Tag Archives: constipation

Is Rice Cereal Necessary?

Parents often look forward to each month of their baby’s life with excitement and anticipation. They look at charts and articles that spell out what the typical baby will be able to accomplish each week or month of his life. Moms and dads around the world cheer wildly when their brilliant baby reaches the next big milestone: smiling, supporting the head, rolling over, or sitting up for the first time. Parents go on treasure hunts in their children’s mouths, hoping to feel the sharpness of the first tooth. One “first” that many parents look forward to – at least first-time … Continue reading →

Dealing with Constipation

Most kids experience the discomfort of constipation at one time or another. Just type the words “constipation” and “toddler” into your favorite search engine, and you’ll see hundreds of results from message board moms throughout the country. So, it would seem that the topic has been sufficiently covered. For our daughter, however, constipation is a more serious matter, and it will likely be one she will have to deal with for the rest of her life. In addition to being born with a detached esophagus, Lily was also diagnosed with an imperforated anus; instead of a normal anal opening, she … Continue reading →

Dealing With Constipation During Pregnancy

It’s one of the most common complaints in pregnancy. The most regular of women can suddenly find themselves all stopped up. It’s extremely uncomfortable, even downright painful sometimes. Constipation during pregnancy is caused by the hormone progesterone which slows digestion, and is often made worse by all the iron in your prenatal vitamins. Fortunately there are some things you can do to help with constipation that are completely safe for you and your baby. * First of all, talk to your doctor about your prenatal vitamin. It may have more iron than you need. There are many different supplements out … Continue reading →

The Poop Problem I Never Expected

Warning: I’m going to talk about poop. Okay, this is nothing new. Courtney and I talk about poop all the time in the Pets Blog. It’s just part of being a pet owner. Now that you’ve been fairly warned… on to the poop! My dog Moose is usually quite the pooper. That dog can squat a good four times per day, if not more. (He’s not quite the level of pooper that my dog Miko used to be — that dog had an uncanny ability to poop one more time than I had bags with me. If I had one, … Continue reading →

Stress and Digestion

Stress affects most organs of the body and the stomach is no exception. Stress can cause those familiar knots in the stomach, some types of ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, poor absorption of nutrients leading to further ill health, and oversecretion of stomach acids. If all this sounds like a pain in the gut, it is! Of course, not all these conditions are caused by stress alone, but a person who is subjected to chronic stressors in their life will almost always suffer some form of digestional difficulty. It may be a sore stomach, frequent burping, heartburn or gastric reflux, or bouts … Continue reading →

Chronic Constipation or Encopresis

What It Is Chronic Constipation or Encopresis happens when a child holds in their poop. Their rectum becomes enlarged and the child loses the urge to poop. Hard stool builds up in the anus. Often runny stool will leak around the hard stool without the child’s knowledge. My Experience Just after my daughter turned three she had a bout of constipation. It hurt to poop so she started holding it. A week had passed by before I realized that she hadn’t pooped. I called her doctor and they had me come in. The nurses tried to use their fingers to … Continue reading →