Healthy Digestion
Preventing constipation can often be a simple case of altering your or your child's diet to incorporate more fibre and fluids. This can be achieved by incorporating more foods which are high in fibre into the family's meals or snacks. To restore or maintain your body's regularity adults and children over 6 years could try a high fibre top up remedy, such as Fybogel Hi-Fibre, which works naturally with the body to provide gentle constipation relief (contains ispaghula husk, always read the label). Eating regular meals high in fibre and drinking plenty of water can help to soften your stools and make them easier to pass.
Click here to see a great animation of how Fybogel Hi-Fibre works!
But how much fibre should a child be eating?
Children are not simply small adults. Their overriding need is for energy and too much fibre fills them up and affects their ability to absorb nutrients like calcium from food. This can affect growth. Introduce fibre gradually to babies and toddlers as you would in any process of weaning, with simple fruit purees, peeled fruit, sieved or mashed vegetables and never serve bran or large amounts of wholemeal foods to very young children as this type of insoluble fibre passes through the system whole and is a little too drastic for them. Gradually allow peels and skins into the diet by the time a child is school age, as these are the most fibrous parts of the fruits. However, it is worth pointing out that babies and toddlers are rarely constipated.
School age or nursery children over the age of four are the more likely to become constipated, as a child is away from the comfort and security of home. Eating strange food and going to unfamiliar toilets, causes anxiety and can lead to constipation. A little judicious care with small amounts of high-fibre food such as porridge, muesli with dried fruits and bananas should soon restore the situation to a smoothly working bowel.
The recommended fibre intake for adults is currently 18g per day, but if you're prone to bouts of constipation, you should try and increase this to 25-30g daily. Fybogel Hi-Fibre can be used in adults wherever increased fibre is needed in your diet to help relieve constipation.
Click here for your digestive health assessment to see if there's room for improvement!
How much fibre is there in my everyday foods?
| Wholemeal Bread | 1 small slice | 1.5g fibre |
| White Bread | 1 small slice | 0.8g fibre |
| Cornflakes | 1 small bowl | 0.2g fibre |
| Weetabix | 1 biscuit | 1.9g fibre |
| Digestive Biscuit | 1 biscuit | 0.3g fibre |
| Apple | 1 small | 1.3g fibre |
| Banana | 1 medium | 1.1g fibre |
| Grapes | 15 | 0.9g fibre |
| Strawberries | 5 | 0.7g fibre |
| Pear | 1 medium | 3.3g fibre |
| Orange | 1 small | 2.0g fibre |
| Carrots | 2 tablespoons | 1.2g fibre |
| Oven Chips | 1 small portion | 1.2g fibre |
| Peas | 2 tablespoons | 3.0g fibre |
| Baked Beans | 2 tablespoons | 3.0g fibre |
| White Pasta | 100g cooked | 1.2g fibre |
| Wholewheat Pasta | 100g cooked | 3.5g fibre |
| White Rice | 100g cooked | 0.1g fibre |
| Brown Rice | 100g cooked | 0.8g fibre |
Tips for sneaking more fibre into your child.
Swap snacks and treats like chocolate and crisps for oatcakes, flapjacks or cereal bars
Swap chips for jacket potatoes with the skin left on - and even better add baked beans on top!
Use wholemeal bread in sandwiches, or if they won't eat wholemeal try a high fibre white bread such as Mighty White.
You should try and encourage your child to drink 6-8 glasses of non-fizzy drinks a day, however some children find this difficult. Fluid intake can also be increased by including foods with a high water content into meals such as fruit & veg (melon, tomatoes and cucumber are all great), cereals with milk, gravy, custard, soups - even ice lollies and jelly! A diet high in fruit and vegetables will give you up to two pints of fluid per day!
Click here to view a suggested 7 day meal planner for children
For more expert help and information on constipation in you and your child visit www.constipationadvice.co.uk
