How to Keep Your Kids Regular

Constipation in children can be painful.

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By Mitestarossa
eHow Community Member

Article Rating:

(9 Ratings)

Constipation in children can range from a mild case to extreme, needing to go to the hospital, keep your child regular by changing their diet. I am not a doctor but, here are some tips I have learned from experience. Hopefully you can prevent it ahead of time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

PREVENTION - Prevention is the best medicine. To keep your kids regular, make sure they get enough exercise, water and eat a proper diet. Kids need to move for at least 1 1/2 hours per day. Running, jumping, climbing, and playing are sufficient. They also need to eat a nutritious diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, at least 5 servings per day. Keep count, otherwise you may just assume they had enough when they have not. Kids need plenty of water, but they do not need soda. A normal bowel movement should be soft, bulky and easy to pass. Hard or small movements can be a sign of trouble.
Step 2

OCCASIONAL CONSTIPATION - An occasional bout of constipation can usually be cured by drinking plenty of water, eating an apple and exercising, if your child needs more help, call your doctor for advise. You can use an over the counter suppository, enema or fiber drink or cookie. You should not use these items regularly, only if needed. Your child should be able to have regular bowel movements without help.
Step 3

ACUTE OR SEVERE CONSTIPATION - When normal measures do not work, your child may have an allergy or another problem. One thing to look into is Milk. After consulting your doctor, take your child off milk completely and see if that cures the problem. Substitute with soy or rice milk. Another thing to test (only test one thing at a time) is packaged meat products such as salami, bologna, etc. Keep up the normal measures of healthy diet, exercise and water, but also make sure that they have one apple per day. Most likely you will find that there is something in their diet causing the problem. If you can't find a culprit, consult your doctor for further testing.

Comments

joshy22 said

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on 2/2/2009 cant wait to try this! 5 star!!!! :)

Miri said

on 1/12/2009 I wish more people had read your article. Too many times we see kids in the ER when things have gone too far and parents don't seem to have any idea what to do for prevention/healthy diet. Thanks for your article.