Why can't my child poop?
Constipation is something I now see in my families, 90% of the time. Sometimes people are having a bowel movement only ONCE per week, and with the aid of laxatives. More often than not, their child is on prescriptions to help things move. This was us a long time ago.
When my youngest was around four, going poop suddenly became traumatic. We figured it was because we had just graduated to the big toilet and he was afraid to fall in, or something happened at day care. But with each crying toilet episode we realized he was straining in pain and passing large amounts every couple of days. We struggled through this, hoping it was a just a phase. We tried prune juice, cabbage, laxatives- every piece of advice we received, nothing worked.
Until one night, screaming in pain, he could not sleep, so we end up in the ER. We thought it was appendix, instead we learned all about IMPACTION- which means literally full of poop. And we had to watch him go through an enema, which brings on very harsh bowel contractions to be emptied out. That was our turning point.
We realized laxatives and prescriptions do not get to the root cause of WHY this is happening in his little body. The next week we started testing and following advice, did a food allergy test. Turns out, he had many! All the things he was eating, wheat, corn, dairy, oats- the list was daunting. As we slowly swapped out each food with different options, many of his other symptoms disappeared: his high anxiety melted away, the dark circles under his eyes faded, the eczema faded too and his little belly bloat was gone. And lastly, the constipation stopped! We were able to see it was completely connected to all the wheat we he was eating- when all this was removed no more straining, pain and bloating- he was going every day, pain free.
He was also a picky eater, so when we started adding whole foods, and supplementing with vitamins, minerals, probiotics- his palate expanded into trying new things. And he stopped catching every little cold he was exposed to at school. We learned with every change we made- how the immune system is in overdrive with food allergies, and how to calm it down and make it stronger so it can do its proper job.
This is now what I help families through- uncovering hidden food intolerance, finding nutrient deficiencies and navigating picky eating- in order to help the body be the healthiest it can be. Correlating symptoms with foods eaten is a good place to start- certain behaviours are clearly linked to what the child has just eaten. Every step you take, every thing you learn and every change you make, can bring the entire family to optimum health. And if we made it through all that, then you can too.
