Natural Laxatives?

[yearofthenick]

My daughter is a great kid. She's going to be 3 years old in December. She gets the worst poops - they're rock hard and she struggles to get them out.
Well tonight was probably the worst yet. She spent about 5 minutes pushing constantly. She even started to sweat! After about 5 minutes of this, she started to cry. I comforted her and said we'd try again later.
So I go online to see about what kinds of natural laxatives I can give her to safely break up her poop. One of the recommendations was cherries. She loves ice cream and whenever I say "do you want ice cream?" she says, "Yes, with a cherry!!!" So I gave her a little ice cream with about a dozen cherries on top. Hopefully that will get the ball rolling.
I've been told that warm salt water also help things along.
Anyone else have any suggestions? No prune juice in the house and the wife has the car (she's a server at night) so I can't go to the store.
I have cranberry juice - should I feed her that?

 

[meowzer]

what about prune juice? I have never heard of cherries

Poor baby

 

[mrdc]

Sounds like you gave maraschino cherries. Those are more of a sugary sweet and I doubt they will stimulate the colon. Other cherries have a lot of fiber in them which will help you go.
You can keep some glycerine suppositories on hand.

 

[kjr_trig]

Prunes are the best thing, any food you give her is not going to work instantly...My daughter had the same issue when she was 2ish...At least she is old enough you can reason with her..."Eat this, it won't hurt near as much."

 

[rlablan]

I had a child like this that i nannied for from birth to about 7. She had the same issues and would cry and tell me that it hurt a lot. We tried things to stimulate but they we found that it was more about what NOT to feed. Nothing that stops up. I would google that and go from there. Is there something that she eats a lot of? One thing for this little girl was cheese. I examined her diet and we removed cheese almost entirely. This helped TONS. Also, another thing for her was milk. We added a lot more water and juice and not as much milk. I can't remember what other foods were doing it, but google it and I think you will be on your way down the right path. Good luck

 

[lovethesea]

sooooo went through this with our daughter. To the point of an ER visit because she was so "backed up". Prune juice once a day didn't go over well. We ended up per the Dr. using mineral oil mixed (alot) with a juice or milk. Quickly drinking it. It become a viscous cycle before that. At that age, they can hold "it" and its not a great outcome as you know. They start to hold it because it hurts etc. PM me if you have other questions. It gets stressful and frustrating for both parent and child.

 

[teresaq]

try, apple juice, apple sauce, fiber one bars, higher fiber foods and I agee, cut back on cheese, and milk and add more water.
I have this with my son, because of his limited diet. He eats a lot of mac and cheese and shredded cheese. I make sure he gets apple juice and a fiber one bar everyday.

 

[btldreef]

Prune juice, works to a degree, but as someone else posted, it's probably more about what she should NOT eat/drink than what she should. Warm salt helps, but again, it will take awhile. Even a warm bath helps sometimes.
As for the cherries, bing work far better than the maraschinos.
I highly recommend you taking her to the Dr. about this issue, more than likely the will prescribe a change of diet first, when that doesn't work (and many times it does not) then you'll get mineral oil or a laxative such as MiraLax, etc. Miralax really works well and is available over the counter, might want to try it.
Good luck to you and more importantly, her

 

[yearofthenick]

Well the cherries and warm salt water did it. She had diarrhea about 30 minutes later. It all came right out without issue. Part of me feels bad for throwing so much at her, but at least it paid off.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by YearOfTheNick
http:///forum/post/3296416
Well the cherries and warm salt water did it. She had diarrhea about 30 minutes later. It all came right out without issue. Part of me feels bad for throwing so much at her, but at least it paid off.
going from really hard to diarrhea is screaming bigger issue to me. Please talk to your Dr about this. I used to have the same issue and it ended up being Crohn's Disease. I'm not saying that this will happen with your daughter, but rule out that anything else other than her diet is the issue.

 

[lovethesea]

be careful, now she may do everything to "hold" it. We went through that process with the prune juice. It was too much for her. Like I said, its a vicous cycle. The mineral oil daily help keep things running smoothly (kind of no choice with the oil)

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by lovethesea
http:///forum/post/3296435
be careful, now she may do everything to "hold" it. We went through that process with the prune juice. It was too much for her. Like I said, its a vicous cycle. The mineral oil daily help keep things running smoothly (kind of no choice with the oil)
OMG....I had to use that once...for a couple of months, and when you say...NO CHOICE...let me tell you...YOU HAVE NO CHOICE...I took myself off of it...cause I could not work with the uncertainty of ....well....you know
and it makes you very gassy

 

[t316]

FIBER.....Make sure it's in at least one meal a day (easier in breakfast cereals). Fiber passes thru like all other foods, but it grabs all the "junk" and takes it out with the trash along the way. No runs, just good ole' fashion normal poops once to twice a day.

 

[jtt]

saltwater. best thing ever. it goes right thru you. but saltwater sucks to drink so I do 8 oz of saltwater and chase it with 8oz of just water. does the trick!

 

[cranberry]

Be careful with saltwater and kids. You can dehydrate them pretty quickly. It wasn't the cherries that did it... it was the saltwater.
She needs to drink more water and foods with fiber, as mentioned. On a daily basis. If she's heavy into the dairy... back off.

 

[cranberry]

dood... I just read she's not even 3.... definitely don't go the saltwater route. What's her diet consist of?

 

[flower]

A 3 year old should not have to struggle to poop. Dark green vegetables in her daily diet, cereals for fiber and lots of fruit, any FRESH fruit except bananas, they will tighten her up if the stool gets too loose. Avoid cheese, that will bind her up too.
Your child has a diet problem and is not eating properly. If your child is eating right then take her to the doctor because a 3 year old should never strain like that. I know it’s hard to get a picky child to eat but offer healthy treats, fresh cherries without ice cream is much better.

 

[yearofthenick]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3296516
Your child has a diet problem and is not eating properly.
Flower: You have no right to dress down my life and my child, then make an accusation just because of a single thread in a fish forum. Don't you ever talk about my kids and accuse me of treating my child with poor nourishment. You have pushed me in the past, but this one has officially crossed the line with me and if it happens again, I will block you permanently.
For the rest of you, she only had a sip of the salt water and refused to drink another drop - she hated it. But it could have been the sip that did it.
I did give her ice cream with a few cherries, but not a dozen... it was a joke. She didn't REALLY have diarrhea either... but it was soft and kind of runny.
We eat very well at our house, including vegetables in a lot of our meals... NOT EVERY meal, but almost. We cook at home and rarely go out to eat at restaurants. We keep a constant supply of fruit in the house... Bananas and strawberries are her favorite. We have a bag of Jelly Belly's in the house for a treat when she does something unusually good, but it's not the norm for us to give her any. She has a sippy cup of lowfat milk before she goes to bed at night, but not much else. Last night I was watching our kids while my wife was at work. We only have one car at the moment and my wife used it to get to work so I made her a grilled cheese sandwich (we didn't have much else, which isn't the norm but I couldn't go to the store because of the one car issue). Earlier in the day she had a bean and cheese burrito at a mexican restaurant. Could have been too much cheese for her in one day. But it's not the norm. My wife just got this job and we're still working out food stuff now that my wife is working.

 

[meowzer]

HEY YOTN.....don't be so defensive.....most usually the cause of constipation is diet related....I think many people asked you what she eats....remember something...all children are different and handle food intake differently too.....If you are in fact feeding her well (which I believe you probably are) then what is being said, is you should discuss this with your doctor. I know that if a child struggles with constipation, that it CAN lead to intestinal problems later in life
I was recently told by a dr....that having to use laxatives and such can also cause you to have weak bowel muscles (sorry can not think of the right term)
Flower is a mother, as many of us are....I think being that you did post this in a FISH FORUM, you need to take whatever responses you get....c'mon.....look where you posted the question after all

 

[spanko]

Water, dilute fruit juice and fiber are the "cure" for constipation. Milk and other dairy can intensify the problem.