My daughter has severe chronic constipation. She’s been constipated since she was baby… maybe 9-12 months old. She’s now almost 9, recently she started complaining of stomach aches and heart palpitations (probably not related), so I took her into her pediatrician, and they did an X-ray and EKG. Heart looked good, but they found large amounts of stool throughout her colon. She recommended Ex-Lax and MiraLAX.
We have tried Miralax in the past with not much luck, and I never felt comfortable giving it. She says she wants to treat for six months to a year or more! I’ve tried essential oils and green smoothies. I’m not very good at being consistent though so now is time to get a routine down to get her moving. Any suggestions on what can I do to cure this naturally at home? Started 2 days ago using organic pure prune juice, prunes, smooth move tea, and tried some magnesium liquid today… so far it’s not looking good. Only some small hard balls this morning (sorry if TMI).
Answers ( 17 )
Epsom salt baths and magnesium oil are soothing and healing for digestive tract issues. Also, Vitamin C, bone broths, and fermented sauerkraut/other veggie juice per Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. Enemas can be quite effective to get things moving too, using warm water and probiotic from a quality supplement.
Heart palpitations could easily be related! When I was experiencing those (I had them for 20 years) I started the GAPS Diet by Dr. McBride out of desperation. I had tried everything I could think of, hadn’t been sleeping and had severe anxiety. I thought my diet was healthy as I was eating real organic foods, but what I needed was the easy-to-digest foods from the GAPS Diet which includes lots of animal fats, fermented foods/beverages, homemade bone broths and removal of processed foods and sugars/grains. It worked for me!
I haven’t had heart palpitations since 2011 and had been experiencing them off and on since I was a teenager. I spent many hours in the E.R. and doctor trying to diagnose these problems and was given prescription medication. These symptoms are ALL related and leaky gut, which can have heart palpitations, may very well be a symptom of this too.
There is one really good remedy I will add. A castor oil compresses over the abdomen. Soak a thick absorbent cloth folded over several times, with castor oil. You will reuse the compress after storing in a plastic bag. Cover the abdomen before bed and place a plastic to protect the bedding from the oil, or wrap a long cloth around the torso to keep it in place while she sleeps.
Do this every day. Castor oil has two unique properties. It has the ability to penetrate very deeply, and it also draws thing out of the body that needs to be drawn out. It’s an amazing remedy for a lot of things.
This remedy is for ‘chronic’ constipation or chronic diarrhea and is a cure for the condition rather than a current fix. It seems to have a healing effect on the intestinal wall lining, bringing the system into balance. Meanwhile, you will need to continue to work on bringing her gut flora back.
Flax or psyllium seeds help to bulk the stool making passing easier. Just keep on top of fluids, keep going with prune juice, chamomile is a relaxant and helps digestion, fennel seeds are also a good one (infuse 1-2 tsp in hot water and cool. Kiwi and goji berries are also known for their laxative effect. Lots of fruit and vegetables, avoid dairy, body massage may help her relax too.
Get her on probiotics asap — either Garden of Life or Flora. You’ll want the best brand, and these ones are the top. I’d probably give her more than the recommended dosage until she sees some results. Take a look at her diet, cut out dairy because that could be a problem, possibly gluten as well. Focus on fruits and vegetables, if shes picky throw them in smoothies! You can’t taste the spinach in there! Lots of tangerines and apples. Tangerines are great for constipation; apples are fantastic for colon health.
Magnesium! Look up Natural Calm. My daughter had encopresis, which is a very severe constipation disease. Only magnesium has worked for us. And we are very picky about what she eats – no corn syrup being a biggy. It works but won’t happen overnight, magnesium has been our savior for years.
Use sodium absorbate, NutriBiotic brand is the best. I have been giving this to my daughter since she was 8 months. She suffered horribly with constipation, so have I in the past. She takes 5grams a day in her juice/water and poops once sometimes twice a day now. It has changed our health; we almost never get colds also which is a bonus.
If the colon is so plugged up, there is only one way, I see, to clean it (mechanical colon cleanses but can give her hemorrhage). She has to start a diet which consists only of fruits and vegetables (fresh) and prune juice. Prune juice will help especially at the beginning, and if she eats nothing but fresh fruits and veggies, it will take several months or more (depends on severity) for the colon to get rid of everything and start function properly. The main contributors for constipation are animal products and white bread products (including pasta, cookies, and others). A very good cleaner is a salad made of fresh white cabbage, carrot with or without redraw beats. Works like a broom to your colon.
My son suffered the same problem since birth, now he is 14 yrs old and is doing fine without any meds or special diet, but it took time for him to go normally. Dr prescribed Míralax powder, and organic fruits and vegetables and plenty of water and orange juice (organic). Give your child lots of broccoli too, don’t let her eat bananas that will just make it worse. Also lots of oranges and tangerines and wheat germ, you can add these to yogurt, shakes, and cereal. I only gave him Miralax for less than 6 months.
Well, I am a chronic constipation sufferer myself. I have gone as long as 3 weeks with no movement. I have been hospitalized I have taken everything under the moon and then some. Some souls are more delicate than others, and our systems suffer tremendously.
After fighting this beast for my entire life, I will tell you how I was cured. I had a complete stranger approach me and tell me that the ice creme Cake I had the night before was damaging my body.
She said you’ve been sick since a baby and the problem is dairy and gluten. Stop eating them; it’s doing you no good. Well I have a strong will, and I love my cinnamon buns and Ice creme, but I cut it out of my life. After 36 years, I feel good.
I take magnesium citrate every couple of days now instead of 6 a day, and I never suffer the bloat, uncomfortableness, frustration, and misery of being constipated. Our food is garbage now, it’s full of chemicals, preservatives, and junk our bodies can’t even begin to process. Whole natural foods every time are the answer. Good luck to you, I wish my mother would have the resources to help me, instead I was loaded up on Wonder bread and chemical ridden snacks my whole life.
Is she already gluten-free? Sounds like the story of my life. I was like that until I finally went gluten-free. And dairy free would probably help too at least at first. At one point the doctor had me on 3 different laxatives. I hadn’t had a BM in 3 weeks! Nothing worked until I drank a gallon of prune juice. Sorry for the TMI.
Have you ever tried Calms magnesium? You won’t be constipated if you drink it daily.
I don’t think I have. Right now I take a 400mg/day Magnesium Glycinate Complex supplement, and it has helped me a lot when I eat gluten accidentally. It has helped me not be so sick from it.
A colonoscopy might be a good next step. I’ve had 2, and I will be honest, they didn’t help much because they said my colon was fine but my friend was having similar problems and they found pre-cancerous polyps in her colon, so it is probably worth getting checking out.
Give her Triphala & Natural Calm magnesium twice a day. George’s Aloe vera, add chia and flax seeds to get diet, give omegas organs and probiotics daily, remove gluten and dairy from the diet, make sure she drinks lots of water every day and gets physical activity, have her sit in a squat position while going to the bathroom and you can also try oxy powder. You can always do a high dose of vitamin C too to loosen bowels and clean her out.
While many of these ideas can help, you really need to help her make better food choices. Digestive health is the foundation of overall health, and so there’s really no one-size-fits-all, band-aid type solution or quick fix.
While things like Natural Calm magnesium powder, Triphala, and castor oil packs are a short term solution, the bigger picture is that she needs to eat cleaner, real foods, and limit processed foods and sugar. It’s so important to have regular bowel movements every day, or toxins will build up. And a stool test should be done to determine if there are any infections or parasites that need to be addressed. The possibility of food sensitivities should be considered as well.
This works better than anything (except for clean water enemas). One teaspoon of “Real Salt” in one cup of clean hot water, first thing in the morning. Best to do two cups, but start with one. Massage her colon; this will flush her out within an hour. If it doesn’t, then do a second one. My son does three every morning. Real sea salt is untouched by man and has over 60 nutrients.
You are smart not to use Miralax. It was never approved for pediatric use and is being prescribed off label with a lot of side effects presenting on children. My son was born without an anus (imperforate anus).
So after having 3 reconstructive surgeries, he has the plumbing, but the nerves and sensation will never be quite right for him. We battle constipation every day. We had him on Miralax for 18 months when he was little, and it was a nightmare.
He developed neurological “tics” and strange behaviors that went away immediately after taking him off that medication. The most important thing with constipation is to get it under control and not let it get so bad again next time. Easier said than done right?
Here is what we do. He does take 1 square of chocolate Ex-Lax as a stimulant to help push out his stool. If the stool is hard or backed up the senna (Ex-Lax) will cause cramping and belly pain.
I would suggest the following: feed her prunes. Make some high fiber soups like daal lentil soup or fakes Greek lentil soup. Add more liquid to her diet. Soup is an excellent way as long as it’s not premade super salty soups which will dry her out more.
We make fruit smoothies every morning to start our day. Bananas help give it that sweet and smooth texture, and then we add a variety of peaches, strawberry, mango, blueberries. Often frozen and preferably organic depending on what’s seasonally available and affordable.
Always with water and never with milk or yogurt. Dairy contributes to constipation. So do binding grains that have their fiber removed like white bread. We eat quinoa instead of rice and Kamut whole grain bread with sourdough instead of yeast.
Probiotics are a must; they will help recolonize good healthy gut flora to allow the bowels to move better on their own. And sugar is a killer. Sugar kills all the good gut bacteria. I’m not saying to never eat dairy, wheat, and sugar again but maybe for the next few weeks till she gets back on track it would be the best thing for her. Sugar can be replaced with honey or maple syrup. Try to get down to basics and avoid fast foods and premade food as much as possible.
Look up detoxifying Epsom salt bath. Epsom salt contains magnesium and will allow the body to draw more water into the stools. Combined with baking soda to neutralize the chlorine in the water it can really help rebalance all of us. Taking an ionic magnesium supplement will help too. Just a few drops a day can be life-changing.
Also, try a glycerin suppository. Not the nicest sensation for a 9 yr old but it sure beats what the hospital will want to do for her if she is impacted. That will help loosen out the driest stool near her rectum and allow it to slide out easier. It will take a few days to get things moving. And even if in a few days you notice a difference you need to keep at it for a bit to clear all the backlog. The bowels are muscle and will create muscle memory like all our other muscles. A few weeks of effective bowel movements can make her life long constipation a thing of the past. I wish you both a lot of success.
I take “intestinal movement formula” from Amazon, which is all natural and includes digestive enzymes. I also take Magnesium Malate which is the best form of my magnesium according to my doctor and tested on my body as citrate could be too harsh on the color on its flora.
Every morning I drink a warm glass of water with 1 or 2 tbs of organic apple cider vinegar by Paul Bragg. She may not like the taste so you can add a bit of honey or lemon juice. Sometimes I take turmeric pills, or I sprinkle some turmeric in a warm glass of water.
The other natural laxative is aloe vera – again the taste is not so pleasant so you can mix it with coconut milk and add some strawberries – she won’t taste it at all. Mainly I try to flush my colon with lots of water first thing in the morning before breakfast, and then I drink lots of water throughout the day, but Magnesium Malate and the ‘intestinal movement formula’ have been the major supplements that I can’t live without.
You can also soak 4,5 dry plums (prunes) in a small bowl or cup of water, she can eat a few at bedtime and a few in the morning plus drinks the juice. If you buy the prune juice from the store it has a lot of sugar and preservatives. Hope this helps. Try all of them and experiment with the dose, always start low. All of these recommendations have been approved by my GI doctor and my mom who is also a doctor.
Okay. So I’m gonna be straight to the point, and this is what I do for my kid, and she’s 9.
Give her a coffee enema. 1 cups of coffee to 5 cups of water mixed. Use an enema bucket. They’re like $3 online through cvs.com. You only need to insert 2 inches or less. There is a clamp on the tube. Use it when needed.
This will take a few tries, and she’ll have to stop often to poop in between, but she’ll get it out easily. Try to hold in the coffee mixture for at least 3 minutes at a time. If she can’t, it’s okay. Once you finish the bucket and finish releasing, take a children’s probiotic.
This whole process naturally cleans and restarts the body’s natural cleansing process and as well as cleans out the blood of toxins. Have her eat a big bowl of Mellon first thing in the morning. Just melon. In an hour after eating she’ll have to poo, and it will be a lot.
She needs to have more probiotics and fresh fruits, especially melon in her diet.
My youngest son was the same way. I crushed an Herb Lax tablet (well, half a one) by Shaklee.com and sprinkled it in his food. (only use a half a tablet for a child). It worked immediately. Herb lax is different: it works like fingers inside the body getting it all out instead of straight through the body.
Herb lax is fabulous!! I went for Puritan Pride herbal laxative, which is basically the same, but less expensive. I’ve been using it daily for 25+ years, used Herb lax for the previous 25 years. Colonoscopy showed I had an elongated colon and my doctor said I need to take a laxative daily because of it. My intestines are now beautifully pink and healthy with 50 years of using a herbal laxative.