Need Ideas - Pleasant Hill,CA

Hi T.,

Try Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal. My son eats a small bowl every day. It does wonders for regularity. It's also slightly sweet, unlike some other high fiber foods.

Good luck!

Hi T.,

The key is to keep her regular. She needs to go everyday or the toxins build up in her system and are poison to her body and will cause more problems later.

I am a wellness consultant and advise everyone to drink water. The best is living water. It is not just filtered water it has nutrients added to the water.

Does she eat fruits and veggies? That is important to help her illiminate also.

I can give you more ideas if you are interested just let me know.

Have a great week.

N. Marie

Hi T.,

Here's what I think. If she has always suffered from constipation as you say, then I suspect there is an underlying cause not related to the food she eats, although her diet could definitely aggravate it, and should be considered. I, personally, am against giving medications to children when the underlying condition causing the problem can be resolved naturally.

I recently responded to another Mamasource Mom who was having the same problem with her 3-mos,-old infant, and she brought her baby into our chiropractic office to get checked out. After a simple exam and gentle spinal adjustments, he began to have regular bowel movements. Something to keep in mind: many nerves from the spine go to the bowels, and nerve interference (caused from the birth process itself, the poor design of children's car seats, etc.) can cause constipation. We see it very often with babies and children in our practice and our Moms are very happy with the results we achieve in getting their dear ones "regular".

Hope I have been of some help. You sound like a great mom!

E.
McCollum Wellness Center

My daughter has had the same issue. Her Doc recommended Miralax and it has worked WONDERS for her. I just use 1/4 of a cap full in her juice in the morning and she hasnt had an issue since. Good Luck:)

I am all for Miralax too! My son eats great-loves his fruits and veggies but this was an awful problem for us. Doctor recommended 1-2 tsp. of Miralax a day until you find the right amount that works for your child. And don't dilute juice-they need the sugar to help pull water into their bowels. Good luck!

Try flaxseed oil (in refrigerated section at Whole Foods, maybe also at Nob Hill) -- a spoonful as directed on label, or over a salad. Also Alvarado Street Bakery makes a flaxseed bread (again, Whole Foods; also Trader Joe's). We eat a lot of raw fruits and veggies but flaxseed oil has been a great solution when anyone in the house is ...in a bind, so to speak. ;)

Good luck, mama!

My daughter tends towards constipation, too. She just prefers starchy stuff to fresh veg and fruit. Usually what helps is giving her drinks with a straw (because she drinks more that way), feeding her her favorite high-fiber fruits in the morning when she is hungriest and most likely to eat it, and going easy on dairy and bananas, since they harden things up. For my son, I watch for signs that he has to go, plus he is pretty regular, and then I tell him to go for a potty break. He's had a whole other set of issues, though, not constipation. And he's 5. My daughter isn't potty trained yet...You may want to ask her doc about miralax, because I think it is a safe stool softener.

Hi T.,
What does your daughter drink? Try having her drink halk water and half apple juice instead of just water - that may help - also, make sure she is active everyday, take a walk with her or go outside and throw the ball. Lots of fluids and activity may alleviate the problem. I wish you the best.

try instant oatmeal with peaches in syrup. Papaya works like a wonder :)

At almost 3 years old your little girl should be drinking water daily and certainly eating fruits and veggies. Make some changes to her diet... and possibly your own if she is eating family meals so that you can model good eating habits for her. Good luck!

My daughter had a bad constipation problem for a long time. Finally her new doc recommended mixing some flax seed oil into her food everyday. It worked wonders. For her about 2 teaspoons mixed into her yogurt everyday did the trick.

T., another vote for Miralax. We just have constipation issues in our family no matter how well we eat an drink water. All 3 of my kids take Miralax and it works wonders. My 12 yr old daughter hardly takes it anymore, but my 6 yr old twins take it almost daily. It just helps keep things moving and prevents the tummy aches and pain from constipation.

I've found the cheapest place to get it to be Costco--you have to buy the 2 pack, but that's just fine for us! LOL!

JeniferS gives good advice. Do ensure she drinks lots of water and eats fiber packed fruits and veggies. If she won't drink water, mix it with juice, whatever, but try to get her to drink as much as possible. This will help and it's natural.

Hi T.,

Homeopathy can help you daughter resolve the issue quickly and effectively with out side effects. If you would like help finding a homeopath in your area, please let me know. M.

Hi T.,
I had these same issues(many years ago)with our son. The toilet freightened him! I could get him to go pee on the toilet but not a BM. He would literally ask me for a diaper. Then we relized like you that the problem had more to do with constipation. When he did go on the toilet,because he had waited so long(sometimes more than a day)he would get a BIG splash.....this is what scared him the most. He once saw the toilet overflow and thought if it(the poo) splashed the water, it would come up & drown him...I know it's silly but to a four year old not so much.
Once we had that figured out, we showed him. My husband overflowed the toilet on purpose. Our son got VERY scared & cried.He assumed Daddy would drown too! We let him see how the water would make a mess but that it would not drown us,it would just overflow on to the floor, and while messy & wet it could be fixed!!! and no one was harmed, just a lil wet. He was not so scared anymore once he could understand the process. Then we gave him a prune each day. He liked them & we played it as a treat, and his BM's seemed to become a lil easier for him. He didn't feel the need to HOLD IT anymore because the toilet would not swallow him up & drown him.
I hope this helped a lil bit. I don't know if your child is afraid like our's was but once he understood how it worked he was not afraid anymore. Now I will say our son is a grown man now...The toilet still freaks him out?? Sometimes......Good Luck it will all work out...

Hi T., I understand your frustrations. My now three-year old daughter is still struggling with that same issue except we have to deal with poopy pantys instead of pull ups. I have recently discovered that giving her a full dose of Miralax every other day has been helping her to go regular. Her poops are much more soft and she hasn't messed in her underwear in almost a week now (which is really good). It tends to be loose enough that she could almost go a little every time she pees (which is encouraging) but not soft enough that she will mess her pants because she doesn't feel it coming. I have been encouraged by this and I hope that it helps for you. My doctor was the one that recommended it. Just put a full does in some watered down juice, it disolved undetected;oP. Hope this helps.

After reading some other comments I wanted to add some additional information. My daughter eats a lot of fruits and drinks tons during the day. She is in and out of the bathroom a lot to pee. We have tried different diet alterations to try and help her to be regular with no luck. It is so inconsistant that we can't figure it out. I have heard of good results from chiropractic care and would try that if we had it covered under our insurance (if you can get it covered I would recommend trying it first before starting with the Miralax). Just wanted to add that sometimes it isn't a matter of diet or lack of fiber and there are times where getting a little gentle help is not bad. :) Hope you find this encouraging.

Talk to your pediatrician about a stool softener; they often use Miralax. It is a common problem that they deal with all of the time.

We swear by Miralax. We used it for both kids, and in fact still use it for our younger daughter. It makes their stools softer so it's less painful for them. Our pediatrician said it is perfectly safe and not habit-forming at all. You can get it over the counter now, which is nice.
Good luck!!

Ask your pedi - but my friend's son is autistic and holds his BM until he gets sick - her pedi told her to give him a fiber supplement like Benefiber Clear and sneak it in his food. My son likes the fruit flavored chewable tablets from Benefiber - he thinks they are big sourpatch candies! Also give her high fiber cereals, apples, celery and carrots if she'll eat them to help her get regular. Natural yogurt helps a lot too.

Miralax has worked great for my 5yr old son since he was 2yrs. we have to adjust the dosage every once in a while.

My son has always suffered from constipation too. We started giving him Baby Calm everyday and as long as we do it every day we do not have any problems. It keep him regular and soft so he isn't scared to go anymore. http://www.vitacost.com/Peter-Gillham-Natural-Baby-Calm

I had a friend who dealt with the same issue around the same time you are with your daughter! Come to find out there was a few things going on with her son, at first they thought that it was him trying to control something.. then one night it dawned on her that maybe it was the milk he was drinking. So she cut out the milk and that helped him completely. She now only gives him milk once in a while. Im not sure if she is drinking milk or not, but thats what helped her!! Good luck !

Constipation is a very common symptom of a gluten or a dairy intolerance. Search "constipation gluten dairy" and see what comes up. My children and I were all very constipated and I was advised by a nutritionist to remove gluten (most commonly found in wheat but in other grains as well) from our diets. It worked within 3 days! I had to remove dairy as well. I'm allergic to casein. All the doctors told us to add MORE wheat and it only got worse. Celiac disease or gluten intolerance is genetic so it runs in fmailies. Check out the symptoms online and see if anyone else in your family fits the profile.

Take care.