Folk remedies for constipation in a child: treatment features, advice and recommendations from specialists

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Constipation is a problem faced not only by adults, but also by children in various periods of life. This symptom causes different reasons, because the process of digestion of food and the formation of feces depends on many factors - from dietary habits to the level of physical activity.

Constipation is an extremely annoying problem. It is accompanied by pain in the abdomen. Due to constipation, appetite, sleep are disturbed, well-being worsens. In this situation, the child needs help. To do this, it is recommended to contact a pediatrician who, if necessary, will prescribe an examination and appropriate treatment. The use of safe folk remedies for constipation in a child should also be discussed with the doctor.

Norm for stool in infants

Before considering folk remedies, let's deal with the norm of the number of bowel movements. In children at different ages, the intestines are emptied at different frequencies. In the first days of life in babies, the number of bowel movements coincides with the number of feedings. After about 6 weeks, an indicator characterizing the frequencybowel movements, may vary:

1. In some babies, stools are observed up to 12 times a day. This is quite normal.
2. Other children may have bowel movements once every 3-5 days. This is also a normal indicator. A rare bowel movement indicates only that mother's milk is very good for the baby. He almost completely assimilates such food. With good he alth, no tension in the abdominal wall, normal weight gain, no treatment and nutritional correction is required.

Norm for artificial stools and older children

A different norm has been established for children who are bottle-fed. They should have stools at least once a day. Decreased bowel movements are treated as constipation. For other periods of life, the following norms for the frequency of bowel movements are established:

• 1-4 times a day after the introduction of complementary foods;
• 1 every 1-2 days at preschool age;
• 3 times a week for schoolchildren.

Water shortage

Before you start using any folk remedies for constipation in a child, it is recommended to deal with the causes of this problem, because it is much easier and more correct to prevent it. In most cases, an unpleasant symptom occurs due to any external factors, and not due to diseases or congenital anomalies in the structure of the intestine.

One of the most common causes of constipation is a lack of water in the diet. When a child is breastfed, he does not need to be fed. All necessarysubstances, including water, he receives with mother's milk. If the baby eats formula or complementary foods, then it is necessary to supplement it.

Unfortunately, no norm has been established that could show how much water a child needs to drink per day. The indicator depends on age, diet, and some other factors. Experts only recommend giving your baby at least 100-150 ml of water per day, excluding drinks and fluids in food.

Features of food

Parents tend to try to feed their children a variety of foods. However, growing kids are often naughty, refuse some dishes. For example, they are not attracted to vegetable purees that seem tasteless. Children sometimes refuse even fruit purees, and they eat various cereals and noodles with pleasure. With such a diet, constipation cannot be avoided. They arise due to a lack of dietary fiber. As a result, you will have to think about the rapid treatment of constipation in children with folk remedies or official drugs.

Another diet-related cause of constipation is the presence in the diet of too crushed, pureed food. Experts recommend not to abuse such dishes. The child should get used to eating pieces. You need to accustom the baby to the use of vegetables and fruits. Children love to eat beautiful dishes, so you need to use it. It is unlikely that a child will refuse to eat a carrot cut into flowers or stars, or some vegetable puree, supplemented with a sour cream face.

Psychological problems

Often constipation occurs due to psychological problems. Violation of the frequency of defecation is observed in those children who are early and aggressively taught to go to the potty. When kids are naughty, parents scold them. Children are frightened by screams and in the future begin to restrain the urge to defecate. Fecal masses accumulate in the intestine, compacted. This is how constipation occurs.

Older children also face psychological problems. For example, some schoolchildren do not go to toilets in educational institutions. Children do not like the atmosphere in which there is not enough privacy. Repels unpleasant odors and dirt from toilets. Children begin to restrain the urge to defecate, and at home they completely forget that they need to go to the toilet. The result is constipation.

Memo to parents

It is necessary to use folk remedies for constipation in a child very carefully, and in some cases it is generally worth abandoning them. Here's a little reminder:

1. You can not treat your baby yourself if he is not feeling well. If, for example, a child has severe pain, there is no gas discharge, then the cause of such a clinical picture may be acute intestinal obstruction. If such a diagnosis is suspected, the child should be urgently hospitalized in a surgical hospital.
2. Children's body differs from an adult in that it is still developing, it reacts completely differently to certain drugs. For this reason, it is recommended to treat constipation with folk remedies only after consulting a doctor.pediatrician.
3. You can not give various herbs, infusions, decoctions to children under 5-6 years of age (there are exceptions only for completely harmless drugs). It is also forbidden to use for treatment those plants that grew within the city, along roads, next to plants and factories.

Butter and castor oil for babies

Constipation in an infant is easy to recognize. In the presence of this problem, the baby cries, shudders, knocks with his legs. There is bloating. One of the safe folk remedies for constipation in infants is butter. It must be fresh, uns alted. It is enough for a baby to give half a teaspoon of butter once.

Many adults probably remember how they were scared of castor oil in childhood, and some had to take it for constipation. It is a well-known laxative. It promotes irritation of the intestinal receptors, a reflex increase in peristalsis. There are no harmful components in castor oil. This product is of plant origin. Babies do not need to drink castor oil. It will be enough for mom to lubricate the nipple with castor oil before feeding.

Fennel and dill for babies

Very effective folk remedy for constipation in a child is dill water. The recipe for its preparation has been handed down since ancient times. Dill water is considered a carminative, as it helps to eliminate colic. However, it can also help with constipation. Thanks to dill water, bowel function is normalized.

Dill water optionalcook on your own. It can simply be purchased at any pharmacy, although the remedy that is sold is not made on the basis of dill seeds, but on the basis of fennel seeds. Dill water is not considered a medicine. It refers to food products created specifically for children in their first year of life. Its price is about 200 rubles. for a 15 ml bottle.

You can cook dill water yourself. The recipe is very simple - 1 tsp. dried dill seeds (by the way, they are sold in a pharmacy) you need to pour 1 cup of boiling water, insist a little and strain after cooling. A ready-made remedy for a child with constipation and pain in the tummy is given several times a day, half a teaspoon.

What else can a mother do to a baby

Breast milk receives substances from those products that a woman consumes. For this reason, if the frequency of bowel movements in a child is violated, the mother should not only find a safe folk remedy for constipation at home, but also review her diet and normalize her drinking regimen. It is recommended to exclude from your daily menu:

• rice porridge;
• cabbage;
• beans;
• peas;
• mucus soups;
• black bread;
• jelly;
• strong tea;
• cocoa.

The most suitable table for mothers is number 3 according to Pevzner. If you exclude some foods from the proposed diet, then the diet will be ideal for preventing constipation and intestinal colic in infants. Women can eat various vegetables, fruits, herbs, cold soups, hard-boiled eggs. Recommended culinaryprocessing - steaming, boiling. Some vegetables and fruits can be eaten raw.

Beet juice for older kids

An excellent folk remedy for the quick treatment of constipation in children is beetroot juice. It stimulates the intestines, gives the body the necessary nutrients. It contains a wide range of vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus, etc. However, beets can also cause harm. It contains substances that irritate the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract. To avoid any negative consequences, children with constipation are given beetroot juice with the addition of water or other juices (for example, carrot).

This folk remedy for constipation is being prepared quickly. Required:

• take a solid root crop of medium size and regular shape;
• wash the beets well;
• remove leftover haulm;
• scald the beets with boiling water;
• grind the root crop using a grater (you can also use a juicer);
• squeeze out the resulting mass with gauze.

Beetroot juice immediately after preparation is not given to children. It is placed in a cupboard to stand for 2 hours. After this period of time, the juice is diluted and given to a baby suffering from constipation. Up to a year, a few drops are enough. A child older than one year may take several teaspoons.

Recipes for teens

For teenage children, the list of folk remedies for constipation is wider. One of them- honey. It is customary to use it for colds. Few people know that he is still one of the most effective folk remedies for the treatment of constipation. In order to cope with this delicate problem, doctors advise to dissolve a spoonful of honey in a glass of warm water and drink it in the morning on an empty stomach.

Helps with constipation joster laxative (buckthorn laxative). For the preparation of the drug, the fruits are taken. On their basis, folk healers prepare either a decoction or an infusion:

1. To prepare a decoction, 20 g of crushed fruits are poured into 200 ml of water. The mixture is put on fire and boiled for 10 minutes. After this, the remedy is insisted, filtered and taken 1 tbsp. l. three times a day.
2. To prepare the infusion 1 tbsp. l. pour a glass of boiling water and insist 2 hours in a warm place. After this time, the medicine is filtered. Drink it before going to bed for half a glass.

Use of fruits and berries

Constipation is eliminated not only by herbs and vegetable juices. A child can simply be offered fruits, berries or make delicious desserts from them. A suitable folk fast-acting laxative for constipation is an orange. If a child eats one fruit before going to bed, then the next day the intestines will be normally cleansed. There is only one nuance. The child should not be allergic to citrus fruits.

Orange is used by some people to make a dessert for constipation. Here is the recipe:

• 2 oranges cut into small cubes, put in a cup;
• pour sliced fruit with unsweetened naturalyogurt;
• add a couple of chopped prunes to the mixture.

With rare bowel movements, compote of dried apples and cherries can help. Folk healers also advise eating fresh blueberries. Only the berry, in their opinion, copes with constipation. Blueberry decoction has the opposite effect.

Comments from representatives of official medicine

Doctors advise parents not to experiment with home remedies for constipation. The causes of this problem must be clarified, so you need to consult a pediatrician. The specialist will prescribe an examination or recommend such remedies that will quickly relieve constipation and at the same time do not harm the child. Most often, preparations containing lactulose (dietary fibers that promote bowel movements) are prescribed. One of these drugs is Duphalac. It comes in the form of a syrup and is administered once in the morning. The laxative effect after taking it occurs after 2-10 hours.

Another effective and safe remedy is glycerin suppositories. In pharmacies, they are sold for both adults and children. Candles after the introduction melt, help soften hardened fecal masses, stimulate intestinal motility, facilitate the passage and removal of feces from the body.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that constipation in a child is a problem that requires special attention from parents. It is important to consider not only the frequency of bowel movements, but also additional symptoms. With severe pain, the presence of othersymptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor. It is possible that the child has some other serious he alth problem. If there are no suspicious symptoms, you can try some quick-acting folk remedy for constipation or a safe medicine.