Unstuck - The Official Constipation Coach Blog

Have you ever found yourself wondering: why is my kid (or my student, or my patient) so grumpy lately?  I learned early on from my incontinence patients and their families that constipated kids can sometimes be irritable kids. They have outbursts, they refuse to participate in activities, they just want to sit around.  Time after time, I advise families to do a clean-out (after checking with their doctor, which I always recommend), and they come back gushing: “she’s eating so much more!” “He’s running around and playing instead of just moping!”  It makes sense, right? I won’t make assumptions about...

A speech therapist friend of mine reached out a few weeks ago to ask for advice for a family with a five-year-old child who refused to poop on the toilet.  I get this question a lot, and, frankly, it’s part of the reason I started this newsletter and wrote The Constipation Game Plan. As a physical therapist, I can teach kids all about how to sit on the toilet, relax their pelvic floor muscles, and use their belly muscles to bear down to push out a poop. But when I evaluate a kid who is refusing to sit on the...

It happened again last week: We sent our daughter off to a track meet and didn’t double check that she had her water bottle. If we don’t ask at least three times for this child to grab her water bottle, she will not remember it. So she spent an afternoon running in the sun with no breaks to rehydrate.  This is the story of our daughter’s athletic career. She doesn’t remember water bottles, she rarely pauses for drink breaks, and she almost never reports feeling thirsty. Where I know I would be dying of thirst, she just keeps on running,...

I do love a good sun salutation. For myself, and for my kids with bowel and bladder challenges. The deep breaths help relax the nervous system and promote digestion. The stretches help remove tension from the legs and hips and, often, the pelvic floor. The brief moments of plank help strengthen and engage the core.  Best of all, the breathing combined with movement seems to help connect the mind to the body, and to give the “all-good” signal to all involved systems. If you’ve read my book, you know that I recommend yoga as a way for kids to get...