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Jimmy is like most typical boys and loves to play.  He would play all day long if he was allowed to.  As with most boys, even eating is considered a nuisance if it interferes with play time.  So it’s not surprising that something as necessary as going to the bathroom gets in the way as well.  If you have a child with such mannerisms, it may be helpful to paint them a picture of the pain in store for them if they decide to “hold it”.  One such picture is mentioned here on a helpful website called askdrsears (scroll to the very bottom of the screen where it mentions “Toddler holds on to bowel movements”).

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I was recently informed by my doctor that although GlycoLAX (constipation remedy mentioned in an earlier post) does not hinder the process of getting pregnant, you should stop taking it if you become pregnant or think you might be.  The alternative is the generic brand MiraLAX that can now be purchased over-the-counter.

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As many infants do, my daughter experienced constipation issues after we started giving her solid food when she was a little over 6 months old.  A very good friend of mine recommended I start my daughter on oatmeal cereal as opposed to rice cereal so I thought I would be free of any infant constipation issues.  I learned later that the vast majority of babies suffer from constipation after starting on solid food so I had to find something that would help. 

I am not someone who automatically turns to medication when a health issue occurs so we started with the most natural product I could think of which is prunes.  Knowing that my daughter was not the first baby to ever experience constipation, I knew there had to be a safe prune product available on the market.  To my delight, Gerber has a variety of juices, one of which is apple/prune juice, so we started with a couple of tablespoons mixed with her cereal one day a week.  This mixture did not seem to have quite the speedy effect I was hoping so we increased the timeframe to two or three days a week.  This helped somewhat, but it was difficult once we introduced the vegetables along with the one feeding of cereal a day, to regulate the amount of apple/prune juice. 

Anyone who has had to watch their child experience pain knows how helpless you feel when all you are able to do is comfort them.  I was not to the point where I felt I needed to poke and prod to get things moving, but I did finally buy some Fleet brand baby suppositories which I ended up not using because the following day was “diaper explosion day”.  After that we realized things worked best by giving my daughter the apple/prune juice in the cereal every other day.  It was only after all this, that I happened to look at the main ingredient in the vitamin Tri-Vi-Sol recommended by my daughter’s pediatrician which was glycerin, the same main ingredient in the suppositories that acts as a laxative.

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Smoothies are the newest crave in our society today.  Smoothie King and Planet Smoothie are two very popular companies thriving in this business and advertise their drinks help give energy, boost metabolism and immune systems.  Well now if you have a blender and the recipes you can make your very own constipation relief smoothies.

Check out this site for the recipes. 

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For those that want to fight against constipation with no medication one recommendation is to drink a compote out of fresh boiled fruit first thing in the morning.  Something about warm water in the morning gets the bowels moving. 

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Recently I was made aware that the drug Zelnorm (tegaserod maleate), a prescription medication approved for short-term treatment of women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with constipation and for patients younger than 65 with chronic constipation, was recalled after new data showed that a statistically significant number of cardiovascular problems occurred in patients.

For more information, go to this site.

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Fiber is good for our bodies, but over the years I’ve heard different complaints from people about it just adding bulk and not really helping to soften the stool enough in order for it to move easily through the system. As the saying goes “different strokes for different folks” and I think the same applies with remedies to help in the softening process. Some people live by their daily swig of Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia, some are partial to their flavored drink with Metamucil added and some rely on prescriptions. One such remedy that helped me after the birth of my first child was a prescription powder called GlycoLax. Brand name GlycoLax is generically referred to as Polyethylene glycol 3350 and is a laxative solution that increases the amount of water in the intestinal tract to stimulate bowel movements. Although this was a prescription for me, I believe now a similar product by the name of MiraLax can now be found over-the-counter.

I know this is not a topic of conversation at most dinner tables or standing around the coffee pot at work, but what is your remedy for keeping regular???

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