Let's Talk About Poop=)

We had the same problem except my 2 1/2 yo daughter was a "Stool witholder" so they called it. We finally ended up taking her to the Dr. after 6 days without a #2 and he suggested Miralax as well. We have her the prescribed dose for a few weeks and it worked like magic! (We had struggled with the witholding for about 3 months) We weaned her off gradually, every 2-3 days one dose, etc. and after 2 months she's doing awesome! Hope this helps....

It sounds to me like it's the milk, and you see the connection yourself. IMHO, children's need for plain milk is VERY overrated. A person needs 2-3 servings of dairy each day--they do not have to be plain milk. And technically "servings" of dairy are quite small. A "serving" of cheese is 1 inch cube. A 1/2 cup of yogurt or cottage cheese is considering a serving.

When given the proper nutrition, the body will poop just fine on its own--no medication needed. Dairy and processed foods are the #1 culprits when it comes to poop issues. "Processed foods" being things like boxed mac 'n cheese, Hamburger Helper, frozen pizza, potato chips, and so on. It doesn't matter if it's organic or "natural"--processed food is processed food.

If this were my kid, I would go back to your original diet of OJ and very little milk. Encourage him to drink more water. When diluting his juice, you can add more and more water. We had to do this with my son, and now he drinks water just fine.

Push fiber rich foods like: oatmeal, whole wheat anything (pasta, bread, crackers), fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, raisins, and dates, to name a few. Flax seeds have an incredible amount of fiber in them. They can be baked into breads and muffins, and sprinkled on oatmeal and other cereals. Good luck.

try prunes or prune juice before any medication

My son has never been able to drink our milk. It has something to do with the way we pasteurize it in the U.S. He can have milk in all the other forms. He use to get extremely constipated. Now, it swings the other way. He gets extreme diarrhea. We just leave out the milk and he gets his calcium thru yogurt, cheese, ice cream etc. I think you should do whatever you believe is right for your son's body. What we're told are guidelines but we all know that not everyone falls into that.

My grandson had the same issues and the doctor put him on soy milk. Since the soy milk his parents have cut back on juices.

Try flavored water. You can find some enriched with calcium.
FudgePops are great too. They both are tasty and sugar-free.

Certain fruits can really help to get things moving. I find that pears and kiwi work the best to get the flow started! Perhaps you could introduce some of those fruits into his daily diet.

Hello....I am a complete advocate of Mirolax!!! As far as it being a "medicine" it doesn't really work like an antibiotic would in your body. Our pharmicist told us it doesn't make kids go poop (I was afraid of giving him the medicine and then having the opposite problem of running the the bathroom all day!) it just makes it impossible for them to "hold" it. It is something you need to find the right dose for your child....the drs may say start with a does a day, but if that is making them poop too much, try less. My oldest was on Mirolax for almost a year and the dose that worked for him was about 1/2 dose every day. By the end of the time he was on it, we were giving him one half does every other day.

Water is important to a child's health and so is milk. If he is having trouble with regular milk, try the soy milk. There is one that is fortified for children with a vanilla taste and my granddaughter really liked it. Offer only one glass of juice in the morning and after that give him milk with his lunch and dinner and stick with water between the meals. He might turn it down at first but if you stick to your guns he will come around. It use to be that you would supplement feedings of formula or breast milk with sugar water from newborn on up. I would make mine at home and put less and less sugar in it. Now days they don't give newborn and infants water and then expect them to like it when they are toddlers. Water and fiber will fix any constipation he has. A good fiber choice is graham crackers, it always worked on my granddaughter to give her a snack of Teddy Grahams each afternoon.

Milk can be very constipating. Have you tried a milk alternative like almond milk? It has a mild sweet taste that most kids seem to like. It comes in regular, vanilla or chocolate. You can cook with it, put it on cereal, make hot cocoa with it... We don't use any cow milk, but with 4 kids we go through a lot of almond milk!

The problem with juice is that it is basically sugar water, and has been linked with obesity in children. Water is the best drink to have throughout the day. Maybe you could gradually dilute his juice over time to get him to accept water.

You are right to avoid a drug approach. Common sense says to take away the cause of the constipaton and it sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck!
~S.

Hi D.
It sounds to me like it is a milk issue. Some people can not handle much cows milk. I know many people who become constipated when drinking it. I think you should go back to the oj plan and if it dosen't help then you may need to try medicine but if he is constpated I would take him to a chiropractor before giving him any medicine good luck T.

Milk is so much better than juice especially in the long run. Just make sure he also drinks water, etc. My son wouldn't poop every day especially when really little, now most of the time he goes once a day, he doesn't get much juice, drinks lots of milk. It might also take time for his body to adjust to the changes in diet.

add fiber and water.

fiber will not be digested, but it will absorb water - making the stool softer and easier to pass.

its possible that he is allergic to milk. you can try almond or soy milk for a while to check to see if he has a dairy allergy. IT IS OK to be allergic to milk, its actually not as good for us as a multimillion dollar company would have us believe. so it is ok!!

a great easy way to add fiber is to buy some milled flax seed. its usually in a health food section of your grocery store.. its not very expensive, and you DO NOT need a lot. its tasteless, so you can sprinkle it on ANYTHING - cereal, yogurt, ice cream, sandwiches, im sure the only change is going to be that there might be a bit of a crunch, no big deal.
make sure to serve enough water so the fiber has something to absorb.
fiber is HIGHLY underestimated, so its possible that this is the issue. if the stool turns around and starts to be really runny, you are using too much. :P use just a teaspoon at first.

good luck!

The problem with the juice is that it has sugars which can be bad for his teeth. If he is not pooping... don't get rid of the milk... change up the juice. My daughter does real well after having some diluted pear juice... works just as good as the prune juice. Milk is important. It builds bones and helps with development... try a different juice and see how it goes.