Hello! Poor you, having to watch your child suffer! OH dear.

To solve this problem takes more than a magic bullet, you have to change everything about her diet.

Okay, first rule with constipation, especially hard stools, is that the child is not drinking enough water. Do you have bottled water at home? Make her drink down 4 glasses in between meals. Don't drink a lot of water with meals as it interferes with digestion and absorption. NO iced drinks, no colas. Cold drinks are very ahrd on the digestive system. Herbal tea is excellent.

When she gets up in the morning, have her drink a cup of warm - not hot but warm, easy to swallow warm - water. This induces a bowel movement and cleanses the kidneys.

Have her eliminate all dairy from her diet except one glass of milk before bed, preferably warm milk with a teaspoon of honey. You can also simmer it for ten minutes with a cinnamon stick, 1/2" slice of fresh ginger root, and several whole cloves, then poor into cup with honey. This is a mild laxative. And it tastes GREAT! :)

If you did not breast-feed her, then chances are her intestinal flora was imbalanced and this is a contributing co-factor. She needs to stop eating all sugar, all fruit juices and fruit except for whole green apples for awhile (great fiber and very balanced PH). Cherries, cranberry, and Papaya also okay as whole fruit. The rest are not. Fruit should be eaten alone and never with meals. Limit her fruits and sugars for at least a month. At the same time, have her take probiotics such as Primal Defense to replace the acidopholous in her system.

She shouldn't eat anything deep-fried, and no fats except for olive oil and flax seed oil and vegetable oil.

She could also have a sensitivity to wheat (gluten) and corn. Limit her intake of wheat and flour and corn for one month at least.

So what does that leave her to eat, you may ask? Oatmeal, Quinoa, barley, chicken soups full of veggies (add barley to the soup it's yummy) all veggies preferably steamed, fish, nut butters. You can get pastas made from brown rice at the health food store, and bread without wheat. Rice and rice crackers are great substitutes for bread - just put everything you would put in a sandwhich on a rice cracker or slice of jicama.

Enemas are wonderful on occasion. You can do plain water wtih a little salt (preferably Sea Salt ), or occasionally do an olive oil implant IF she doesn't have gas or painful belly.

The tablespoon of olive oil at bedtime is a very good idea on occasion.

Do not use laxatives unless she stops having BMs altogether. Since the stools tend to be large and well-formed, it's mostly a diet/not enough water issue. You may simply be expecting to see more fiber than she's actually eating. If she doesn't feel bloated, or stuck, and if her abdomen isn't distended, then she just has slow digestion and the only way to correct that is with diet and exercise. She needs to walk more, play more, ride a bike, do leg lifts and other ab exercises.

Hope that helps!

We had very good luck after contacting doctorscotts.
He is into herbal cures and we had great success. If you just type in doctorscotts or he also has public email at doctorscotts@yahoo.com I am sure he will give you lots of good information.

We had very good luck with our son after contacting doctorscotts. He has public email for questions and answers and is into natural herb medicine. I forget his URL for his Web Page but his public email is doctorscotts@yahoo.com

Warm water enemas run very slowly from a bag enema should not cause cramps. Lots of good fiber and lots of liquid intake should help alot. Stool softeners might also be a good idea for a few weeks. If that fails I would check with your GP.

Dear Health4myfam,

I am a professional Health Educator and Nutrition Counselor with over 25 years of direct clinical experience. I specialize in problems related to the Digestive System, and that includes all IBS, IBD and of course constipation. Poor Laura! Even if you feel her problem is totally resolved, please consider contacting me to make sure. I have had 100% results with all my clients with long histories of constipation. Contact me via email at maramor@fiam.net Feel free to call me office at
413-536-0275 The Center for Functional Nutrition.
Phone consultations are available

She needs magnesium!!! Also, I would recommend a website for you www.naturalhealingsolutions.com

Hello, I just joined this forum and read this for the first time. Has the constipation problem with your daughter been resolved, or is she still suffering from it?

I've dealt with a number of similar cases in the past and I know how difficult resolution can be. Some persist for years. A few can continue for a lifetime unless corrected early.

Regards, Valerie