Bowel Movement - Sandusky,OH

If his bowel movements are very hard and he's not pooping every day then you need to step in. You don't want the pain of BMs to be so bad that he starts holding them in, then you're in trouble. The only thing you need to do is add a little (like a tablespoon) of Miralax (over the counter) to his water, juice, milk, whatever. It is totally tasteless and non habit forming and will help make his stools softer. If a tablespoon doesn't help use a little more. I'd say start with just one dose per day and see what happens the next day. It will take about that long to have any effect on his stool.

I agree with the other moms about fruits (some of the other suggestions I haven't tried). I've tried mineral oil in a little bit of OJ (I'm sure other juices work just as well). It's clear & tasteless & makes things slide right out. Good luck!

My doctor told me to give put Miralax in her bottle. I dissolved 2tsp of the powder in warm water then filled her bottle up. Dont give more thant 6 tsp per day. She was passing poo easier within 24 hours. I had to do this about once a week and then switched up some of her diet to have her eat foods that were not so binding.

Have you tried popcorn? My 23 month old son can get constipated sometimes, but some popcorn down and hes pooping like crazy within 24 hrs. He also loves popcorn, so it works out great. Only, I dont give it to him unless hes constipated, because it makes him poop so much.

If he doesn't like to eat fruit and veggies, try adding a teaspoon of Benefiber to his drink once a day. If there isn't an improvement by the next day, increase the dosage by a 1/2 teas. and wait a day. We had the same problem...

Swap out a bottle or two of fruit juices.

you need to soften things up a bit for him!
reduce his intake of things that will cause him to harden things up (dairy, meat, sugar)
Increase his intake of things that will soften things up (activia yogurt, fruit, apple juice)
My daughter has really hard stools when she has dairy (which is rare for this reason) but we give her any of the above and things are moving fine shortly after!

Give him more fiber. Oatmeal every morning for breakfast will help. I suggest getting plain oatmeal and adding fruit or raisins, not buying the single-serving flavored that is full of sugar and salt he doesn't need!! I make it in the microwave and then add frozen fruit which cools the oatmeal quickly and then the fruit is soft :)

Fruits that start with P such as pears,prunes,aPPles helps. You can give it either the whole fruit of the mashed fruit or the juice. It may take a while to get this working and obviously increasing fiber in diet and water intake.
I have even tried for OTC baby constipation meds for my babies, they worked too.

More fiber, more dark and whole grains (brown rice much better than white rice, whole wheat bread or pasta better than white, for example). More fruit like apples and berries. If he'll eat a prune, great. Otherwise, raisins work. Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast can contribute to the problem so keep those at a minimum. Just don't overdo this or you will have the opposite problem!

Someone else suggested reducing dairy but adding Activia yogurt - FYI the FDA just fined Dannon last week for claiming that their Activia yogurt and one other product were making fraudulent and unproven claims about aiding digestion.

More water, but watch the fruit juice - it doesn't really have a lot of nutrition in it, and the sugar is bad for them.

both my boys took mineral oil to help with bowel movements. I can't remember exactly how much - maybe 1/2 to 1 teaspoon a day. It wasn't alot. It helped tremendously.

By work hard what do you mean?
Lots of them sit and grunt for awhile while it works its way out. that is pretty normal.