Toddlers and Constipation

My daughter had this problem also. It was almost like I was coaching her thru labor everytime she was on the toilet. We did the prune juice and all that stuff for the 'fast' repair. For the long term repair we did not give her anymore milk. We changed to Soy Milk for EVERYTHING! Within a week she was no longer constipated. She enjoyed it more then regular milk also.

Miralax---you can get it at any pharmacy. It is a stool softener and keeps the water from reabsorbing into the intestines. It is completely tasteless and you just put it in some water or juice. My 4 1/2 year old had/has a real problem w/ constipation and the huge stools. I ended up taking him to the doctor because he was getting "leakage" and I was tired of cleaning poop out of his underwear. His colon was impacted so we had to give him milk of magnesia to totally clean him out and then put him on the stool softener. Then the problem was his stools became too soft and now he is on fiber.

You may want to talk to your pediatrician about the problem if it continues. Good luck. Isn't motherhood fun? :-)

All of the fruits that start with P are great. If I were you I'd go and get a bag of pears and start giving those at least once a day. Also make sure you are giving enough liquids. Sometimes when it starts getting nice out and kids are playing outside they can get dehydrated and that can cause constipation. Push the water a lot.
My daughter had constipation as a baby really bad and you really have to take it seriously. She ended up with a tear in her colon and had to get a blood transfusion. She's a special needs child so she was harder to work with because her body wasn't cooperating either.
My foster baby went for a visit with his parents one night and she only gave him 3 bottles in 33 hours time and he had really bad constipation for a few days but with increased liquids it get better. So even a day or 2 of getting behind in liquids can really cause constipation problems.
Push the liquids and push the fruit and if that doesn't work you can use Miralax. I think I've seen commercials now that it's over the counter. I just looked at their website miralax.com and they have a coupon for $2 off.
The thing I wouldn't recommend would be suppositories because they can become habit forming and then you'll always have to use them because his body won't do it anymore on it's own.
Best Wishes,
J.
OOh funny, just as I was finishing this the Miralax commercial came on TV and it says it's now available without a prescription. I would check with the pharmacist for dosing amounts if it doesn't list it for kids. They are little granual sprinkles and a tiny bit did a lot for my daughter.

we use miralax powder too...not every day, but when she has not had a bowel movement for a while. we had to go to a special gastro doctor to get the prescription.

also...read the labels of the foods you buy...most of the "kid type" food has little or no fiber. try to purchase high fiber packaged foods like whole wheat bread, pancakes etc....and stick to a lot of fruits and veges like posted below.

My fourth daughter has this issue. A month ago we were even in ER for her tummy pain. I was shocked to find her consitpated! The doctor recomended a pediatric laxative (found it at walmart over the counter). And now she gets oranges almost daily and those work good enough without the laxative for her. Good luck!
S. mom to 5(ages 11 yr to 1 yr)

Hi. We had this difficulty with our 2nd son (we have 4 kids). It turns out he is allergic to dairy products. After completely eliminating dairy from his diet, he didn't have this problem any more.

Good luck,
M.
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I had the same problem with my son. Try giving juice instead of milk. There are also stool softner pills he can take. My doctor suggested just one pill a day. The problem is they have to swallow it whole which my son couldn't do. We provided juice with lunch instead of milk and encouraged water in between meals or watered down juice. This cleared up our problem, hopefully it will help with yours. Good Luck! L.

I actually had to get my daughter a prescription powder from the doctor. I couldn't figure out why my potty trained 3 year old was suddenly having accidents and urinating often. I was worried she had a bladder infection or something. Found out she was so constipated it was pushing on her bladder. After a few days with some prescription powder mixed in her drink she got better.

Now to keep her regular I push the fruits. She loves mandarin oranges and that works like a charm. I also limit her cheese intake.

I had this very same problem with my little boy. I tried cutting out dairy and bananas. Adding prunes and more fiber but nothing worked...I finally took him to his dr and they prescribed a mild laxitive in powder form that we add to his juice/milk. It does not make them go but it softens the stool so it is not so hard on them.

My daughter had te same problem and the only thing I could find to help was to give her a little prune juice or organic apple juice, they both will work the bowels naturally and with out the pain that comes along with stimulants.

Try a little ground flaxseed in his cereal or yogurt every day. It works wonders and it's really healthy stuff.

My 16 1/2 month old daughter has a lot of issues with this - stools becoming too large, to hard, etc. - We use Miralax with fairly good success. It was recommended by our ped and is an over the counter thing. Its just a powder, tastless, that you dissolves in juice or water or whatever they drink. We use a full cap (17 grams) to try and get her going but then are still working to find out what works best as a daily dose - using a 1/2 a cap each day, or full cap every other day etc. It is horrible to watch them in pain when they can't pass the poo. Good luck!

My son is 16months and used to have problems with constipation, I give him plum smart juice, and he has a high fiber diet, anything that comes in wheat or whole grain form thats what I give him (spaghetti, maccoroni & cheese, waffles, pancakes and bread). Also any fruit that starts with a "P" is a natural laxative. My doctor offered other prescriptions, but I didn't want him to become dependent on it, so I opted to take care of it naturally.

When my kids have had issues, I've let them snack on raisins. Read your fiver labels!

Hi J.. I have a 3 year old boy and we had been battling constipation issues for about 6 months. Our issues started on day in the emergency room with extreme stomache pains. He was constipated. Ever since then he has had issues with bowel movements. He would scream and cry and tell me he didn't want to go (poop). It would bring tears to my eyes to see him have such bathroom problems. Our doc. told us to keep track of his fiber intake. And recommended he be getting 15 to 20 grams of fiber a day. We used fiber sure once a day to insure he was getting enough fiber. Fiber Sure can be purchased at most department stores with a pharmacy. After watching his fiber intake it helped a little but not a lot. Then we were told to give him mineral oil ( 2tbl. before bedtime) about 3 nights a week. That was to help it be less painful. After we did that and continued the fiber it was a 90 degree change. Now he doesn't need the mineral oil and I don't watch his fiber as much because I always buy high fiber foods. And now we don't have issues anymore. I smile everytime he tells me he has to go poop. Because he was refusing to go because they were so hard and painful. Which in turn caused constipation because he would hold it for 7 days. Now he goes at least once a day if not 2 to 3 times. I was very happy with my doctor. He didn't want to medicate if we could get a hold on the situation without it. And I am glad we didn't have to. I would definately try a high fiber diet and mineral oil. It did miricales for my son!!!!

Hang in there. DB

I haven't had this problem with my boys, but I did read up on it before I answered this response. Firstly, all the websites said that you need to increase fiber in his diet. For kids, this is most easily done by either adding bran cereal to his diet, and/or increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you give him to AT LEAST five servings a day. THese fruits in particular seem to be the most helpful: apples**, guava, pears, grapes, papaya, apricots, kiwi, and orange juice..and make sure he drinks a lot of water. Hope it helps. I haven't tried any of these, but I know the increasing fruit one DOES make my kids have softer stools..so try the bran cereal/fruit,water thing first.

Another home remedy I found was to add 1 TAblespoon of corn syrup to water, or to try adding a little sugar or honey to a glass of milk and drink twice a day. Good luck!!