Last week was an interesting one, as a parent, you're always concerned about your children's health, especially if they are eating and eliminating properly. It started last week with the question between my wife and I "When was the last time he pooped?"
'Did you wipe him yesterday?'
'No, I didn't either, has it been at least two days or more since he's gone to the bathroom!'
Yes, as most of you parents know, these conversations happen, especially while raising a four-year-old boy. At this point in time, it's usually normal for a lot of parents to forecast what's going to happen if your precious four-year-old continues on lockdown and that is where some creative thinking comes into play. Logical or not you're in an emotional state, in our Italian family, it's called pulling out the panic button, and hitting it repeatedly. At that moment, I had to stop and think, "I know how to fix this"! Sitting in hundreds of hours of nutrition education seminars over 17 years indeed does pay off. Usually, when I think of
constipation, it's caused by some food sensitivity, but Jackie and I already run a gluten
free/almost grain free household, and the two boys in the house, (one being myself) are also dairy-free. Does the fix involve something drastic such as an enema, or an
aggressive laxative? Nope, just some pure magnesium citrate. If you're new to magnesium citrate, it's a fantastic mineral that almost everyone is deficient. I take 3 grams per day, but that's a story for a different time.
In the cases of constipation, nothing works quite as well as the citrate version of magnesium. How does magnesium citrate work? It's quite simple really, magnesium citrate relaxes your bowels and pulls water into your intestines, allowing you to pass the hardened stool without any strain. In the case of our four-year-old son, the product I used was Mag Calm Pro by TonicSea.
As you know with young ones, flavor is really important, and this powder magnesium was
formulated to taste great!
Constipation Protocol for Children:
3 oz water in a shaker cup
1/3 scoop Mag Calm Pro
1/2 scoop Probiotic Pro*
*Probiotic Pro is a great tasting grape flavored high-dose probiotic powder.
(Both my kids lovethis product, they beg me for more) Once we realized that our four-year-old was backed up, I gave him the above protocol in the morning, at noon and one more dose before going to bed. Around 10:30 AM the next day, I'm proud to say the eagle has landed :) The question is, how do I know if my son or daughter is suffering from mild constipation or not, and how often should they be moving?
Mild constipation is something everyone today suffers from unless they're dealing with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Why? The root cause goes back to diet and not getting enough fruits and vegetables that provide the needed magnesium and fiber. Mild constipation can cause reabsorption of toxins from our large intestines that can cause long-term health issues. The bare minimum children need to be moving their bowels is at least once if not twice per day. Their stools should be consistency toothpaste. Rabbit pellets, grunting or hearing them hold their breath while pushing are signs of constipation. These are sign that your child could benefit from one serving of the above protocol per day. Remember, diet is critical, and I cannot stress this enough. I always suggest starting and maintaining an 80/20 rule following a paleo diet. Only cheating 20% of the time, which translates to about one lunch and evening per week. There are many healthy desserts that are not considered cheating.
If you run into a challenging constipation issue as we did, feel free to run this protocol two or three times per day until your child starts regularly moving again. Trust me, it will happen!
Your partner in Health,
Jonathan Ciaccio
Founder of Suppys