# Remedies for Occasional Constipation in 2-1/2 year old?



## Whisper-ma-Phone (Apr 10, 2006)

Hello all,

I am really feeling sorry my son (2-1/2) because this is his third day without pooping and he is hurting quite badly. He will say "I want to poop" or "I have to poop" and then cry and run to me for comfort. He actually fell asleep rocking on my lap just now, which he never does.

I think a day of eating mostly cheese (Monday) and then halloween treats (Tuesday) really messed up his normally regular system.

I baked some bran muffins this morning and he ate 5 mini-muffins. He's also eaten a few prunes and lots of diluted fruit juice. When he wakes up I'll try to get him to drink the prune juice.

Anything else I can do to help him "go" and be more comfortable? This is all the worse because we're supposed to be leaving for a three-day road trip this evening and I can't bear the thought of putting him in the car seat for hours like this...

Please help!


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## fremontmama (Jun 11, 2004)

We've been having the same problem at our home with dd. She is still nursing, so I've been sort of baffled by the problem, thinking, sheesh, shouldnt she be pretty regular.

Anyway, this is what we have been doing and it seems to be helping.

Cut out bananas, cheese, and overdosing on crackers

More vegies and watery fruits, we've been going with watermelon, oranges, grapes, peaches, nectarines

We have been doing smoothies semi-regularly, with fruit, flax seed meal, flax seed oil and aloe juice.

Every night I have dd drink a glass with a tablespoon or two of flax seed oil and a tablespoon or two of acidopholus.

I have also been mixing flax seed meal into just about everything, her yogurt, our oatmeal, etc.

Hope this helps, good luck!


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## Whisper-ma-Phone (Apr 10, 2006)

Thanks for the ideas, fremontmama. We usually have cream of brown rice or oatmeal for breakfast with flax, but getting him to eat it can be hit and miss. Strangely, he loves the bran muffins! It's awesome that you can get your child to drink the flax and probiotics. I don't think that would work for us, unfortunately. He's been off the smoothie kick for a while now. I guess I'll have to see how he's feeling when he wakes up.


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## CountrylivinmomtoB (Oct 12, 2006)

I have a healthy kids book...here are two recipes from it.

Fruit balls:
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup prunes
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut.
Slowly grind all indregients except coconut. Add little water as needed to form a slightly sticky dough. Roll into balls and then into coconut.

We eat a similiar version as snacks.

Carob Smoothie

It said that drinking 1-2 cups of this should get a quick response.

1 tablespon unroasted carob powder
1 teaspoon powdered flaxseed
1 teaspoon hulled sesame seeds
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup warm water or soy milk

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix well. Adjust sweetener to taste.

Hope that helps!!


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## fremontmama (Jun 11, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CountrylivinmomtoB* 
I have a healthy kids book...here are two recipes from it.

Fruit balls:
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup prunes
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut.
Slowly grind all indregients except coconut. Add little water as needed to form a slightly sticky dough. Roll into balls and then into coconut.

We eat a similiar version as snacks.

Carob Smoothie

It said that drinking 1-2 cups of this should get a quick response.

1 tablespon unroasted carob powder
1 teaspoon powdered flaxseed
1 teaspoon hulled sesame seeds
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup warm water or soy milk

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix well. Adjust sweetener to taste.

Hope that helps!!

oooh, those sound good! I am going to try those too!

Quote:

It's awesome that you can get your child to drink the flax and probiotics. I don't think that would work for us, unfortunately.
Whisper ma phone, it isnt easy to get dd to take this stuff, I actually have to trick her a little bit. I mix the probiotics and flax oil together, with more probiotics than flax, and I always get strawberry flavor. Then I tell her it's kefir, I drink a little bit, then tell her it's her turn. Most of the time she'll take it, but sometimes it takes a little coaxing or I ask her if she would rather have it by spoon. Hth.


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## PrennaMama (Oct 10, 2005)

My midwife once told me that anything that clumps outside the body will likely clump inside it... rice, bread, bananas, cheese, etc...

DD struggles with constipation, too... same story. I have had to resort in desperation to BabyLax, glycerine suppository. It gently stimulates the bowel and the contracts the muscles to get the job done... If you can do it holistically, more power to you, cuz the result is a BIG movement, and hurts... Over in a few sceonds, etc... but still alarming. Apple juice and sauce do NOT help, I learned, as the pectin just binds 'em up even more.

Lots of water, lots of roughage, if he'll eat it, salad greens, spinach, etc... The bran is good, but I'd worry the muffins would just make more volume down there... Grapes, raisins, prunes, are all great...


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## Ceili (Nov 21, 2001)

We've had really good results with yogurt (specifically Activia). He doesn't even really need to eat much of it. Three spoonfuls or so a day seems to get things moving and keep them that way.

Some days I have to coax him into eating it, he's not been interested in smoothies lately either.


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## AEZMama (Jul 24, 2005)

Have you tried a compote of dried fruits? Boil dried apricots, raisins, prunes, cherries-whatever you think dc will like drinking-until the fruit has softened. You can eat the fruit (that can help) or drink the compote. You don't have to worry about added sugars or anything.

Good luck!


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## Rachel J. (Oct 30, 2005)

My 2 1/2 yr old also struggles terribly with constipation. It actually landed him in the ER Sunday night. He woke up around midnight crying and saying his stomach hurt. It didn't stop and I didn't hear/feel any gas so my dh took him to the ER. They did an x-ray and found he was full of poop. They gave him an enema and dh said that as soon as he had his first movement he immediately felt better, sighed, and said, "It doens't hurt anymore." I felt so awful that it had gotten that bad, but relieved it wasn't something more serious. Anyway, he's on miralax now, a prescription, to help clean him out. I don't think it helps that he almost lives on yogurt, whole wheat goldfish, will hardly eat fruit, except dried mangoes, and I can count the number of times on one hand that he has consumed a vegetable (and not for lack of trying on my part- I've thrown away a lot of food). Anyway, normally if he hasn't gone in a few days we'll give him prune juice, only partly diluted, until he goes. I used to mix psyllium into his yogurt but he figured that out pretty quickly and a lot of yogurt went to waste. I'm also giving him probiotics, which seems to help some if I can be consistent with it.


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## MamiMaren (May 31, 2006)

I have given my son Primadophilius for Children from Nature's Way before when he was constipated. It contains bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, aimed at maintaining a healthy intestinal flora. You should be able to find it at health food stores. A German pediatrician recommended lactose (Milchzucker) to me, but I am not sure where you can find it here.
And maybe try massaging his tummy, very gently. Good luck!


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## akkimmie (Nov 2, 2005)

Just lerking- Great suggestions here Thanks mamas

Raisins and prunes seem to wrok well for us


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## ejsmama (Jun 20, 2006)

We were having similar problems, and cut out all cows milk (we still do cheese and yogurt). It REALLY helped. We also have pretty much cut out bananas except as an occasional treat because when they are in the house, they are all he wants to eat.

Smoothies really seem to help, especially if they have mango or papaya in them (I swear that papaya is the best laxative I know of). I once heard that the "p" fruits are all really good - plums, pears, papaya..., and I've also heard that any fruit that is yellow helps (peaches, appricots, cantalope, mango, papaya, etc.)

Pears really seem to make a difference for DS, and when he eats one a day, I notice that he is pretty regular.

When things have been really bad, we have used Fletchers Laxative (aka Fletchers Castoria) which is senna based, but it also has a lot of parabens in it, so I am reluctant to use it often. However, in the worst cases, senna has ALWAYS helped produce a gentle bm, much more gentle than an enema.


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## christiab (Jan 13, 2004)

DS is a total carnivore. I give him 2 fruit/veg choices at every meal, but he'll only eat strawberries, grapes and peas.







: We have had to deal w/ constipation since he started solids.

We are big fans of Benefiber here. DS will beg to drink my iced tea, so I give him a sippy of tea w/ Benefiber in it. I sweeten it w/ stevia and he guzzles it down. One cup a day of "special tea" works pretty well. It works better than Miralax, IMO. He will also drink it better than Miralax.

If he gets really backed up, milk of magnesia works gently overnight. 1-2 T at night gets everything softened up, so it passes easily.

Good Luck! It's no fun having to midwife while your baby takes a poop!!


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## heatherdeg (Dec 30, 2003)

We had constipation so bad for so long that ds almost needed inpatient feeding therapy.

Good for "going": peaches, pears, prunes, plums and apricots. Prunes can sometimes have the OPPOSITE effect and bind, but it's less common. LOTS of water. Some kids have one special food that does the trick and it differs by kid. With my son it's blueberries. You can time it!

Not-so-good: squash family, bananas, rice, breads and cereals (unless they're made very liquidy)

Constipation is a matter of not having enough liquid in the system. You could overcome it with water alone if you could get your kid to drink enough of it! Hard to do...


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## Dal (Feb 26, 2005)

xylitol. yummy, helps the poop along, and good for teeth.


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## green betty (Jun 13, 2004)

My #1 constipation tool is the spinach and feta mix inside the Amy's frozen spinach pocket. Ds won't touch spinach and feta if I make it myself, but he loves the Amy's. Too bad I have to buy the packaging and the crust to get the filling.


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## Flor (Nov 19, 2003)

I bought prune juice for ds, but what is the deal with prunes anyway? The juice has less fiber than a bowl of cereal, so what a bout it is supposed to make them go? It was quite sour, so it didn't really work.


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## mommiesjunk (Oct 24, 2005)

We all suffer when dd is plugged up. I like all the different suggestions. I will try a few that I have never heard of. To be honest - I do a glycerin suppository over the Myrilax. It make the stool too soft and dd freaks out when it _falls out. We are working VERY hard to make her stool soft without meds slowly to help her be more comfortable having a BM that comes out nice a soft._


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## wendy1221 (Feb 9, 2004)

My 7 yo has had encopresis (holding in his poop even when it starts coming out on its own, and it gets REALLY bad) since he was about 18 mos old. He was on Miralax for a long time steady, but he's getting much better. We do go through periods where we need to use the Miralax, but it's most of the time, he's ok now on his own.

Anyway... If diet doesn't unplug him-- And really, if it's been more than 3 days since a bm, you need to do something that works FAST-- then there are some other things to try. Senna herbal laxatives work very well, and are safe for children. You can buy senna teas (Smooth Move by Traditional Medicinals is one) or you can buy liquid (Senokot for children) or tablets. I would try the tea as my first choice for a toddler, it tastes like licorice, or the liqiuid. You know which is likely to be easier to get into your child. I have seen the Senokot at several drug stores (my mom is visiting and has been having problems, so I was in most of the area ones looking for something specific she wanted. lol.) Mineral oil also works very well, and is fine for a hopefully only once sort of constipation.

Do something SOON so he's not traumatized by the experience and doesn't become afraid of pooping.


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