I never thought I’d be excited to see poop in a diaper. That is until I became a parent. My children suffer from constipation and this started at an early age with them. When your child struggles to poop and is in discomfort and they are finally delivered from it, you are elated to see poop! 🙌🏾🙌🏾
If you have an infant that’s struggling with constipation, a change in formula can help but you should discuss with your pediatrician. When my daughter was an infant she was on soy formula due to a cow’s milk intolerance. After a couple months on the soy formula she developed constipation and was downgraded to Alimentum at the suggestion of our GI. This resolved her constipation issues. Of course once we started regular whole milk at a year old, we were back to the constipation issue.
So how do we deal with constipation in my house and what can help you or your little one have an easier time moving bowels. I am not a medical professional but just want to share what has and is helping my children with their constipation.
1. Miralax: When my daughter was about a year to a year and a half old we went to see a GI doctor and he told us to use Miralax. This worked great for a while but was not a long term solution. And sometimes my daughter would still struggle or go way too often.
2. White Grape Fruit Juice: this was another thing the GI doctor told us about. This juice has a lot of natural sugar and the sugar would help break down everything so my daughter could move her bowels. But no parent really wants to give their child juice all the time. But, I must say it does work. Especially if you combine this with the miralax.
3. High Fiber Foods: increasing my daughter’s intake of fruits and vegetables helped her go naturally and we didn’t always need to use the miralax. Foods high in fiber are: oatmeal, apples, carrots, popcorn, whole grain bread/pasta, pears, sweet potatoes, berries(raspberries, strawberries, blueberries), cooked dried beans(lentils, black beans), avocados, high fiber cereal(Cheerios), Almonds, Mango, fried plums.This worked great for a while but then we realized my son had the same issue and his Nutritionist suggested something different.
4. Magnesium powder: it’s all natural and helps with mobility so you can move your bowels on your own. We’ve been using this for the past few months and it’s worked great. This combined with fruits and vegetables and a little bit of juice here and there has worked. The nice thing with the magnesium is we can use it every day if we need too as it’s all natural. Thankfully we don’t need it every day but we can and it’s safer to use long term.
5. A hot bath: sounds so simple and it is! I can’t tell you how many times my daughter has had to go after taking a nice hot bath. Now obviously the water can’t be too hot for them as they are kids. But find the right temperature and it can help solve your pooping problems.
6. Suppository: we always use this as a last resort when they haven’t gone in days. We’ve never had to use it for my daughter but have used it a few times for my son. It’s messy but cleans them out quick.
7. Green Tea: my daughter is at the age now where she doesn’t mind drinking green tea with honey and a little bit of lemon. Of course there are other health benefits to drinking green tea.
8. A Massage: believe it or not massaging your little ones stomach can help with constipation. I’ve done this on several occasions for my kids. Massaging their stomach with my hands, taking their legs and stretching their legs up into their hips and making motions with their legs as if they are riding a bicycle.
9. Prune Juice: this one depends on your taste buds, lol. This was great before my kids could tell me they didn’t like the flavor.
I hope that you don’t suffer from constipation, but if you do, I hope that this helps
relieve your pain.