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| Copyright Jay Ryness 2005 Creative Commons |
Motherhood is like one of those toys where you push one man down and another one pops up.
You sort one thing and that just creates a new problem in your never ending mums' masterclass.
Take potty training for example.
Out potty training wasn't the speediest. It might have been quicker if I'd read the books more carefully! But we cracked it and all seemed well.
(*Warning - next bit gets icky)
Then after 4 months my daughter suddenly started getting big skid marks when at nursery and had some major wee accidents.
The thing was she assured me she never did a poo at nursery. So why the skid marks? And why the sudden back track on weeing accidents.
Of course, you "been there, done that mummies" are shaking your heads wisely at this point and telling me - "It's leakage from constipation you idiot!"
And yep that's exactly what it was.
Unfortunately my daughter is pretty rubbish at eating fruit & veg and not great at drinking water. At home we can hide fruit and veg away whilst we gradually get her to eat more of it.
But at nursery she picks out the veg, turns her nose up at the fruit and "forgets" to drink water. Plus she found doing poos at nursery a bit stressful - she's very independent and wouldn't ask for help but then get in a bit of a mess wiping up.
The result is that she gets completely bunged up and any soft stuff there is - OK it's getting graphic - seeps round the blockage into her knickers without her knowing. And the blockage puts pressure on her bladder which causes the wee accidents. Oh the delights of motherhood!
From frantic reading around it's clear that toddler constipation can be a real problem so we're trying to nip it in the bud before it becomes serious.
I know the long term the answer is to convince my little carnivore that fruit & veg are really yummy but this won't happen over night and we need some short term solutions so I've put together this list ...
Tips for Kids Constipation
Tips to prevent kids constipation
- Regular toilet routine so goes first & last thing
- Give them enough time on loo - may need entertainment
- Ensure they go regularly but don't pressurise them
- Encourage as much physical activity as possible
- Always have water available and encourage small sips
- Play tea parties to encourage water drinking
- Keep an eye on milk consumption - will quench thirst but can constipate
- Juice at every meal - (clean teeth afer)
- Keep juice to meal times only to protect teeth but not if painfully blocked up
- Eat wholemeal bread
- Eat fruit smoothies for breakfast
- Daily snacks with "hidden" apple or pear e.g. muffins
- Raisins & dried apricots for snacks - not great for teeth so a bit of a trade off
- Regular thick, creamy veg soups
- High fibre cereal e.g. wheetabix, porridge for breakfast - but watch out for sugar!
- Smuggle broccoli, cauliflower & spinach - which all help - into other food
- Offer fruit at every meal & eat it yourself but don't force it
Tips to "un bung" kids with constipation
- Prune juice
- Pure orange juice undiluted - some say not others swear by it
- Plum juice
- Grapes
- Apricot juice
- Cranberry juice
- Powdered bran in yoghurt
- Cod liver oil
Tips to make bowel movements less painful ...
- Tummy massage
- Applying vaseline or nappy cream before goes to do poo
- Providing very engrossing distraction when on potty e.g. favourite video
- Toddler calming exercises - if relaxed will be easier to move bowels
- Bear with them if they're not happy pooing without a nappy after potty training
If your kids suffer with constipation, do share your best tips and I'll add them to the list.
If your looking for more tips on all the things parenting throws at us check out this board ...
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