Is your child constipated?

By PROF DR CHRISTOPHER BOEY

While rarely a sign of serious ill health, constipation may cause your child physical discomfort and emotional stress.

DOES your child go to the toilet regularly? Are his bowel movements easy and comfortable? You most probably remember a time when your child enjoyed regular bowel movements, especially during his first year of life. Right now, getting your child to pass a bowel movement may seem like an everyday chore. Not only that, he may have difficulty passing stools. So what happened? What caused your child to develop constipation?

Your child has constipation if he passes stools less frequently than usual and has more difficulty passing them. The most common cause among children is stool withholding. Over the years, your child may have begun resisting the urge to go to the toilet on purpose. This habit might have started when he experienced pain for the first time while passing stools.

The pain may have been caused by a previous illness. Your child associated that pain with passing stools and now shies away from the toilet.