Constipation - Champlin, MN

Love the Name, haha It great to see!!
Will he eat yogert,w/live bacteria. Watch how much sugar is in his food. You may want to look into Probiotics.
Its all a balance. Good luck!!

Have you tried the prune juice first thing in the morning before having anything else in his tummy? I hear that this is when it is the best time for it to work. I am also a big fan of water first thing in the morning. It seems to help cleanse the system.

Dairy can cause constipation. We need 2-3 servings of dairy each day to get the calcium we need. Many kids in the U.S. drink WAY too much milk. A child his age should be consuming no more than 16-20 ounces of milk each day, and that's the high end. If he is eating cheese and other dairy products, he should be drinking less than that. Remember to factor in any milk he is having on his cereal.

Push water. My son was not big on plain water. We used to dilute his milk and juice with water until he was finally drinking just straight water.

High fiber foods like beans, whole wheat *anything*, apples, and oatmeal. Crunch stuff like raw veggies, nuts, and corn. My son loves beans just straight out the can--they are fun finger food. Applesauce works like a charm on my son, as does dates, prunes, and raisins. If you can get him to eat whole wheat bread, you are halfway there. Just a tablespoon of flax seed has a ton of fiber. You can bake flax seeds into breads and muffins, even sprinkle it on his cereal.

In general, the more processed a food is, the less fiber it has, and the more likely it will not help constipation. Stick to "whole foods" as much as possible.

You son may still need a fiber supplement, especially if he is hesitant to eat any of the foods I've listed above. Generic "Metamucil" is relatively cheap and can be hidden in juice.

I would also keep a journal for 1 month and keep track of his food and beverage intake, as well as his BMs. You may see a pattern with other foods--everybody is different.

http://constipation.emedtv.com/constipation/foods-that-ca...

Edited to add: One other thought about his butt hurting... There are OTC suppositories for this. I think they are just called "hemmorhoid suppositories" and I've even seen them sold pretty much everywhere. If he had a dry or large BM that really left his bottom sore, it can take weeks, even months, for the pain to go away if left untreated. Each subsequent BM just makes it worse. (I am speaking from experience here. I wish the suppositories had existed when I was a kid!)

Have him eat more fruit and drink more water each day. And you could ask your doctor if he can have Miralax.

Also, you could try fruit smoothies -- I make them almost every night. I put in ice, half a block of tofu, frozen fruit, and then V8 Fusion juice.

Hi A.,
My three year old great niece has this problem too. The doctor told her mother to cut back on the milk and to have her drink more water. I also found that when my granddaughter seems a bit constipated that when I give her graham crackers or Teddy Grahams, it loosens her up pretty good, so try those. Stay away from apples, apple juice and orange juice. Remember the BRAT diet is to cure diarrah so stay away from bananas, rice, apples and toast. Also stay away from the adult fiber supplements. We checked to see if those would be good for my great niece and was told not to use them on children. There is some children stool softeners that you can get though.

I am a mom of 4, and one of my sons has had issues with his bms' since he was 1.( he is now 6). At the age of 3 he started "holding" his stools because they were so large and dry that it hurt him to go and would take him on the potty for so long to actually have his movement. I took him to our pediatrition and they did an xray on his tummy and found him to be quite blocked up due to him holding it and his tummy was actually starting to distend from it as well. They prescribed Glycolax (which now we can use Myrilax-over the counter)-same thing just don't need a rx. Long story short, he is 6 now and still has some problems with holding due to he thinks they will always "hurt" now, but he goes everyday if not every other day. Lots of fruit, water, green veggies and cut way back on any processed foods he may be eating (ex- mac n'chz, hot dogs,chicken nuggets, etc.)Good luck to you- it took us til he was 4 before he would consistantly sit on the potty to have his bm's and would sneak to have them in underwear or pull up-I know, late potty trainer...took 2 years for him to "get it". He was, and still is afraid it will always hurt.

Acidophilus! Both of my kids were constipated constantly. We started them on a chewable acidophilus tablets and poof!, all better! It really helps to keep things regular and avoids the cycle of constipation. Also, NO bananas at our house! One banana = No poop for days.

try adding prune juice and other fods into his diet on a regular basis to prevent it from happening.

A., we use Pear juice- tastes better than the prune. My son is 8 now and will ask for pears or pear juice if he hasnt pooped in a few days and his tummy hurts. try to give your son fruit with every meal- pears, peaches etc as well as the juice- that should help keep the stools softer

If you notice his stools are very hard, or he's really straining when he finally does go, giving him Miralax (a stool softener)every day will help enormously. It is not addictive and can now be bought over-the-counter at all pharmacies and places like Target. My daughter has used it since she was a baby and is now almost nine. I also make sure to give her at least 1 teaspoon daily of Benefiber, so her body gets enough fiber. You've received a lot of good advice. Just experiment until you find what works best for your son.

try adding more fruit an veggies-xtra water to his diet...also molasses does wonders...its a natural laxitive-mix it with milk-or just bake cookies-works great that way also....good luck....

YOu may want to try mineral oil on a daily basis mixed with a glass of juice. Also, Milk of magnesia for several days at a low dose until the mineral oil starts to work. It is a lubracant making it easier to poop. Also, make sure there is plenty of fiber and fluids in his diet. I find that my kids don't drink nearly enough, especially when they are active. My daughter, now 18, had a similar problem and that is what the doctor recommended for her. It worked really well. Once we made sure that she was getting plenty of fluids and fiber in her diet the problem ended and we quit doing the milk of magnesia and the mineral oil. Hope this is of some help for you.

My daughter eats raisins and blueberries (fresh or dried) on a regular basis, and they seem to clean her out pretty quickly. If it seems like she hasn't been pooping on her regular schedule, I just give her a handful or two of raisins, and within a few hours, she'll have a diaper full of raisins. Kinda messy, but much better than a plugged up little girl. She also really likes beans (baked, pinto, black, chili), and they seem to have the same effect. Good luck!

My son, who's 16 months now had a terrible time with constipation as an infant. Our doctor suggested pear juice and that didn't work. We then went to the chiropractor and after a few visits he was going a couple of times a day. He continues to go at least twice a day even now with no more visits to the chiropractor. Good luck!

Hi A... A little fiber for everyone usually helps.
Arbonne has a great one that is tasteless and can be put in most everything, drinks, oatmeal, even eggs..and as with all Arbonne products it is vegan, pure and safe.
www.arbonne.com questions? email me, yes I am an Arbonne consultant adn can share with you how to discount shop if you like that kind of thing ;) J.

If you have a lot of milk, or milk products in your diet that causes constipation. Also it sounds like your just giving him juice when he has a problem, and by then it's to late. My boys had to have enemas in the hospital from the time they were born until they came home to go. So as soon as they came home from the hospital I went to my regular doctor to see what he should do. He said to give them a bottle of juice a day I did, and after a week they started going to the bathroom regularly. After they switched to sippy cups I gave them at least one cup of apple juice a day. Once they turned two they continued to go once a day even if we ran out of juice.

Hi, We also deal with constipation in my son. I know that things like bananas, applesauce, and any dairy can cause constipation. My pediatrician said we could mix mineral oil in things like ice cream or applesauce, and we also found yogurt works well. If I remember right, it was 1 tbsp. per year of age per day up to 3 tbsp per day. We also use miralax, again, at the recommendation of the pediatrician. 1/2 capfull once a day (regular dose for older children is a whole capfull). When my son had a really bad bout of constipation, it took about 3 days of giving him the liquid laxative at the maximum dose before he finally went. Good luck!

We had this problem with our now 3 year old. Our Dr. suggested buying some of that fiber stuff you can mix with anything and giving him that in his drinks. It helped. The container will last for quite a while too.

Sounds like you have a lot of good suggestions. I'll just add that my daughter was taking prescribed Enulose everyday, which helped a little. But we discovered by accident that if she drinks one smalll glass of the Naked brand green juice smoothie (can't remember what the flavor is called, but it's the green one), she has no problems. We notice if she misses a day of the juice. Good luck.