Constipation in Toddlers - Katy, TX

Daughter ate a small box of raisens; it worked every time. Nothing worked with Son still and he's 30ish.
good luck

Hi! My daughter is now 4 years old and has been through numerous tests regarding her constipation. At the moment,she is taking glycolax (miralax) for her constipation and it does help. Believe me, I have tried just about everything to help her go and so far the miralax is working. If this doesn't help, I would recommend seeing a pediatric gastroentrologist.

Try giving him a tsp. of dark Karo syrup mixed with 1 oz water a couple of times a day. It always works for my little guy!

I think you should watch his carb intake and give him cereals with lots of fiber and lots of vegetables. Also what kinds of food does he eat, you might want to make his food yourself and not give him processed baby foods.

My daughter used to be that way, she still is for the most part but prune juice has always been what worked for us. You might also want to try fresh orange juice extracted by hands or juicer (yourself), not ready to drink store brand.

Goodluck and keep us posted!

Hello L.,
I have a four year old son that has suffered from this same problem for his whole life. When it first began, the doctor recomended pear juice. it has to be regular and not baby. The only place that I can find it is in the Mexican section of the store and the sell it in 12 ounce cans. This worked for a while, then we were back to the same problem again. We now have a perscription for Miralax. See if your doctor can perscribe a RX for you it is a lot cheaper. I have gotten my son to drink tons of water now. This has helped and we are slowly weaning him off the Miralax.
I hopw that this has been helpful to you and best of luck!
J.

I don't know to what extent he is constipated, but I use mashed carrots with molasses.

Get the Formula #3 from www.herbdoc.com It is EXCELLENT!! and made especially for kids. It's liquid herbs designed to tone and stimulate the bowel.

My son (at 18 months) was SEVERELY constipated (like weeks between BMs) and I tried all the natural things you mentioned, plus more. Some things helped a little but nothing was doing the trick. I got my son on this formula and he starting having regular BMs within a week. I kept him on it for about 6 months and then weaned him off of it. He is now 4 yrs old and goes at least twice a day, on his own, eating a regular, healthy diet without any medication or additional supplementaion.

This may seem kink of extreme, but my friends son had the same problem. She took him to see a Chiropractor and she said that his pelvis was misaligned and that it was putting pressure on his colon. He goes in for regular adjustments now and he seems to do much better.

My son has the same problem, always has. I don't give treatments anymore. I couldn't handle that - too traumatic for the both of us! But, I daily treat it, so to speak.
(He may not be actually constipated, but holding it in.)

1. Make him drink prune or pear juice to such an extent that you know he is no longer constipated and it flows nicely, too nicely. Do this when close to a bathroom for the day.
2. Then, cut back on the prune juice, but not altogether. Play around with it until you know how much is enough to keep it smooth but not runny. I know, that's gross.
3. Increase his water intake. Increase his water intake!!!
4. Aloe vera juice helps as well. My kids get it in their vitamins. (SuperKids liquid vitamins)
5. Probiotics will help. (Tummy Tuneup can be put in juice.)
6. Tea will relax the intestinal muscles and help him relax enough to go.

Find out what combination works. Make it routine (every day, every other day, whatever is needed to keep it flowing). Once you notice that it hasn't happened, then increase something temporarily to get it back to normal and don't wait too long to do so.

I buy my stuff from Beeyoutiful.com. But, I know you can get similar quality products at local stores.

My son was drinking prune juice mixed with apple juice to start off. Then, he grew tired of that and we began filling up a medicine cup of it and he took it like medicine every day. Then, every other day. Once we started these vitamins (mixed with BerryWell), he rarely needs prune juice, but I still monitor him and if I don't have proof positive that he has had a bm, I give him prune juice. He also drinks plenty of water and tea. (He's only allowed one cup of milk and one cup of juice per day. The rest must be water. Tea with supper.)

This can be controlled. But, understand, he may not actually be constipated. Many kids hold it in. As long as he is going, the doctor doesn't consider it constipation, even if it is a difficult bm. But, as soon as I notice a difficult bm, I take more action than our routine. We haven't had a traumatic event since.

I do not mean to alarm, but my grandson just spent 4 days in the hospital due to his constipation being ignored too long. This can allow toxins to build up in their systems. They advised:

More fruits and vegetables
Miralax, 17g a day (he weighs 27 lbs), adjusted to find the right dosage
No cheese's
Cut out sugar and processed foods
He is to have at least 7 grams of fiber a day, up to 12g
We bought fiber 1 breakfast bars, 9g per bar
They advised he should go every day, 3 days is too long and should be addressed

Hi L.,

I just took my daughter to the doctor because she has constipation problems as well, the doctor recommended MiraLAX, I give my 2-1/2 year old half a cap (it is a purple bottle with a pink cap) every morning with her milk and it is working so far. It doesn't have any taste so it has been very easy to give it to my daughter and you can buy it over the counter. Hope this helps.

We are in that same boat. Our toddler is 20 months now, but has been constipated for months and months. Our only solution has been Benefiber. As long as we are vigilant about adding it to her morning food/drinks she stays regular and has softer poops. Missing even one day, is enough to throw her off for days until we can get her regular again. We use a baby spoon as the measurement and add a scoop to her morning milk and mix a scoop in with a fruit puree with added chopped fruit or we add it to yogurt with chopped fruit. After breakfast we give her a sippy of diluted juice/water and add a scoop to that. It probably amounts to 1.5 teaspoons a day.

I would recommend giving it a try. Our pediatrician gave her blessing for the benefiber use. It should take a few days to fully kick in, but it should help a lot! Benefiber is tasteless so you can add it to anything and it works by drawing extra water into the stool.

Have you tried Miralax? It is an OTC powder that you can mix into anything they drink. Ask your pharmasist how much to mix in based on weight. My daughter takes it daily to keep her stools soft enough to pass so she isn't in pain on the potty. I can tell when she skips a day or two. It really makes a difference for her. This is the same stuff they make adults take to clean their systems for colonoscopies (sp?)

Hello L..
I recall when my son was just like this. I was helpless. He would turn red as a beet, cry, kick and so on. But let me tell you. Constipation is really normal and it could last up to 2 or more weeks and it's okay. Your support is what is needed. He's already scared; when trying to go. So you need to stay calm, while calming him. I read that you have tried suppositories. Well, that is so uncomfortable. They now have, what really works is Pedia-Lax, and they come in dissolve strips. But what I really wanted to share is an old Mexican remedy. This will also help w/collic and many other things such as this. If you can go to your grocery store and find a fresh herb called Manzanila. The word comes from Apple. It comes fresh or in a package. What you are gonna do is take a pinch of what you get and boil it. Strain it, let cool just a bit, and if he's still on a bottle or drinks out of a cup add a pinch of sugar and stir. Let him drink this and see how he feels afterwards. It might just work! Good Luck!

My son is now five years old and we still have this problem! He does go but when he does it's 3-4 days apart. he says it hurts when he goes but he holds it so long. I used to have to do the Fleet baby enemas, I tried prune juice and everthing else. We've just learned to live with it but he does go-eventually. Lots of fruits and veges everyday for him.

have you already taken your child to the MD, if not, I would recommend that you do. It may be that he will need to be on a special diet or perhaps he may have a colon or intestinal problem. I would think that he would have to go the ER if his constipation gets totally out of hand and the impaction is to great, if he is totally impacted you will be able to see it when changing him, his stomach will be become very hard to touch. I wouldnt wait on this if I were you. Also this could create problems and the feces can cause a toxic reaction and affect other organs.

I think they say to take them after three days if there is not bowelmovement. My daughter had a problem with constipation as well i gave her karo syrup like a teaspoon twice a day for a long time it not only helped with the bowelmovement but it also provided some lubrication. Good Luck.....

You may want to try adding more fruits such as mangoes and pappayas. I know the pappaya doesn't smell that pleasant but it does wonders ... cleans you out alright. Maybe even try eating fresh nopales. You can scramble that with eggs too. Trust me nopales and pappaya will solve this problem and have him drink more water.

Tea called Mancinela spanish section of the store or Lipton has a version of it.. Kero with water. Feel his stomach area and if is too hard and painful may have to take him to a doctor. But try everything else first because it sounds like he may have a problem breaking down the food. Good luck I hope he gets better may have to be on a certain type of diet.

When my son was 8 months old he didn't poop for 9 days and I was VERY concerned! (He was never regular but I wasn't concerned until 9 days in a row of no poop.) My friend then told me of a chiropractor who specializes in children. This totally sounded crazy to me b/c I've never been to a chiropractor and wasn't sure I believed in what they do. Well I'm now a believer! I took him to this lady and with in an hour he had the biggest poop I've ever seen! He was out of whack in his lower pelvis area which caused him to be constipated. I took him back one or two weeks later to make sure the adjustment stuck (it did) and he's never been constipated since!! (knock on wood)
Her name is Dr. Lisa Barnett ###-###-####! Good luck!
L.

I've been through this with my 5yr old. His doctor told me to give him what is over the counter now MiraLax. So he takes this everynight. Its the best thing. Just mix it in his milk and no after taste. He still takes it to this day. but this doesn't give him the runs or anything like that. It just makes it soft and its easier for him to go. It also works on older people too. Trust me this will be your life saver. Good luck..

My son is 3 1/2 and is still constipated. We use Miralax. It works great. But we are using it under Dr. supervision. Our pediatrician says it is non addictive and he can use it for the rest of his life if need be, (gee, I hope it doesn't lead to that). We also make him sit on the potty every night after dinner so his brain can connect to his bowels. We are actually training them to work together so he can go on a regular basis. Our pediatrician said the majority of constipation problems in children is training the brain to know when to go. It does take some time. We now use the Miralax every two days and are hoping to slowly ween him off. Good luck, and if you feel your son needs to be cleaned out see your Dr. who can recommend what to take.

Hello L., my daughter, who will be 3 in Aug., has a hard time in this area as well...I give give her Benefiber 3 times a day, and although it does move things through, her stole is very hard and it takes her a long time to poop...one thing I have noticed though is that if she eats Watermelon it softens things up a bit and she doesn't have such a hard time/stole; also Raisenettes really gets things going...both of these work quickly, say within an hour or sooner...one time she seems to be stick, if you know what I mean and I gave her some watermelon and she cleared out I'd say within 20 mins.; you may want to try a daily dose of one of the other...God Bless:)TammyT

Hi L.
I assume you have had your pedi check him for any obstruction, if not, that would be my first stop.
You might try large doses of white karo syrup in his juices or milk or soft foods , cereal etc.....then I would watch his diet for sugar intake- sugar will cause constipation in little ones.......so other than the karo I would try to avoid them.......
My friend had a child with this issue and spent many nights in the ER with him- their dr. finally put him on metumucial that is tastless and mixed with water- that seemed to help a little bit. Not being a dr. I would not suggest anything that your Dr does not say is ok- so ask about that.
try more frest fruit- only not banannas- they are binding..grapes have too much sugar- try apples without the peeling.
good luck and blessings

I totally agree with the Miralax response. My 20 month old was constipated from the day I took him off breast milk and we tried everything. He is a fruit and vegetable freak and I am pregnant so meals around our house are pretty healthy. We took him off milk, we tried different juices, we tried laxatives... the doctor finally gave us a prescription for a stool softener - a $40 prescription! the pharmacist told us that it is the same thing as Miralax. We tried Miralax and it has been a savior! I just stir in half a dosage once a day to his milk or juice and he is none the wiser. I use it myself on occasion to deal with the pregnancy side-effects and promise that it is not gritty or bitter or anything. Now, it is expensive - $20 a bottle at HEB, Walmart, etc.; but, the bottle lasts forever and I recently saw it at Sam's for $20 for two bottles. Good luck - I know how awful the constipation can be for the little guys.

Also, on another note - we tried increasing his fiber intake, thinking that it was like adults and he needed more fiber. But that was the wrong way to go according to both our pediatrician and a pediatric nutrionist with whom we spoke. Children under four cannot handle too much fiber in their systems - it makes things so much worse. It hardens their stool, making it even more painful to go, so they hold it in, which just makes it harder - vicious cycle!