do any of you have children that get constipated easily? if so what do you do to help them. my 3 yo, seems to get constipated very easily. she will poop on the potty for weeks on end, like for instance this past time for about 5 weeks, getting some poop out every day. then she gets constipated and won't poop for days. we have an all natural laxative to give to her, but then we have poopy underwear for a few days.

she drinks lots of water. ( she is a huge water drinker) we limit bananas, and she eats yogurt with physillum (sp ?)fibre.

Our oldest dd is about to turn 5 (this Sunday) but when we were potty training her at around 2 1/2-3 she would get so constipated ....it was so sad and we tried so many things. I have found that a little bit of Benefiber in her water (they can not taste it is even in their drink) and the right foods I.E. applesauce, yogurt...so forth seemed to help her poop. It is very frustrating for us parents because we can only do so much then the kiddos have to make the next move so to speak....lol

yes, my oldest has always dealt with it off and on. Sometimes we have to get him the kids enema.

we usually do the 'chocolate drops', and follow the dosage schedule. it's worked fairly well for us. sometimes I can get him to drink apple-prune juice. that helps a lot. I am always pushing water and fruits/veggies.

maybe you could trying doing a half dose of whatever you're using since it seems to work 'too well'.

Our now 3 yo dd has struggled with this for the past year. She had such difficulty and would have such large hard BM's that she actually caused a skin tear (there is a medical name for it) and so we are not doing potty training until she has fully healed. The Dr. prescribed Lactulose and then now it is Miralax she is on, a fine white powder that goes in her drink and she has no idea it is in there.
Also the Dr. told us to cut back on milk and cheese and NO juice whatsover. I now try to make sure has either a fruit or vegetable at every meal and she has been doing a lot better.

I have no experience with this problem in kids so take what I say with a pinch of salt. I get these kinds of complaints myself. Its down to ibs tho. That got me thinking, wondering if its nervousness causing the C as well as diet. It eems like you've tried alot already. I wonder if a stomach massage might help and see if there is anything stressing her out. Constipation is sooo not fun. Lots of fruit and veg. apples are really good for c. That and oats. Oatmeal has saved me in the past. But if we're talking enemas and that then I dont know how much this helps. I wonder if when she has a bout of C could you make her diet as fibre rich as poss, eliminating anything that would cause C. My kids will eat prunes and raisins like they are sweeties so maybe if you just fill her up with all that fibre-rich goodness for a few days it could be a natural solution. Im saying this because when I have a flare up I can get both C and D, one or the other (Im not giving anymore info than that:???:) and I have to really watch what I eat for the duration. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Poor little angels. These tthigns are NOT fun. I hope your little one finds some relief. Have a great one!!
gen

My niece had severe bouts of constipation....to wear she would hold it for so long then something had to give and she would strain so hard and throw up...sorry if TMI....but they finally put her on Miralx and made a huge difference....and now it is over the counter....she is 7 and doesn't even have to take it anymore...

my dd also has this issue...one thing that has helped alot is sweet potato juice..you can get it in V8 Splash varieties...we give her just a little bit of it diluted with water and she is free flowing again.

We watch how much bread and meats she eats and treat it with diluted juices and fruits.

In contrast my ds is the absolute opposite...if he gets fruits or juices diluted or not, he will be liquid! So it has gotten to be quite a balancing act in our house to keep everyone on track.

But the sweet potato juice has the best results especially once it has gone awhile!

My nephew is currently struggling with this but, I have no personal experience or earned knowledge. I looked up in a book that I've found to be an AMAZING help to me for finding natural cures for children. It's title is "Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child" By Janet Zand, Rachel Walton, and Bob Rountree. I highly recommend it as there was more in it then I can briefly post here. One thing that stood out that I will relay is to get your child some Lactobacillus acidophilus or bifidus suppliments. I have it in powder form for ds and pill form for myself. acidophilus is in yogert but, I'm pretty sure a suppliment provides a more consitrated amount. It's good for constipation (evidently) but, is listed as a help for many other conditions as well. anyhoo, hope your little one feels "regular" again soon=) -ren

my dd gets constipated if she has too much dairy. it causes large, hard bowel movements that actually have caused tears and bleeding before. So, she doesn't drink milk. She seems fine with yogurt and cheese. I don't know whether it is lactose intolerance or an actual allergy. I heard sometimes raw cow's milk will solve the problem but there is nowhere to get it since it is illegal to sell it here.

After reading that you are already doing fiber and water the only thing that popped into my mind is more probiotics. ( you can open up the capsules and put them in her yogurt for more.) Yogurt has some but truly very little. I also thought about her intake of fresh fruits and veggies, beign sure that is adequate. I know that is hard at her age.

My DD wouldn't go on her own starting around 6 months. I had to give her some glycerin rectally every so often so she would go. We finally gave her some probiotics (we used Kefir at the time) around 10 months or so, and she has been regular since. We have not had kefir grains or store bought kefir in our house for a long time, and she is starting to have issues again, so I am going to get her some toddler probiotics soon. They work miracles!

I pray you find something that works!!!
Blessings,
Amber

thanks for all of your suggestions. right now she is back on track, and hopefully it will stay that way. just have to get her back to using the potty all of the time, but i know that, it will come.

ok, i'm writing this a bit too late....but for what it's worth....

my DD suffered greatly from this (two trips to the emergency room....etc...)

so...we were told it was either a lactose intolerance or allergy to milk protein, regardless...the treatment is the same. interesting, she can eat cheese and yogurt just fine. but we switched her to soy milk....and we really haven't had any problems. we did everything else like you have: prune juice, no bananas, no cooked carrots...etc... but the milk switch helped . also, cutting out processed foods. i even went to the extreme and started milling my own wheat at home to make truly whole wheat bread for her (because the pastas and rice also is a no no). i went to whole wheat pasta and brown rice... i was a desparate mommy....what can i say! now we don't need to be as careful....and the soy milk alone seems to be doing the trick. i wanted to avoid laxatives at all costs. anyway, hope this helps. :)

an easy, healthy thing to do is get some flax oil & put a teaspoon to tablespoon in her oatmeal, yogurt, etc everyday. it's very good for us in so many different ways.

i'll ditto that one! i've even tried karo syrup too

an easy, healthy thing to do is get some flax oil & put a teaspoon to tablespoon in her oatmeal, yogurt, etc everyday. it's very good for us in so many different ways.

I know I'm resurrecting this thread, but can you tell me where to buy flax oil?
Thanks!
Lori

We buy flax oil in the organic / health food section in our grocery store. At a smaller health store it might cost more. You might want to check out prices.

When i had grayce in for a check up last thursday, the doc wasn't sure if she was truely getting constipated for medical reasons or if she was just holding it in. she gets very upset if she poops in her underwear, but won't go in to toilet.