My 4 Yo Is Impacted Again! Any Advice Would Be Appreciated!

M.,
I would recommend having him try Zrii which is a liquid nutritional supplement. One of the many important ingredients is ginger which is know to help digestion. I personal have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and it works wonders for me.

My daughter (8 yrs old now, 6 at the time) was on Miralax for about a month and it worked great. It was doctor prescribed and it was once a day. Maybe try that until you see the Gastro doc.

Just as others have mentioned, Miralax is a good place to start. Most gastro specialists would tell you the same thing. My son's gastro specialist advised against eating apples (including applesauce), bananas, and rice. She also advised my son to eat popcorn 2 to 3 times a week.

power pudding

we used this recipe in thenursinghomewhen i first became a nurse. eveyone got two tablespoons every morning and we never had any problems. you can make a batch and refrigerate it.
1 jar applesauce
1 can pitted prunes
1 cup bran flakes ( not the cereal)
1/4 cup molassess
put it in the blender until everything is combined and refrigerate.
you may want to start out with one tablespoon a day and see what happens. good luck.

My daughter has the same problem, but she eats lots of fiber, fruits and vegetables. We give her Miralax every morning in her juice. It is sold over the counter now and is very safe. It takes about 8 hours to work. you should give it to him the same time every day.

Fiber One cereal has a carmel flavor now that my daughter LOVES to eat as a snack.
R.

Try a spoonful of Benefiber everyday. Helped my daughter! No taste, just dissolves in/on whatever you add it to. It was recommended by our pediatrician.

Grapes, red grapes, green grapes, any grapes, cold, or frozen, or room temp - lots of grapes...and popcorn and apples with skin..rotate through the week but EVERY DAY he should eat one of these. My son too had constipation issues, which caused a fissure...Cured now :)

With my daughter I was told to cause her to have diareah. (sp? not good at 5 am) Then to give her Miralax once a day for 6 months. It did help.

My son had the same issues. We tried EVERYTHING, including miralax and prescription medicine, which was the last resort for us and of course, stopped working.

If you get too much fiber in your system, there is too much bulk to pass and can lead to impaction. After we tried the meds we switched Peds and the new dr. said pear juice is the best thing and apple juice is next best. Milo drinks apple juice everyday and has yogurt for breakfast every morning and we haven't had an issue since. People were metioning probiotic capsules, but yogurt is a great way to get the same effect. Also, bananas are really constipating. The doc told us to really limit them. Hope this helps...I know how frustrating and sad it is to see your little guy in this situation.

A.

My five year old used to NEVER poop. We did enemas every few days when he was a baby, and that was with breastmilk as his only food. My sister suggested a chiropractor. I was skeptical, but desperate, and I finally took him when he was three. One visit, I swear to you, and we never had the problem again. So try that. Ask around for a good one for kids.

Also, give him good flora in his gut--go to a health food store and ask about Bio-K or other yogurt stuff that will re-balance his system. And think about cutting out milk to see if that's it--sometimes dairy products (and especially milk) can bind them up.

Best of luck to you! I know that's miserable. You'll find something that works. Anything natural is better than adding medications to an already taxed system, in my opinion. Solve the problem, not the symptom!

Hi M.,

My daughter had this problem when she was smaller. We use Fletcher's natural laxative (You can get it from walgreen's~I believe it's root beer flavor) with great success. Try to eliminate banana's for a while...they can cause the constipation. Also, try adding fresh chopped spinach to things like spaghetti sauce, soups...anything really~he won't taste it! Make sure he's getting PLENTY of water.

Good luck,
L.

I know this may sound wierd to you but too much fiber in a diet causes constipation, I didnt believe that at first but after hearing that from 2 different doctors and doing my own research I found that it is true. I have had the same issues with my daughter who is turning 4 in november. She was put on adult doses of miralax every day for 4 months to get her unclogged and to get her bowel system working properly. Now all I have to do is add a table spoon on milled flaxseed powder to her yogurt, pudding, cereal etc and she hasnt had a problem since then. I probably should do it every day but I usually do it every other day.

Sprinkle fiber on his cereal. Heard it helps!

J.
Helping families live healthier lives!
http://livetotalwellness.com/safemommy

M.,

He might have allergies. Check out www.naet.com for a way to safely and naturally elliminate them! My son was never impacted, but had diarhea for the first year of his life and hasn't had it since!

Good luck,
L.

Probiotics like crazy, esp. from homemade fermented veggies and real, homemade cultured dairy. Perhaps a supplement to jumpstart things, but I'm a big fan of REAL food. And for some alternative theories on fiber, see http://www.fibermenace.com/

Have not read the book, but it's always good to know what's out there!

M.- My kids don't have this problem, but the one thing I am wondering is he amount of fluid your child is getting. I am guessing you already know this, but when we ingest alot of fiber, we also have to take in a lot of fluid too. For example, when someone has had a touch of the stomach flu or diarrhea, it helps to eat oatmeal(fiber)when you're ready to eat, to naturally help get things solid again. So make sure that your child is getting enough fluids as well. Some one mentioned a bunch of foods starting with the letter P. Our ped has said that in the past as well. Good luck to you and your little guy.

How about mixing a little prune juice with red flavors? I did that with my daughter at that age. Also, some foods that may 'get things moving' are mandarin oranges, apple/juice/sauce, corn (of course), or adding some wheat germ or flaxseed to oatmeals and cereals.

I haven't read the other pp yet but if if he is truly impacted, beyond constipation (impaction is where the stool actually sticks to the intestinal/bowel walls) then the miralax is not going to reach the actual source, if that makes sense. You may see some stool passing but the claylike stuff, sorry tmi~ will still be stuck.

Be so careful with increasing fiber and avoid rough, dry fiber because it can have a negative affect on these little bodies. Choose more fruit types, if possible.

My DD sees a gastro enterologist/ped here and has chronic issues due to nerve damage and when she gets to the point~we have to increase the miralax. She takes in normally, 1 x a day but we decrease the liquid you mix it with so its stronger.

I just discovered that FLEET now makes a children's melt med that dissolves on the tongue and it works like a charm when she gets very off balance!! This works when the miralax doesnt.

Hope I don't come across as a know it all mom though~but your post is close to my heart and feel free to pm me if needed!

Take care,

my friends daughter had the same issues. she was allergic to wheat and gluten. once her diet was modified she has been regular since. you may want to try an elimination diet or food allergy testing.

My 4 1/2 year old has struggled with chronic constipation since she was born as well. (she also has GERD) She takes miralax every day as her preventative (and has done so since she was 2 years old). I also give her 1/2 a TSP of fiber sure or bennifiber in her juice in the morning. You can give it in water if you prefer, there is no taste. Our ped. gastro. Dr is Edward Patterson. When my little girl gets impacted he always recomends Fleet Phospho-soda, its over the counter. Mix 1 TBSP of Fleet Phospho-soda with 8 oz of sprite or 7up. Repete twice with in 20 min. This usually gets things moving by the next morning for her. Hope this helps.

Try a smoothie with psyllium fiber in it. You can get that at Sprouts or Whole Foods or Sun Flower. If he doesn't like a lot of fruit flavors you can use fruit juice, plain yogurt, a banana and the fiber. Or if he like flavored yogurts, use his favorite flavor, a little milk, a banana and the fiber. One of those a day should really help. Also you can try steel cut oatmeal with a little brown sugar and milk, or raisins and cinnamon if he likes that. Also things like high fiber bread (we use Aunt Hattie's double fiber bread, it tastes really great, much better than wheat bread), Frosted Mini Wheats (a little sugar but really high fiber cereal)and you can try recipes from that Deceptively Delicious book for ways to get extra pureed veggies in him which will help too. Good luck!

I know you've already gotten a lot of advise, but I had this issue with my three yr old daughter for a while. She stopped eating veggies and friuts as much and she developed a fear of pooping in the potty, after a very hard stool. I found that the Fiber One granola bars were very appealing to my daughter, and the most effective thing we tried. She likes the choc chip one best and we call them "candy bars." I started giving those to her a few times a week, plus I started buying only really high fiber cereals for her breakfast (no more rice crispies) Trader Joes has many kid pleasing choices that aren't too expensive. I also (like one of the other mom's suggested) gave her popcorn as a snack a couple times a week and encouraged her to drink watered down juice. She's a milk girl, but I told her she had to drink the juice first, then she could have milk. This got her to increase her fluid consumption which also helped. Once she wasn't so backed up and it wasn't painful to poop, she stopped trying to hold it. Now she has no problems, and we stopped using the Miralax after just a few days.

Hi M.! Plum Smart juice work wonders for my son. It helps get "things" going within hours. My son loves to drink it. It contains probiotics and fiber and it tastes really yummy! You can find it in the juice aisle, next to the prune juice. I would recommend only about four to six ounces per day for a child because it really works. It tastes so good that you may want to let the other members of your household know that it will make them poo, or they may consume too much!

I also get my son to eat applesauce, both flavored and plain, by allowing him to put sprinkles in it. There is something about those bright artificial colors that really entices him to eat his applesauce...

Good luck!

Hi, M.
I have known people to give their children olive oil for constipation. Or you may want to have your son get a massage and/or take fennel oil to get things moving. Also, their try Xango it helps with a lot of different things. I have tried it and it works!

Hi! I also have a 5 year old with this issue. My son was always vomiting and wouldn't eat because he was scared of throwing it back up. What has worked for us is the Miralax. we give it to him 1x a week with a glass of orange juice and it keeps him regulated the rest of the week.

My dr recommended apricots. But like your son, my son is very picky. I put a fiber supplement in his juice, he never noticed. I also started to make sure he was drinking because he wasn't drinking a lot of liquids. Have you tried smoothies? I tell my son they are milk shakes. Of course now he is old enough for nuts, he loves them and that works good for me.

Hi M.,
One thing I do to give my kids the fruits & veggies they need to keep them healthy & regular is give them Juice Plus+ which is whole food supplement.... it is fruits & veggies that have been put into capsule form for adults & chewabel or gummy form for kids..... my girls love the gummies! There are 15 different fruits & veggies & 2 grains in Juice Plus+. If you want to check it out got to jphealth.net/C.
Blessings! C.

strangely enough pumpkin (even canned) has a lot of fiber....I use it in breakfast shakes and of course bread and muffins. Soups too.
Bananas are known to be constipating. Not good for him poor guy!
You must remember that a lot of what we call vegetables are really fruits. Anything with seeds inside. So cucumbers are fruit, tomatoes, squashes, peppers etc. Do not stress out so much abut him not liking the more sugary fruits (peaches pears etc)
Have you tried any probiotics? They can have an effect on regularity too. Overnight results are not typical so research your products well and be patient.

probiotics! they are in a capsule form that you may break open and mix into juice, yogurt, apple sauce etc. it's virtually tasteless and safe. there are plenty of studies done on probiotics (the new rage if you will). both of my kids have slow systems so this definitely helps them.

i get them at CVS in the vitamin isle.

Both of my kids had that problem when they were little- I just added benefiber to thier drinks and foods. It's tastless in them and it helped alot. Just reduce the amount listed on the bottle because they don't put directions for kids. Good luck!

Put some psyllium in whatever he's eating. Also, eating a couple of apples a day will help clean him out. They need to be fresh. Apple juice that is pasteurized loses its enzymatic ability to clear your intestines.

M.,
I have the healthy product for you that will work and if it doesn't it gives you a 90 day money back guarantee! Himalayan GoChi juice and kids love it. Please contact me and I will get you set up if you are interested. Not only will it help with the constipation but it will boost his immune system and so much more. You can research more on my web page at barbgarcia.com

B. Garcia
Himalayan GoChi Juice representitive
###-###-####
barbgarcia.com

i know this might sound crazy but my 4 year old son had the same difficulties and would plain refuse to go to the bathroom. anyways, someone told me he had yeast and mold in his stomach and that was causing his stomach problems. they suggested that i take him off any foods with sugar (fruits included) for two weeks. again, he is a four year old and he is picky as well so i did the best i could. he no longer has stomach aches and goes poop without any problems at all. he now goes about once a day. amazing. i hope maybe this caould help. good luck

Hi M.!
My friend's little boy had the exact problem. She still to this day gives him apple juice with prune juice mixed. She's been giving it to him since he was a baby and he loves it so much! He's now 5 yo and been a free flowin boy ever since! :.) Hope this helps! D.

My 4 year old has had similar issues in the past. It always seems to get worse if he doesn't stay well-hydrated, so I would make sure he drinks plenty of water. Also, dried fruit always helps him go. I can always get him to eat dried apricots--I don't know if your son would go for that. Also, when my son was impacted, we used glycerine suppositories at the doctor's recommendation, and although it's gross, they did work. I wonder if it would help if you talk to your son about always going when he first feels the urge. Sometimes they don't want to take the time to stop what they're doing to go to the bathroom, and that leads to them becoming impacted. My son still tries to wait until after he's put to bed so he has at least one good excuse to come out of his room at night! Good luck!

First make sure he is drinking water - not other liquids in place of water - pure water - NO sugar or high fructose corn syrup drinks!!! When you do give him something else to drink my suggestion would be to give him Pure Camu every day - camu camu is a fruit from the Amazon rainforest that has the highest concentration of naturally occurring vitamin C of anything on the planet. It has a mild citrus taste when shaken in pure water. It could also be added to apple juice or similar. It also has a full profile of B vitamins and amino acids so it can be absorbed and used effectively by the body - unlike synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Another thing to help to keep his system cleaner would be adding digestive enzymes to his diet. Amylase and protease enzymes - to name a couple. These will break down his food and also help to digest any undigested food in his system so that he will get the nutrition from it and eliminate the waste. You may also want to add a herbal fiber formula to his diet - I know of one that contains some other herbs from the Amazon rainforest specifically designed to cleanse and restore the body's intestinal hygiene. It detoxifies, nourishes, and assists in the elimination of waste, yeasts and parasites. It is very gentle and safe for anyone - all the products I suggest are. The Amazon rainforest is home to hundreds of thousands of plant species and is known as nature's pharmacy. If you are interested in more specifics on which herbs are in these products so you can check with his doctor about using them if you need to, you may go to my website: www.shootingstarherbs.amazonherb.net for information or feel free to contact me directly.

Hi M.,

Have you tried making fruit smoothies in a blender to help him get his fruit? I use frozen fruit that I thaw in a glass of warm water, pour in blender, add OJ (I add banana, but you might not want to) and blend a beautiful glass of fruit! You may want to add prune juice to his diet wherever you can.

I also recommend looking into food combining or "quick exit combinations". Pairing certain food groups together -- or actually, keeping them separate, helps them not only to digest better, but faster, which might greatly help your son. I've recently read: "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose. This has some great info about food combining as well as ideas and recipes. You can also do some of your own research on the internet by googling "food combining" or "quick exit food combinations."

If you're anything like myself, you probably prefer your son's remedy to be as natural as possible. I believe with all my heart if we humans all cleaned up our eating habits, ate more like our ancestors did, and refrained from boxed and heavily-processed "foods", we would have significantly less illness altogether. There's a lot of junk food out there being marketed as "all natural" and good for you, when the body was created to recognize true natural food... :( I wasn't raised a health-nut by any means, but I've done enough research and personal testing in the last 5+ years to be convinced that by changing what we put into our bodies, we can change the problems our bodies suffer.

My point is, there is hope. My prayers go out to you and your son. The best of luck to you both!

Hi M. -

It may not be what your son is eating is may be what he is not drinking. Constipation can be caused by not having enough fluids in the digestive tract. There are some gentle herbs that can be used to help relieve his symptoms. Try marshmallow or slippery elm - as demulcents, they soothe and soften the bowels so they can be eliminated.

Without knowing what part of town you are in, I can't direct you to a reputable herb store to get these. Please feel free to contact me for more information.

Blessings,

M. M. Ernsberger
Certified Herbalist

My son has had problems since birth as well...he is only 8 months but, this is what our doctor just told us again...LOL NO carrots or bananas they will back him up. Eat lots of pears, plums, prunes, apricots, sweet potatoes, and peas. If he wont eat that stuff then I would look into the deceptively delicious cookbook then you can add your fruit and veggies purees without him knowing. The doctor said miralax (I think this was the brand) is bad for kids because it has antifreeze in it. I cant remember if that was the medicine but, I do remember it being something really popular that I know a lot of parents give there kids for this problem. I will look at the paperwork he sent us home with on Monday to see if it says it in there and write you back. Good Luck.

Both of my daughters had the same problem. Bananas are NOT the best fruit as they can cause constipation. First off make sure he is drinking enough water. If not sneek in some pedilite. It wirks WONDERS!!! Then, if you can, put like 1-2TBLS of Karro Suryp (the DARK one) into his drinks. It will TOTALLY help with the passing process, and it's totally safe! Trust me, both of my girls did this (per their doctor) and now have normal BM's.

I hope this helps!

I would try to get him to eat Fiber Choice wafers, they taste like fruit. If you can't get him to eat them, crush them up in his food. Try the Sneaky Chef book and puree up high fiber veggies and disguise them in his food.