wang, assistant professor in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Associate Program Director of the GI fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and Amber Tresca discuss the stigma surrounding gut health and poop. Dr. Wang shares the experience of writing a children’s book focused on preventing and managing constipation titled “Boo Can’t Poo!” They also discuss the challenges of publishing a book on gut health and the potential benefits of talking about poop and toileting, emphasizing the importance of open communication and personalized treatment. Listen to learn about where you can get “Boo Can’t Poo!” and how parents with IBD can manage their anxiety around the idea of their kids developing IBD.

Order “Boo Can’t Poo!”:

Find Xiao Jing “Iris” Wang, MD at:

Find Amber J Tresca at:

Find Mac Cooney (mix, sound design, and theme music) at:

These show notes may contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, Mal and Tal Enterprises, LLC may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Listen and Subscribe to About IBD: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Castbox | All Other Podcast Apps

Transcript

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca  00:00

I’m Amber Tresca and this is About IBD. I’m a medical writer and patient educator who lives with a j-pouch due to ulcerative colitis. It’s my mission to educate people living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis about their disease and to bring awareness to the patient journey..

Amber Tresca  00:20

Welcome to Episode 153.

Amber Tresca  00:23

If you don’t live with an IBD or another digestive condition, how often do you think about your bowel movements? Probably not much at all — unless something goes wrong. And  if something is going wrong, how long might it take to talk to someone about it, and see a healthcare provider to find out what’s happening? 

Amber Tresca  00:40

My guest is Dr Iris Wang, who is an assistant professor in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Associate Program Director of the GI fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Reducing stigma and opening up communication around pooping is so important to Dr Wang, that she wrote a book about it.

Amber Tresca  00:59

Her children’s book is titled “Boo Can’t Poo,” and it follows a young ghost through his journey with constipation. We talk about why she wrote this book, what her goals are, and how parents can help their kids learn how to poop the right way.

Amber Tresca  01:12

Plus, for those of us who are parents living with an IBD, Dr Wang offers her advice on how to be watchful for symptoms in our kids without becoming hypervigilant.

Amber Tresca  01:25

Dr. Wang, thank you so much for coming on about IBD embers.

Dr Iris Wang  01:28

Thank you so much for having me. It’s really an honor to be here.

Amber Tresca  01:31

Oh, it’s absolutely my pleasure, having circled around one another on the Twitter’s for for a while now. So I wonder though, if we could get started by having you introduce yourself to our listeners.

Dr Iris Wang  01:45

Yeah. Hello, everyone. Good morning. Good afternoon, wherever you are. My name is Dr. Xiao Jing, Iris weighing. I’m an assistant professor in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. And I’m also the Associate Program Director of the GI fellowship, I focus on Gen Gi, but really have a really big passion and interest for what’s called disorders of gut brain interaction and the area of abdominal pain.

Amber Tresca  02:12

And that’s one of the reasons why that you’re here today, Dr. Wang with me is that you took this passion, and you turned it into a children’s book, I was listening to another podcast that you did recently, you were on the curbsiders. And you said in that show that your goal was to write a children’s book and goal achieved. So it’s really exciting. And I wonder if you would tell me about the story and about the main character, the main character’s name is Boo.

Dr Iris Wang  02:45

Yeah, thank you so much. And I have to tell you, it really is kind of one of the most fulfilling accomplishments, right, it really feels like a dream come true. And process is just so different than anything that I’ve been used to before. And it’s been such an exciting journey to learn about this new world of publishing. And to have someone to actually validate this thing that I produced is just amazing.

Dr Iris Wang  03:10

So “Boo Can’t Poo,” who, first of all, his name is Boo, because I needed to rhyme it with poo and what better way to go, right? And what you know, I think when I was first shopping around this book, people were like, why it goes like this, you have to be a ghost, and it was like, Well, no, he doesn’t have to be a ghost, but his name is Boo. And I think that people, there’s a lot of stigma around toileting, and poop and, you know, sensitive areas of the body. And I just thought, well, if we make it a ghost, we can make it an idea. That’s, that’s fun. That’s cute, that’s more acceptable, and maybe a little less targeted and personal for kids who might be struggling more. It’d be easier for folks to accept that. This is just a fun book. But hey, as you’re reading it, maybe you want something.

Dr Iris Wang  03:58

So you’ve referenced the Curbsiders. And I, of course, I remember. It’s like, kind of the highlight of my career, right? I’ve been so fortunate to cross paths with these amazing people. And I was joking, I had been joking for a long time and my fellowship that I need to write a children’s book about how to poop, because I do a lot of counseling around constipation. And, you know, while that might not be a huge issue for the IBD population, it’s a huge issue overall, and happens in the IBD population as well.

Dr Iris Wang  04:30

And I started learning about the pelvic floor and you know that saying like online like I was today old, I was like a first year GI fellow, when I was like, Wait, why do GI doctors care about the pelvic floor? And at first I thought they were joking. I was like, what, you know what, why are we talking about this? But then I realized how integral this pelvic floor is to constipation and how much the muscle movements really impact our ability to be able to evacuate a bowel movement and how often that went wrong.

Dr Iris Wang  05:01

And people don’t know what goes wrong because it’s not a muscle that we’re aware of. It’s not a set of muscles that we’ve been ever taught to think about or control unless you’re like, unless you gave birth recently, and somebody like mentioned some exercises, right? But it’s really it’s a muscle that everybody has a nobody talks to me. And so as I was explaining this to my patients over and over, and over in our clinic encounters, they would be like, well, nobody told me I wasn’t supposed to do this. And it was just this like, Aha moment over and over again, I was like, You know what, I should tell people that they should do this, that they shouldn’t be pushing when they poop.

Dr Iris Wang  05:38

And I started, you know, at the same time, I had a kid, as he was aging in my like, parenting, Tiger Mom nature, I was like, I have to read books. I have all the books all the time. So I was reading all these children’s books. And my thoughts were all in children’s book rhymes at that point. I started looking at what’s available for children to teach them how to poop. And there was very little right there was a lot of books about toilet training and getting used to the potty and normalizing the idea of poop, which is all amazing. But it doesn’t really go into the nitty gritty, you know, an advice. And on the other hand, there were all these amazing books coming out about the body and teaching kids. General Chemistry for babies. I love that series. And it was like, why can’t we have that for?

Dr Iris Wang  06:28

And so I kept thinking about it. And then literally one Saturday, I was like, Why do I keep joking about it? Let’s just like write something and read it to the three year old and see what happens. And so I wrote something and the three year old loved it, and nobody else did for a year and a half until I finally struck gold. And my editor gave me a chance. Yeah, that was very long story.

Amber Tresca  06:56

It does and it makes perfect sense. Okay, so we were talking a little bit before we turned on the recording that you know, obviously, poo and pelvic health and colon health is a big topic of conversation around your house. It is also one around mine. And the idea of the the taboo or the stigma that people don’t want to talk about it.

Amber Tresca  07:21

I had a babysitter years ago when my daughter was a toddler and we made up rhymes. We made up songs about toileting. I had one kid who was diarrhea predominant. And one kid who was constipation predominant. So we kind of went back and forth. And so one day my daughter was singing the little rhyme or the song that we’d made up.

Amber Tresca  07:43

And my amazing babysitter says to her, Oh, we don’t Oh, no, we don’t sing songs about this, you know, going to the toilet. And I was like, I had to shut that down right away. I was like, oh, no, yes, we do. We absolutely. Maybe not in your house or other people’s houses. But in my house?

Dr Iris Wang  08:01

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, even now, right? They’re called potty words. supposed to say and, and one of those words includes like potty and poo. I get it. But on the same, you know, token like this is our bodies, like when we talk about normalizing things and celebrating our bodies and teaching kids body autonomy, right? It’s so important to name things. It’s so important to just be able to talk about them.

Amber Tresca  08:29

Yes, yeah, absolutely. 100%. And we do, sometimes I have to be told to stop. So. So I have a copy of your book here. It’s amazing. I loved the illustrations.

Amber Tresca  08:42

I’ll tell you that when my kids came over my when my kids come home from school, I’m usually working. So I’m at my desk. And they came over to my desk and the book was sitting there. And even though they’re teenagers, they were very interested and they wanted to look at it.

Amber Tresca  08:58

And so the first reading of the book that I did was was with my teenagers. So I thought that was fantastic because the book is more aimed at younger children, but I think everybody can enjoy it. So I want to talk about the illustration. So I’m wondering if you could talk about how you made some of the decisions you already talked about how you decided it was a ghost because Boo Can’t Poo, but then also reducing stigma because Boo is a ghost and I don’t know if we know what his digestive tract looks like.

Amber Tresca  09:29

But anyway, so I’m wondering how you made the decisions around how to show things like poop in this book because you kind of have to.

Dr Iris Wang  09:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I just go back to your prior point. The book is aimed at toddlers early readers but it’s secretly aimed at open see better for everybody needs to learn how to.

Dr Iris Wang  09:54

I have to give so much credit to my amazing illustrator her her name is Rocio Ledesma. And she, she’s an artist based in Barcelona and the publishing company found her. And, you know, we have been looking at art samples and samples from various illustrators. And her illustrations just really spoke to me, right, I think she, I have to give her all the credit for truly bringing to life. Because if you saw what Boo looked like when I first I don’t know if your teenagers interested. But I think part of her illustrations, and you know, as we went back and forth and made suggestions, I think it was about, there’s a cuteness factor there to draw in the kids to make it okay, right to make it fun to make it approachable.

Dr Iris Wang  10:44

I thought she did such an amazing job with those facial expressions, right that like you can tell he’s you can just tell that he’s struggling, and you can you can celebrate with him when, when there are any changes. You know, we don’t know if Boo poos but twist, I think I think it she does it, we kind of made decisions and my early mock ups, which is show, yes, it’s a ghost family, right. But we can kind of in the same idea that we give human characteristics, the animals, and I’m not remembering the specific name for that term. But it helps us It helps us relate to these characters without it being too close. Without it being stigmatizing or accusing.

Dr Iris Wang  11:32

It helps us learn it’s like a fable right or a story about, you know, the fox or the turtle and the hare, it helps us take these concepts and like, apply it to our lives without it being directly like your doctors telling you to do this. It kind of you can you can relate to this story and think about, you know, what, who has to do to make those who happen? And remember, hey, you know, maybe I could do that too.

Dr Iris Wang  11:55

And I wanted it to be a family. And I wanted it to have these components that who can ask for help, right? Because that’s so often the issue is that that kids think that, you know, or we have this idea that we can just do it. It’s a natural bodily function, like why can’t you just do it? Everyone does it? Everyone Poops, right? Like that’s the message everyone poops. But not everyone poops correctly. And it is so important to ask for help.

Dr Iris Wang  12:18

And so that was part of the the idea too, is to have this family of, of characters and who have different personalities and their different vibes and their espousing different healthy habits. And yeah, I think that, you know, she really took those words and the ideas of my preliminary rudimentary, not very good drawing, and made them so accessible for kids and so attractive, and I just like could not be more grateful or more happy with was how it came out.

Amber Tresca  12:48

Yep, she’s amazing. Yeah, well, it worked here, because my kids immediately will have all of the things that are on my desk, you they went for it immediately. And I thought it was really very funny. That’s so wonderful.

Amber Tresca  12:59

So you said that the secret of your book is that it is really aimed at everyone and also parents. So what do you hope parents and the kids take away from this story?

Dr Iris Wang  13:12

Yeah, I hope that they take away some practical pointers for how to, it’s really aimed at kind of preventing constipation or stopping it when it first starts or when it kind of starts, right. And so some really easy accessible lifestyle and diet interventions, I hope that they learn about the pelvic floor and pooping mechanics.

Dr Iris Wang  13:34

And that’s kind of my big, you know, I don’t want to give away the whole book, but it is really important not to push, you know, if you’re pushing and pushing for every bowel movement like that, there’s, we need to talk about that. And we need to kind of adjust so that that’s not happening, right? Because that can lead to long term consequences.

Dr Iris Wang  13:53

It’s okay to push occasionally. But you should not be pushing to get every poop out. And I think that’s a message that I want to, that’s one of my major messages that I’d like to send is that it should just come out. And if it’s not just coming out, and you’re always having to poop and strain, and it’s work to get that poop out, then there are things that we can do to make sure that that’s not the case, right? That’s actually constipation. I want them to normalize. Talking about difficulties having bowel movements, it’s a normal thing. Everybody experiences constipation here and there, right?

Dr Iris Wang  14:24

This is why I’m a GI doctor. It’s because first people are like, why would you want to do this? And then the next time they say to me as well, actually, I have this friend who has this thing. And I’m like, Yeah, “your friend.” That’s okay. Let’s talk about the fact that sometimes, like, people have issues with their battles. It’s part of life, but it’s when you don’t talk about it when you don’t ask for that help when you don’t kind of when you’ve had ignored for too long, that things develop into issues right?

Dr Iris Wang  14:54

So to try to normalize the conversation and make sure that it’s okay for kids to ask for help and how Have some tools available to them? I think those are kind of my big goals.

Amber Tresca  15:05

Yeah, I know more than one parent that could benefit from this book.

[Music: About IBD Transition]

Amber Tresca  15:13

Coming up, Dr. Wang offers advice on how often to talk with kids about their poop.

Amber Tresca  15:33

Dr. Wang, I was already talking a little bit about my own kids, I live with an IBD. So there’s always a little bit of just worry in the back of my brain, even though I know that the child you know, statistically, it’s pretty low that they’re going to develop an IBD. But when they are having an issue, they’re having diarrhea, they’re having constipation. It that little nagging worry is in the back of my brain.

Amber Tresca  16:02

And this is also why we talk about bowel movements in my house so much just because I want to know what’s going on. And if something is out of the ordinary, I want to know and I want to know right away.

Amber Tresca  16:12

So I wonder if you have any advice. As a gastroenterologist for parents like me, when or parents that are not like me, that are just, you know, trying to help their kids learn how to poop correctly, but something is maybe not quite right. So when should they talk to a pediatrician? And then maybe when would the pediatrician say Okay, it’s time to see a gastroenterologist?

Dr Iris Wang  16:36

Yeah, that’s a great question. And it’s a really difficult question to actually answer. I do you know, kind of in the back cover of the book, there’s a little bit about when to seek help, right? And when Yes, really, if it’s not working, right, when do you see help.

Dr Iris Wang  16:51

And I think there’s, there’s a couple of things that are what we call red flags as doctors, right. And those are like, if there’s blood coming out, and a lot of it all the time, and then it’s time to see a doctor, if you can start eating right, or they’re losing weight. And it’s, you know, there’s a lot of change around that if they’re having trouble leading their lives, it’s well beyond time to see a doctor. Those are kind of the areas where we would really worry, weight loss, and everything else gets a little bit challenging.

Dr Iris Wang  17:23

And the reason I see that is because I deal with disorders of gut brain interaction where symptoms are pain, right? And symptoms are often unexplained. And often you go to the doctor, and there’s nothing wrong on the testing. And it gets really challenging for parents and and let me caveat that by saying I’m not a pediatric gastroenterologist, right?

Dr Iris Wang  17:43

I’m not a pediatric gastroenterologist, I don’t treat kids predominantly, I treat adults, but I treat kids when they become adults, I treat the 20 year old who come to the appointment with their parents, and tell me their stories that have been going on for 10 years. And and I see the suffering, right, and I see how well meaning and worried their parents are because they have been on this journey for so long. And there are no answers or there’s no problem and their child is suffering, right? I’m a parent I there is no, that is so tough, right? There’s nothing to make that better. And I think it’s important.

Dr Iris Wang  18:21

And the message that I’ve been trying to get to parents is that it is important for you to be vigilant, but not for your child’s necessarily to be so vigilant. And it’s important to give your child that autonomy over their own bodily functions. teaching your child like you do, right like you do, what does a healthy bowel movement look like? And then telling that, okay, when this doesn’t happen, I need to know about it.

Dr Iris Wang  18:46

As opposed to everyday asking, Did you poop? What did it look like? Is there a blunder, you know, where they’re like, Oh, mom is going to ask, so I have to pay attention. And mom is going to ask you have to pay attention. Like it wires, their brain to pay such close attention to their bowel movements, that it’s too much attention, right, the bowels don’t need all that much attention just a little bit.

Dr Iris Wang  19:06

And so it’s about striking that balance of teaching your kids what is normal, that it’s and then to pay attention when they feel off that to be in tune enough with their bodies to recognize when something is off, and then that’s it. They don’t need to be any more in tune with their bowel movements than that.

Dr Iris Wang  19:23

And it’s a very vague answer. And I recognize that but from a mom standpoint, right, I want to be in the bathroom looking at his poop like every day because I’m a gastroenterologist why I do. But I have raised a child who’s like, screams from the bathroom mom. I made three big poops and then like, and then we’re done.

Dr Iris Wang  19:45

And that’s all I think I want because then when he does it, or when his poop looks weird, he knows to call me and that’s good enough for me. So that I’m not teaching hypervigilance and this is so important around pain. That that’s a whole nother story. But I’m teachinghim to be vigilant for himself and recognize what’s what’s wrong.

Amber Tresca  20:05

Your point is well taken is that we want to de-stigmatize. And we want our kids to come to us when they have a problem. I’ve spoken with many IBD patients who had problems Young as children, and did not express anything to their parents or their caregivers. You know, everyone has a different reason for it. But to have that communication open, but then also, in the end, I tell my kids, that they should look at their poo.

Amber Tresca  20:40

Not every, you don’t have to look at it every time, you know, but give it a glance. But to not get to the point where they’re actively worried about because it should be I mean, before I was diagnosed with IBD, I don’t remember what having a bowel movement was like it was that uneventful in my life before the symptoms started. So I almost feel like that’s kind of what you’re, that’s kind of what you’re going for.

Dr Iris Wang  21:04

Yeah. It should be it should be on a button for, so that when it is eventful that you say something. And that’s your other point, right? Like you validate your children, when they tell you, Yes, you validate your children, you kind of keep an eye on like what their normal is, so that when they’re abnormal happens, like you know that it’s abnormal. Or if you don’t know what’s abnormal, like when they’re worried, and they’re telling you about something, even if you think it’s not a big deal. Hey, thanks for bringing that up. I see why you’re worried about it. This is okay. But let’s keep an eye on it. So that they don’t think that they can’t come to you the next time. Open communication,

Amber Tresca  21:44

I think that’s the one of the biggest things about about parenting. So I’m guessing that you have learned so much as you’ve gone through the process of writing, and then finding an illustrator and then going now you’re going through all of this of marketing this book, it’s, you know, I don’t assume that anything in your medical training has really helped you very much with this. Can you tell me something that that you’ve learned through this, this process.

Dr Iris Wang  22:14

It was the utmost lesson in humility? You know, I am where I am, I’ve had a pretty reasonably successful career to this point. I’ve been very fortunate. And I have faced my share of paper rejections, grant rejections, things like that, um, you know, but they usually write back and they’re like, no, sorry, we’re not going to take this or sometimes it’s like, sorry, we’re not going to take this because of XY and Z.

Dr Iris Wang  22:43

You know, when your grants are rejected, you get some feedback about what you could do better, literary agents, they just ghost you. Like, there’s just like, there’s nothing right, like, and their websites are so open about that, literally, like when you send author inquiries to an agent, which you may have experienced, hopefully not. But it literally says like, expect not to hear from me if I’m not right.

Dr Iris Wang  23:09

And so I had this like, recurring timer on my email that every six weeks, I would send out another batch to children’s book agents, inquiring whether they liked my book, I had such a great pitch, I was like, so proud of myself. And it was a year of crickets. And like, after every bout, I would have to like lick my wounds a little bit be like, you know, this is just the name of the game like you read about this, it’s fine. It’s fine.

Dr Iris Wang  23:37

Maybe, to Self Publish. And then I will be like, I don’t have time to Self Publish. Where am I going to find an illustrator? Let me just try again, over and over and over again. And let me tell you, like, when I got that email that somebody like, was interested, I felt like I won the lottery. I still feel like I won the lottery. And I still feel so fortunate that so that my editor saw saw something in this book. And it’s such a humbling experience.

Dr Iris Wang  24:06

And it’s such a different publishing experience than peer review, right? Where I’ve got these papers that will go out to the medical journal, and that’s great. But this like, means so much to me and means so much to me, as a mom as a gastroenterologist, as someone who’s an educator, right like that, I get to teach people that I get to teach people who otherwise wouldn’t come to me, and I can reach hopefully, you know, so many more children and their parents to help and to just teach them something about their bowels.

Dr Iris Wang  24:38

It’s, it’s amazing, and I just, I like brimming with gratitude and this opportunity. I’m so grateful.

Amber Tresca  24:45

With the focus in the ether and on social media and everywhere on gut health. The idea that a gastroenterologist pitching a book about, you know, a children’s book, that’s fun, about going to the bathroom that somebody would not be interested. That’s wild to me. That’s wild to me because I feel like it’s gold.

Dr Iris Wang  25:08

Right? That’s what I thought in my head. But we’re in GI, right. And it’s just so interesting to see like, what is the world of publishing? Like, right? And with self publishing? It’s a whole new game. But yeah, like, I think there’s still so much stigma around poop. Yeah, it’s because the book was about not the microbiome, but it was about who and was, it was a little weird. Apparently. Apparently, people don’t aren’t like us and talk about bowel movements.

Amber Tresca  25:39

Well, that’s too bad. Because I think it would benefit everyone a little bit to loosen up around these things. And maybe more teenagers would come to their parents when they’re having an issue.

Amber Tresca  25:52

So all right, well, I want to ask you a little bit about yourself. So I know a little bit about you from following you on social media for a while and listening to the other shows that you’ve done, which I will put links to them so that everyone can benefit from them. Because you have a very, you have a very plain language way of explaining things, which I think is fabulous. So even though it may be aimed at doctors, you say things in a way that you know, everyone can can get something out of it.

Amber Tresca  26:22

But I want to ask you about your career as a as a baker. So tell me, I do a little baking myself, just as a home Baker. It’s more like stress relief for me. So tell me some things like what what are your favorite things to bake? Or what does your son asked for?

Dr Iris Wang  26:40

My son is a food snob I have raised. When he asks for cookies, he’s like, Can I have a macaron? Can you make macarons and that’s the best cookie of choice, if you will. I’ve got two games. I’ve got a macaron game and a sourdough game. But the sourdough game is largely what I do with the sourdough discard, and I have an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe. But the macrons are my I’m gonna say my claim to fame but really like my baking go to because I am a type A overachieving perfectionist. And so you know what makes good better than the French Macron? Right? Where it’s actually so simple.

Dr Iris Wang  27:27

And I started off with that, because I would be watching is it this is all the great British bake offs falls. But they would just be like, oh, yeah, and then I whipped up these macarons as like, you know, this extra decoration for my sweet cake. And I’m like, they can do that. I like this must be achievable. And then I started to get down the rabbit hole, right and Macron rabbit hole, the number of like, troubleshooting blogs, I’ve read the number of books I’ve acquired to be like, okay, but I did it. Right? Like, why do they, Why are they lopsided. And you know what, like, the secret of this is like, I don’t even like eating them. They’re like I don’t, I don’t enjoy eating, which is really, really important. Because otherwise I would eat all of them. And nobody would get any. And I would have to spend a lot more time at the gym, which I do not have time for.

Dr Iris Wang  28:28

So yeah, I love the background. It’s kind of like a technical challenge, but has so many like varied options for different flavor combinations. It’s gluten free, which is always a plus, I can give it away to plenty more people. And I’ve learned to tweak where I can to make it a little bit more to my taste. So I’ve enjoyed more about eating them. And they look impressive. You know, like that’s kind of so yeah, it’s, it’s a nice challenge. What’s not great about it is trying to travel with them or share them with people. They are very finicky and they make up I’ve managed to do it a few times. But it’s it’s difficult.

Amber Tresca  29:11

I think there’s a through line there between being a gastroenterologist and making a macaron. I feel like so many moving parts, so many things that you have to manage and you have to do things just right. I feel like that makes sense that that is your that that’s your cookie of choice that that’s the thing that you go for when you go to bake.

Dr Iris Wang  29:34

Personal is right. You can like customize depending on your patient and their needs and exactly like what is it that’s causing their issues and you can you can kind of mix and match your flavors.

Amber Tresca  29:47

That’s very funny. There’s an essay in there somewhere Alright, so we want everybody to order “Boo Can’t Poo.” Where can people find your book to order it?

Dr Iris Wang  30:00

So it’s published by Mayo Clinic press. So it’s available on their website for pre order. It’s also available on Amazon on target wherever you buy your books. It is available for pre order.

Amber Tresca  30:11

Perfect. And I have I have my copy already. So I’m just like, so excited about it. And then also you have quite a great social media presence for yourself for you’ve been promoting the book there. But then also, you share out lots of great things having to do with, you know, what we’re going to call, you know, your day job as a gastro. So where can people follow you across social media?

Dr Iris Wang  30:38

Yeah, I am. I’m on Instagram. I’m also on X, formerly known as Twitter. And the handle for both of those is going to be at Iris Want,, MD. And you can you can learn about my GI fellows and all of their shenanigans as well, that

Amber Tresca  30:53

I do love very much, actually. And I love to see your journey as a mentor. You know, watching that is really great.

Amber Tresca  31:05

Dr. Wang, thank you so much for coming on about IBD thank you for writing “Boo Can’t Poo,” and for talking with me and helping me work through as a parent, how we can approach bowel health with our kids. So thank you so much.

Dr Iris Wang  31:20

Thank you so much for having me. And thank you for promoting the book. It’s an absolute joy to be here.

Amber Tresca  31:31

Hey, super listener.

Amber Tresca  31:32

Thanks to Dr Wang for making time to talk with me and for her advice on how not to get too worried about our kids’ bowel movements. Her book, “Boo Can’t Poo” is available to order right now and will be released on July 16, 2024. I love to give books as gifts, especially to children, and I look forward to adding this one to my rotation.

Amber Tresca  31:53

You can get your copy at all the big booksellers, Bookshop.org, or you can ask for it at your local bookstore. I will put links to all these sources, plus the ISBN number, in the show notes.

Amber Tresca  32:05

As always, links to a written transcript, everyone’s social media handles, and more information on the topics we discussed is in the show notes and on my Episode 153 page on AboutIBD.com.

Amber Tresca  32:17

Thanks for listening, and remember, until next time, I want you to know more about IBD.

Amber Tresca  32:25

Theme music is from Cooney Studio.

About IBD is a production of Mal and Tal Enterprises.

It is written, produced, and directed by me, Amber Tresca.

Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney.

Theme music is from Cooney Studio. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *