At The Forefront Live: Kids and Constipation

At The Forefront Live: Kids and Constipation

What are the common causes of constipation?

There are key times parents come to us concerned about constipation. One of them is the introduction of solid foods. The change in diet that can happen from a baby just getting breast milk or formula to adding some solid foods to the mix. And depending on what they're getting, if they're not getting enough fluids or fiber with it, that can cause constipation.

Another time would be a change in behavioral habits, such as potty training. There can be a little bit of a struggle of will that can happen between parents and their children with wanting them to go and having to go. Sometimes kids fight the process and hold stool in.

How can you tell if a child is straining to hold a bowel movement in versus straining to push a bowel movement out?

Sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate between a child straining to get the stool out and straining to hold it in. Naturally, the best position to have a bowel movement is a squatting position. So most of the time, young children are going to squat down when trying to have a bowel movement because that makes it easier.

Oftentimes in the younger children—between one and three years of age—parents will see the child when they have to have a bowel movement go over to a table or some raised surface. They're standing up, they're holding on, they're screaming, turning red in the face, and straining, and the family thinks they're constipated. But in reality, most of the time if that's what they're seeing, the kids are actually straining to hold it in.