Best Supplement for Constipation. Plus, More on Laxatives and Stimulants!
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Sometimes kids can eat and drink all the right things for good gut health, and they’re still constipated. Or, maybe you’ve got a picky eater who doesn’t get enough fiber or fluids. What do you do then?
This is where a little help from over-the-counter supplements, laxatives, and stimulants may come in to lend a hand. So let’s talk about which is the best supplement for constipation.
If you’ve looked for help and gone to the digestive health section at the pharmacy, you likely were overwhelmed with all the available products, and rightly so! All you want is to find the best supplement for constipation.
While we wish there were a single supplement to solve your kid’s constipation. Unfortunately, there isn’t a single “best” one for every child and situation.
In this article, we’ll guide you on the best common supplements, laxatives, and stimulants we use with our clients to help relieve constipation. That way, you won’t spend a ton of money on products that may or may not be the right solution.
Prebiotic and Probiotic Fiber Supplements
Adding a supplement that contains prebiotic fiber assists in boosting the amount of overall fiber in your kiddo’s day and helping their friendly gut bacteria. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that feeds the probiotics (friendly bacteria) in our gut.
Inulin and chicory root are common prebiotic fibers found in supplements and foods touted as “high fiber.”
Adding prebiotic fiber in supplement form can be the first step in changing the consistency of the stool to ease constipation before trying laxatives. If you’d rather use foods, prebiotic fiber can be found in foods, such as:
Onions
Bananas
Garlic
Leeks
Soybeans
Chicory root
Honey
Some artichokes
It’s crucial to remember that water should always accompany fiber to help things keep sliding through the bowel. If you add fiber without enough water, it can make constipation worse.
If you want to add a fiber supplement, the key is to go slow. That way, you’ll reduce any possible gas or bloating, especially if your child isn’t already eating many fruits, vegetables, or whole grains.
Here are a few fibers, prebiotic, and probiotic supplements we recommend.
Hy Fiber Kids: Hy Fiber is a liquid that has a mild citrus taste. It’s made up of dietary fiber and prebiotic FOS. Your child can drink it alone or you can mix it into another drink – we recommend mixing it into lemonade.
Begin Health Growing Up Prebiotics is another prebiotic fiber we often recommend. It comes in individual serving powder packets. It’s flavorless, so it can be mixed into foods or drinks. As a bonus, you can add it to your baked goods!
This is an easy and beneficial option for adding fiber to your child’s diet, especially for those younger kids and more selective eaters. Growing Up Prebiotics help feed beneficial gut bacteria for digestive comfort, regularity, and softer stools.1
If your child is getting enough fiber and fluids, and their stool is moving through regularly but is hard and difficult to pass, then osmotic laxatives are worth a look.
Osmotic Laxatives — Natural Calm vs. MiraLAX
Osmotic laxatives soften stool by pulling water into the stool from the intestines. This type of laxative doesn’t stimulate a bowel movement. The goal of using osmotic laxatives is to soften the stool but not turn it into liquid.
Natural supplements use different forms of magnesium: magnesium citrate, magnesium oxide, and magnesium hydroxide. All three forms of magnesium work essentially the same way and the results are the same.
Regardless of which osmotic laxative you use, the goal for softening is a #3 or #4 on the Bristol Stool Chart.
We often get asked about Natural Calm vs. MiraLAX. Let’s dive deeper into both.
MiraLAX seems to be the first choice of pediatricians and gastroenterologists. MiraLAX consists of a substance called polyethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol is derived from petroleum. It is used in a lot of ways from industrial manufacturing to medicine.2 Polyethylene glycol is the ingredient that makes MiraLAX an osmotic laxative.
MiraLAX can be effective if your doctor has recommended a cleanout. While many kids we work with come to us on MiraLAX, most parents desire a more natural solution.
Natural Vitality Calm Powder is a magnesium citrate supplement we support as a more natural approach. Natural Vitality Calm Powder comes in multiple flavors or unflavored. The powder form also can be very effective for cleanouts.
Due to Natural Vitality Calm being magnesium citrate, these powders have a citrus taste to them. Even the unflavored version is a bit citrusy. We recommend mixing this powder in something like lemonade or orange juice. For mixing instructions, check out this quick video
Natural Vitality also offers Natural Calm Gummies. Kids like these gummies for constipation. The gummies can be used daily to maintain soft stools. The texture of these gummies is more like a gum drop rather than a fruit snack gummy. Another Magnesium gummy we recommend is the Chapter One gummy.
Mag Go Kids Powder is another osmotic laxative we recommend. It’s a slightly different supplement in the form of magnesium — magnesium oxide — which works the same way as magnesium citrate. Annette and Jessica did a blind taste test of the newest version of Mag Go. Check it out here.
Dulcolax Soft Chews is a fourth option for an osmotic laxative which consists of a third kind of magnesium — magnesium hydroxide. This product has more ingredients than the Natural Vitality Calm and Mag Go Kids and has similar resulting soft stools.
We’ve got another blog about the best magnesium supplement for constipation in children.
For slow motility or a very slow movement of stool through the bowel, adding fiber or using osmotic laxatives aren’t the answers and won’t help relieve your child’s constipation. This is where stimulant laxatives can play a role.
Stimulant Laxatives
Stimulant laxatives encourage your kiddo’s gut to have a bowel movement. They stimulate the muscles that line the intestines to contract and move the stool out of their body quickly (these muscle contractions are called peristalsis).
Stimulant laxatives should be used when the stool is soft but is not moving through the bowel. This is often the case with kids who withhold their stool or don’t get the urge to go. If the stool isn’t soft, you’ll be stimulating a hard poop which could be painful to pass.
There are several options for stimulant laxatives that are composed of a medication called Sennoside. You’ll see Sennoside listed as the active ingredient on the label. Here are some of the stimulant laxatives with this medication included in them.
ExLax comes in chocolate and is well-accepted by kids’ palates. It also comes in a pill version for kids who can swallow it or can be crushed up and mixed into something your child will eat.
Genexa Lax-Aid comes in small tablets and offers more organic ingredients.
Dulcolax is a different type of stimulant using Bisacodyl. It is a small pill that is easily swallowed whole.
Stimulants have some small challenges to consider. The first is timing. These laxatives usually work within 6-8 hours.
Second, the child needs to be awake when the urge hits so they can make it to the potty.
Finally, it can also take some time to determine the correct amount needed to stimulate a daily bowel movement.
Even given these challenges, we find that they’re easy to get into children, and they are very effective.
If using a stimulant laxative doesn’t feel like the right option for you, then suppositories or an enema may be the right fit.
Suppositories and Enemas
Last but not least, and always there in a pinch, are suppositories and enemas. If a “bottoms-up” approach is needed, then a suppository or enema can be used. An enema is when a liquid is inserted into the rectum to produce a bowel movement quickly — within minutes.
If you choose to use suppositories or enemas, be sure you and your child are at home and near the bathroom so they can get to the potty quickly.
Options for suppositories and enemas we recommend include:
Pedialax solid glycerin suppository that we usually suggest when a child is under the age of 2. It is a solid form of glycerin that is inserted into the rectum. It does take time for the glycerin to melt and then produce a bowel movement.
Pedialax liquid glycerin suppository is intended for children and can produce a bowel movement within 2-5 minutes. This is the suppository we use most often in our clinic.
A saline enema is more likely needed in older children or adults or when a different stimulant is needed rather than glycerin. It’s larger than the glycerin suppository and uses a saline solution to wash stool from the rectum rather than glycerin. Some of our clients have had a lot of luck with the Ducosol mini enema
One thing we’ve learned working with our clients is that one constipation supplement and approach doesn’t work for everyone. There is some trial and error involved to find the right solution for your child and sometimes, it’s a combination of them.
Combining Approaches
We often employ two different protocols for kids who withhold and need more than just stool softening and/or stimulation. One is Dr. Hodge’s MOPs protocol. The other is Dr. Collin’s Soiling Solutions method. Both have worked very well for the kids we work with, but they require strict adherence and guidance.
If you think your child would benefit from either of these methods, we’d be happy to help you with that.
Looking for Another Solution?
Our Poop Boot Camp has been a game-changer for many of our clients. You’ll get the knowledge to know what’s going on with your kiddo and the tools needed to resolve constipation once and for all. You’ll also learn more about the best supplement for constipation.
We know you probably don’t talk about your child’s constipation with your friends or fellow moms. Yet, you still need support. When you purchase Poop Boot Camp, you also get to join our private Facebook group. We've also got a video on the best supplement for constipation.
Our Facebook group is filled with parents in the same situation. You get a safe, supportive space to talk about what’s going on and even more information on constipation and solutions.
Poop Boot Camp gives you the knowledge, and our Facebook group gives you the support to help your child get back to being a kid and not worry about going to the bathroom.
Note: Some links are affiliate links. We receive some compensation when you purchase through these links.
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol
