Seeking Help with 4 Year Old

My daughter struggles with constipation off and on. The one thing that works the best is giving her 4 oz of pear juice daily mixed with 4 oz of water. She loves it and we haven't had the issue since.

The doctor also said to soak in the bath which helps them relax.

Good luck.

Gripe Water is something to help immediately. But i wonder if he is getting enough water. I have noticed with my twins when they really have to push like that they have not had enough water.

Good luck

S.

I know what you are going through! I have four children and have watched children since I was a teen-give him apple juice. I promise you this works every time. I still use this on my kids-age 15(almost 16), 10, 7 and 3!

Good luck!

Ah, constipation. Avoid bananas, applesauce, rice, and cheese. Try to have him eat lots of fiber-rich foods: whole grain bread, oatmeal, vegetables. Also, prunes or prune juice, apple juice, or other 100% juice, fresh fruit (other than bananas). Encourage fluids, especially water. Get him moving... go for a walk or run around in the yard. My DS used to go back and forth between constipation and diarrhea, so I learned what works for both sides! If he does not have any kind of BM in a day, you can try a stool softener (avoid stimulant laxatives)... they make children's doses now... or there is a product called "smooth move tea" which is senna tea. Good luck!

Get more fiber into his diet!

Fletchers castoria. My mom used it with us, and we stayed regular. Your son is probably eating different food at the daycare and may not be drinking enough water. Give him plenty of water at home too.

Remember the "P" fruits, peaches, pears, plums, pineapple. Stay away from alot of bananas (ocassionally ok) limit cheese, beef and starches. Oatmeal is good, if he's not interested in hot oatmeal try homemade oatmeal cookies. If these suggestions don't work then ask your pediatrican about stool softners for children.

drinking lots of water can help combat constipation. also try having him eat a few prunes (dried plums) and drink some apple juice to help soften things up or push any blockage out. try to avoid refined white breads, as those can contribute to constipation as well as an overload of dairy, at least until things start moving.
a quick fix (though not always a palatable option) is to use a small enema. i'm pregnant and i've used one once when the constipation has gotten to me. after the initial "rush", everything flowed smoother.

Raisins, canned peaches and pears--not rice!

Hi,
My favorite home constipation remedy is blueberries. Give your son about a 1/2 a cup of blueberries each morning with breakfast. They are so good at getting the bowels moving, with no bad side effects. We like to get the frozen ones and just defrost them for about 20 to 30 secs depending on the strength of your microwave.
Good luck,
T.

I'd like to add an idea to the already tons of good advice about water, pears, prunes etc. My four year old recently had a bout with constipation due to some other issues - we started putting children's benefiber in his juice, water, milk, flavored water etc. 1 tsp three times a day. It has really helped.

Sounds like Grandma spoiled the little guy! Awe, grandmas are famous for that. I wish they would learn that you can spoil a kid WITHOUT feeding them junk!!! :) Not saying your mom did this, but sounds like it...But if it gets worse or doesnt improve, they do make OTC medicine that can help. Make sure to talk to your mom about what he ate/drank while there and if you think that it was a result of that talk to her about what happened...no grandma wants to cause their little ones discomfort...

Hi A.,
When my little ones have had that problem I give them prunes or mix prune juice in with food or give it to them straight. A little more expensive option is brown rice syrup which you can add to anything but it is good in milk, that also helps.
Also, what kind of work are you looking for?

Hi A.,..
sounds to me, your son's body adjusting to the changes in envionment & preferences.

The water at every person's house & daycare is slightly different - more so if they are in different towns, wells, or even bottled water etc.
The food & other beverages are similar - but not the same. You use one brand,. they use another...

I can see you have lots of suggestions to help the immediate problem,. so hopefully it all 'clears' up soon.

all the best,
mk

Encourage fluids, especially water. Dilute apple juice if possible. Give high fiber foods, fresh fruits and vegetables. Try dried apricots or prunes to loosen stool. He sounds dehydrated.

I would also suggest talking to his teachers in daycare to make sure that he is getting enough to drink. At home we always have water out for my daughter to get to whenever she likes, at our daycare however they only serve drinks at meal and snack time and sometimes she is just too busy to drink or even notice she's thirsty and she will come home parched and constipated.

My 2.5 old daughter is doing the same thing and she never struggled before.

Kiwi, avacado and yogurt works really well for loosening it up for my daughter.

Make sure that he's drinking enough during the day, water. You could increase his fruit intake, like apples or applesauce. Fever has a tendency to cause constipation and difficult bowel movements as well. A dried prune every day, they infuse them with orange flavoring now, so kids will eat them like a piece of candy.

Increase his fiber and liquid intake, his physical activity. Cheese and bananas have a tendency to slow things up, so stay away from them.

If it persists for a week or longer with these changes in his diet, then see your doctor.

Dear A.,
Our 4 year old started having the same sort of problems about 8 months ago. It hurt so much, he decided to hold it and keep it in as long as possible. Needless to say, this caused a lot of discomfort especially when it came time to come out on its own. This was also very messy! The doctor told us to give him a low dose of Miralax every day. I put it in his juice in the morning, and he can't even taste it. It doesn't make his stools too soft, but keeps them from being too hard and hurting him. I would suggest something like this before it becomes a constipation issue. I hope this helps! S.

We have had this problem with both my boys. I couldn't get my 2 1/2 yo to eat much of anything over the past week because of illness. So I offered diluted apple juice all day and he refused to eat the Peaches (awesome for this) or any of the fresh fruit. He didn't eat enough to break up the blockage. We ended up on Sunday with a child's Fleet Enema and it fixed it within 10 minutes. He was literally crying and pushing and saying "Ow" for a half hour before I finally did the enema. Now I tell him if he doesn't eat the peaches, he'll get a tummy ache again. He's eating them! Enemas are easy and we always have one in the cupboard in case of emergencies. Just lay him on his side, insert and squeeze. Set them on the toilet or put a diaper on and let it do it's thing. Good luck!

My daughter has always had that problem when she drinks milk. She loves milk though. Her pediatrician recommended Miralax. It is a tasteless powder that you can add to any normal drink. It does not create a dependency, and is safe enough to use every single day if you wanted to. It does not produce the total clean out effect that some laxative do. It just makes everything normal again.
For a short term fix, mix a couple tbsp of corn syrup into apple juice twice a day and have him drink it with a meal. His body will not be able to digest all the sugar from the meal and juice mix and will clean the rest out of his body making everything else easily go right with it.

Go to New Seasons or a store like that. Buy some Aloe Vera juice and give it to him in his juice. My daughter has the same problem and this works everytime. Ask the people in the Naturpath area to help you with dosage.