Medical Questions » Children Questions » Question No. 1145
| Question: | My daughter suf fers from chronic constipation, even though she eats plenty of fruit and vegetables and drinks lots of fluid. Any suggestions? |
| Answer: | If her diet is good that is, she' s eating plenty of naturally high-fibre foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, beans, lentils and wholegrains such as oats and brown rice, and drinking 1.5 litres of water a day then perhaps something she' s eating is aggravating her digestive tract. The most common suspect is wheat, so try eliminating all wheat from her diet (bread, cereals, crackers, biscuits, cakes and so on), and substitute rye bread, oat cereals, oatcakes, etc., instead. If there' s no improvement after 10 days, you could extend this to all gluten grains (that' s wheat plus rye, barley and oats) for a further 10 days. Healthfood shops sell gluten-free products to use as substitutes.
Alongside this, you could try soaking a tablespoon of golden linseeds (from healthfood shops) in a glass of water overnight and giving it to her to drink in the morning. A good multivitamin and mineral with magnesium (needed for muscle contractions, so helps with peristalsis) and vitamin C will also help provide the nutrients she needs for a healthy gut.
A daily probiotic containing ' friendly' bacteria that aid digestive health would be a good idea too. If there' s still no improvement, I' d take her to visit a nutritional therapist, who can do a test to check on the balance of bacteria in her gut and check for parasites. |
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