Constipation in children is a really common problem. Fortunately, there's a really easy Moo
to Poop technique that can help children overcome constipation and achieve complete bowel emptying.
Hi, I'm Michelle, and today I'm going to show you how to help your child overcome constipation and
achieve complete bowel emptying. Now we're going to talk about three things. The first, we're going
to talk about the basic setup, because the setup is really important to achieving overall success.
The second thing we're going to talk about is the position so getting your child in the
right position for bowel emptying. And the final thing we're going to talk about with this setup,
you'll notice how some children hold on to the toilet when they're using an adult ball. And this
is because they're often fearful of falling it falling into the toilet bowel or becoming stuck in
the toilet seat. So we want to make sure that they have a really good setup right from the word go.
Now, there's two solutions to this problem. The first solution is to use an insert. So
there's many different types of inserts available, and you can see them in the image up here.
So by placing an insert into the toilet seat, this allows the child to then sit on the toilet seat,
and then allows them to relax their pelvic floor muscles and relax their core muscles as opposed
to bracing them to hold themselves tight. You can also use with a younger child, of course,
a potty. Now potty is ideal, because the potty assumes the normal, the natural squatting position
for bowel emptying and it also encourages the child to have their feet flat and feel really
stable, particularly a younger child. So, in that potty position that you can see here,
they're going to have optimal positioning and optimal setup for bowel emptying.
Now, the second really important thing is, as I've already alluded to, are to have really
good foot support. So you can also use for the older child and over the toilet seat and you
can see that pictured here with a ladder. So the ladder is great because the ladder
actually caters to a growing child because they can use the first step first of all, as the
smaller and younger to support their feet and then as they grow,
they can use the lower step. And I use these with my children as well when they're growing up.
So, this over the toilet seat with a ladder is a really effective solution and as I've already
mentioned, using a potty is great for younger children because their feet are flat and stable.
Now, the second thing is the basic setup for positioning.
So what we want to do is have the child and I'll demonstrate here too, the child needs to be
sitting upright and not in that slumped forward position. So if they're sitting upright and
leaning slightly forward, ideally with their hands on their thighs, or their elbows on their thighs,
and their feet need to be flat on the ground. So that is really important as well. So she's
got the child sitting tall, inward curve in the lower back and leaning forward.
If your child tends to slumped forward, as you can see in the position in the
position here in this image, then you can use something like a large picture book to
encourage the child to step toward perhaps an iPad in front of them, or also to this potties with
actual hand support. So you can see here as well, these are also available to encourage the child to
sit upright. Now the third thing we need to know and to go through is the Moo to Poop technique
and this is the most important part of the bowel emptying but overcoming constipation in children.
So it's really nice to make this a game and you might say to the child, we're going to play the
Moo to Poop game, you start with two really deep breaths, because this allows the child to relax
and to relax their pelvic floor, particularly if they're a little bit reticent to be using to
going to the toilet, and using the potty or the toilet. So, we might say, Take a big breath in,
into your belly and your watch the belly expand, and let it go. And again, another big breath in,
fill up your belly, and then let it go. Now, we get the child to say mmm and you can say it loudly
and you'll notice that if you say mmmm yourself, mmmm, you'll make your waist
wide by making your waist wide. This is where the pushing pressure comes from And you'll feel
that if you put your hands on your side, and you can even put your hands on the hands of your on
the waist of your child to actually feel that as well. So mmmm... then the key part is to say ooo,
so the ooo, in the moo, makes them bold their tummy forward and you'll feel that and you look
for that in your child that abdominal bulge forward because that relaxes and opens the
anal sphincter. So if you say that now, ooo... you'll feel the annals to relaxing and opening up,
when they brace and push down, the anal sphincter closes and this contributes to
constipation in children. So we want to overcome that. So mmmm... oooo, really loud if you can,
if they need to push any further, mmmm.... again, so, that is the Moo to Poop technique.
Now with this, you'd want to have the child on the toilet for three to five minutes maximum
no longer and that applies to adults too, because we don't want to strain
through the pelvic floor, three to five minutes maximum on the toilet seat,
also to the best times to use this technique. Obviously, if the child expresses an urge,
or if you notice that they might be indicating that they might be wanting to empty their bowel,
put them on the potty or the toilet seat. Otherwise, the best times are after meals,
breakfast, lunch and dinner, they're the times have been more likely to empty their bowel.
And finally, it's really great to celebrate their success if they achieved bowel emptying
by giving the child a treat. That's something that they enjoy and some prize, saying great
work. You know, let's do this. Great work on the Moo to Poop game. Let's try that again next time.
So, we've gone through a number of things, haven't we? We've talked about
the basic setup, the importance of habit, importance of having an insert or a potty.
We also talked about the importance of having foot support. Then we talked about the key
features of the technique or the position actually we talked about the position in
that lane forward supported position and then we talked about the Moo to Poop technique.
So, I really hope this helps you with your child overcoming constipation,
I'd really welcome your comments or questions in the comment section below
and also too if you found the video helpful. As always, I really appreciate it if you can give the
video a like below because then that encourages YouTube to share this video with other parents
that might be having problems with constipation in their child as well. So, I'd really like to say
thank you for watching today. I look forward to seeing you next time. Goodbye for now.