This recipe was born from my need to help my little boy with his chronic constipation issues. If anyone out there has similar problems with their child, I invite you to add some advice to the comments on ways you helped (or are helping) your child through this.
Having a child that doesn’t want to poop is very stressful. Since I have a tendency to over-internalize negative things in my life, I feel that him not pooping is my fault. That somehow I have done something to make him want to take power in his life and this is how he is showing me who is the boss of him. I feel that somehow in the potty training process I screwed something up or I was disciplining him too much so he is acting out in this way because he knows I can’t make him poop. There have been many nights when I would lay awake trying to figure out a way I can help him.
The three best things I have done that have worked for us is relax about the issue, give him 2 tsp of Laxaday in his apple juice pretty consistently and give him lots of fruit. By not forcing him I feel that I’m giving him back control but I don’t want him to be in pain when he goes, hence the Laxaday. I always have clementines, grapes, apples and a mix of berries in the fridge for him to snack on. His record is eating 6 clementines in a row and he still didn’t poop for two days after eating all that. He will also eat a half pint of blueberries or raspberries at a time and he drinks lots of water. Fibre and water are not the issues with this kid and he loved these muffins.
Here is a link to the Canadian Paediatric Society’s article on Managing Functional Constipation in Children. I found this very helpful.
- reward — KinderEggs (success)
- making him sit on the toilet (epic failure)
- letting him watch a movie on the PlayBook (sometimes works)
- lots of fruits and vegetables (he still holds it)
- Laxaday also called Miralax (very successful non-stimulant laxative)
- reverting to Pullups sometimes when he has accidents (out of necessity – otherwise we wouldn’t leave the house)
- when he shows signs he needs to go we take his pants off (works pretty well, easier for him to run to the toilet)
- cutting out dairy for 2 weeks (no positive effect and he didn’t get worse when we reintroduced dairy)
- remaining calm and accepting when he wants to stop trying to go (very successful)
Please add to this list of tips or articles that you have read in the comments. If you have gone through this problem with your kid then sharing what you have learned will surely help other parents. Some readers have also added recipe suggestions for some dietary needs of their children.
Regarding the recipe, I really like making these in the mini-muffin size. They are so cute and they freeze beautifully. I have some in my freezer right now and to thaw them I just pop them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. I just take them out as needed.
Applesauce, Prune and Milled Flaxseed Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed pitted prunes
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup milled flaxseed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, flaxseed, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set this aside.
- In a food processor, add the prunes and apple sauce and blitz them until the mixture is the texture of sticky applesauce with no big lumps of prune left. You will get about 1 2/3 cup of the puree.
- In another medium bowl add the prune and apple sauce puree and mix in the honey, melted butter and brown sugar with a wooden spoon.
- Add the egg to the wet mixture and stir well to combine.
- When all the wet ingredients are well mixed, including the milk, add the flour mixture and stir until the dry ingredients just disappear into the wet mixture. Use as few turns of the spoon as you can. Over mixing will give you tough muffins.
- Spoon muffin batter into lined muffin tins. I use a cookie scooper for the mini muffins and a larger ice cream scoop for the regular muffins. Fill the papers to about 3/4 full.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes for the mini muffins and 15-18 minutes for the larger muffins. A toothpick will come out clean when inserted to test when they are done.
I have a kid like this (my youngest). I had/have the same problem and have my entire life. I will have to try this recipe! We recently started giving him probiotics everyday and that seems to be helping.
Great tip! Thanks. I will try probiotics for Timothy as well.
Both my son and daughter have pooping issues. My daughter take an adult doseof miralax once a day and she ggo’s no problem. She even make sure to tell me as soon as I get home from work how many times she went and wether it was a good poop or a hard poop. My son on the other hand know 7 has got to the point where he can poop on his own with out help. But mostof the time won’t. He holds it in or go’s a lil in his underwear which started when he started school but now its when he go’s to his friend house or when my aunt watches him when i am at work. The doctors said it has never been the kid’s diets we feed them a lot of fiber rich foods. His is now some kind of complex what it is I am trying to figure out. So I have gone back to giving him miralax once a day in hopes we can fix it.
I’m happy to hear that you have found a way that helps your little ones. It is really a struggle to help them through it. For our little guy, we still have to be quite rigid about ‘poo time’ which is right after dinner. Even if he says that he doesn’t have to go, he has to sit on the toilet and try before he can have dessert. He is five now and I think we will be doing this for a long time to come.
My son withheld too. We used to play a game where he sat on the toilet and I guessed if he was “pushing” or not. Of course I knew when he was but i guessed wrong plenty to make him giggle. Eventually success!
That is a great idea. We are letting him read with his Leap Frog Tag reader and we will read with him as well so that he stays on the toilet longer. I like the idea of adding a game to it.
can i use ground flaxseed meal instead of the milled flaxseed?
Absolutely! They are the same thing it just depends on what term the manufacturer uses. Thanks for asking – gives me a chance to clarify.
I found your recipe on Pinterest and am excited to try it. My son is 4 and witholds and its terrible.. I’ll try anything : ) Thanks!
I hope it helps. I know this issue is relatively common but it is so stressful and I am also open to trying anything to help my son get over this issue. Best of luck to you, Jen.
Thanks for the recipe! My 2.5 year old daughter has been eating these muffins for breaskfast all week and magic! No more constipation!
So glad to hear that! This totally made my day. I know what a challenge it is to have a little one struggle with constipation and, in our case, withholding.
I’m going through the same thing with my youngest child, she’s 3 years old and it’s preventing her from becoming potty trained:( one thing I did for her was eliminate cows milk from her diet and now she only gets almond milk. It actually helped for a few weeks…
That is so difficult. I eventually went to a paediatrician and she gave me some suggestions of how to help him. They just reaffirmed what I knew needed to be done.
If you are able, try and see your child’s doctor and make it clear that you don’t believe it is straight up constipation and withholding.
I hope these muffins help keep her healthy and perhaps keep things moving. Best of luck. I will likely write a follow up post describing how we eventually overcame this. Every child is different but hopefully our experiences could help with some ideas that others can use to incorporate into their own struggles.
Hello! These look great, thanks for posting. My little girl has been dealing with painful constipation for awhile now. She doesn’t go for days and when she does, it’s hard, so it’s painful and she cries. I hate that she’s in pain and I’m trying to help her in any way I can. I think she would like these, but I was wondering if you would know a good substitute for the honey? Since she JUST turned a year, I am still a little reluctant to give it to her.
It is just awful watching the little ones struggle with constipation. I hope these muffins help her. They do freeze well, and the mini-muffins are nice for little hands. I would substitute maple syrup for the honey so that you could still use a natural sugar until you are ready to introduce honey into her diet. The maple will have a lovely flavour as well.
Best of luck with everything.
Hello. We are also in the constipated boat. Is it still a problem for you? I think two of our triggers are egg and gluten. I just made some raw prune balls which was very helpful too. And often kids are not drinking enough. So we make lots of smoothies these days.
Wil try your muffins today!
Thanks for posting.
Thankfully we have moved past his issue with constipation. We do find that he does not drink enough sometimes so we have to stay on top of him regarding drinking enough water. Also, if he has too much dairy then we see hints of old bad habits crop up. It’s great that you have been able to identify some triggers.
We’re having the same issue, but I have a picky eater too. Could I add chocolate chips to the recipe? I think I’d have better luck getting him to try them if chocolate was in the muffin.
Such a funny thing about picky eaters – my son doesn’t like bits of things in muffins so chocolate chips wouldn’t work for him. I think it would be fine to add them since it doesn’t have a strong apple flavour and the prune adds some richness to the flavour. I hope making them ‘chocolate muffins’ works for your little one.
How much miralax are you adding to the recipe? 4yo is withholding!!! Today is day 7. Thanks!
Hi Adrienne,
I don’t add miralax to the muffins themselves. I would give my son some mixed with juice. The amount I would give him would vary so I wouldn’t want to suggest an amount. I would talk to your pharmacist or your doctor to find out what they suggest. If I gave him too much he would end up having an accident which was upsetting for everyone. I really understand your desperation. I would lose sleep over this issue and worry about it all day when he had a long stretch without going. I added a small amount (1/4 -1/2 tsp) to his juice once daily for upwards of 6 months until he was going every day. The longest my son withheld was 8 days. I hope everything works out.
Making these right now! But am I missing when to add the milk? I’m guessing just with the other wet mixture?
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry that I didn’t see your comment until just now. Yes – add the milk to the other wet ingredients. I will clarify it on the recipe. Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate the feedback. I hope they turned out well for you.
Hey! I wonder if you can substitute oat flour for half the flour??
I just made these for my dad who takes pain Meds and needs a little help in the poop department! I substituted 1/2 flour for 1/2 steal cut oats. They were delish!!!!! Now just pray they help him in the bathroom department!
I hope they helped! Muffins are great to sub flours with. I’m glad you were able to work out what substitutions work best for you.
Thanks so much for the recipe – I’m making them now for my 18mo who has struggled with constipation her whole life. A quick question – is the batter generally quite thick? I might have gone wrong somewhere converting to metric, as mine is very very thick!
It is fairly thick but you could always add a little more apple sauce if you want to loosen it up a little. I hope your little one gets through this. It is so challenging for everyone involved.
I’m going to try these muffins for my son today! He is three and a very picky eater but loves muffins. We finally began potty training about a month ago (he has a speech delay so he is a late trainer) and he does great for pee but the poop is a WHOLE other ball game. He struggled with constipation as an infant, but has been fine since…until potty training that is! We’ve tried just about everything, from smoothies, to miralax, prune juice, flax oil, and coconut milk with no success. We eventually had to bring him to the dr after 5 days of no poop and he had been in a pain with a belly ache for a few days. Unfortunately we have had to give him three enemas to make him go because he gets so uncomfortable. I’m hoping these muffins will do the trick! Thanks so much 🙂
Oh wow. That sounds so challenging. My son had difficultly with speech as well. We found that we had to get him to sit on the toilet and try after every meal but this was after over a year of trying different things. We went with little boy humour and got him to try to ‘toot’ and then when he did we would laugh and laugh. I hope these muffins help keep things moving for the little guy. Best of luck!
Has anyone tried whole wheat flour rather than all purpose??
I haven’t tried it but I think it would work well although they would definitely be more dense.
Great muffins – thank you. Hopefully they will have some effect on my son, who has the same problem. =/ He ate three yesterday, so hopefully today/tomorrow will be better! Also good to hear from people going through the same issues -it’s seeming endless at the moment…
This recipe looks tasty. I have to admit that I had a problem with constipation for years. All the extra fiber didn’t do me much good. But I do like recipes like this! What finally worked for me was finding out I have a dairy allergy. If I avoid dairy, everything is fine. I can eat a bit of cheese and have congestion and constipation. You could take him off all daiy for a few weeks and see if it helps? I drink almond milk and take calcium supplements.
We did try almond milk but it turned out to be more a psychological issue with him. Lots of people do have problems with dairy, so that is certainly something that can be a solution for some people.
Hi yall! I have a Gluten Free, Dairy Free baby that’s under 1 so I wanted to give this recipe a try without those inflammatory elements and without honey for the bebe so I made some major substitutions and tweaks to be a little bit more infant friendly. They turned out great and I thought I would share that here!
1 C packed unsweetened/no sugar added organic pitted prunes
1 C unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 C pure maple syrup or maple agave
1 Egg (Could use 1 flax egg for egg allergy)
1/2 C Coconut Oil melted
1/2 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 3/4 C GF Oat Flour
1/2 C Milled Flax Seed
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat Oven to 350
2. Mix flour, flax, salt, powder, soda & set aside
3. Add prunes & Applesauce in food processor until mixture is the texture of sticky applesauce with no big lumps of prunes. Pour in medium mixing bowl.
4. Add maple, egg, almond milk & coconut oil to puree mixture and stir well.
5. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients using as few stirs as possible, just until all ingredients are incorporated.
6. Grease muffin tins with coconut oil and scoop into tins, baking at 350* for 15-18 mins for large muffin tins. 10-14 mins for minis.
Next time I plan to add 1tsp. Cinnamon and may start experimenting with some added fruits and veggies like blueberries, zuchinni, etc… whatever is in season.
Thanks for sharing your adaptation of my recipe!
Made these yesterday, & they’re great!!! I was really impressed with the flavor and how moist they are! I froze what we didn’t eat yesterday, & they were still great when I grabbed some from the freezer today! The kids like them, too! Thanks!! 😀
Hi
My daughter started getting constipated when we started solids at 6 months of age. Now she’s 11 months old and holds herself from going for 4-5 days and then it’s just a painful bowel movement.
Anyway, would you serve this to an 11 month old? She doesn’t have known allergies to any food.
I know it calls for honey, what would you advise as a substitute for that until she’s old enough for honey?
Thanks a lot!
I would recommend maple syrup as a honey substitute if you want to still use a natural sugar. I would definitely feed these to a little one. I hope she likes them and finds some relief.
My oldest daughter had difficulty in potty training, her BM’s were always very hard and hurt to go. It was a struggle everyday. She would have accidents, they usually happened when she was relaxed. I would often notice her trying to hold it back. When she was 7 yrs old she just stopped going all together. As a mom you notice (with this kind of situation) when your child is going. So after the first 5 days you start the prune juice, and fresh fruit thinking she will go now. Then you go into the next 4 days and try a small dose of laxative. Still no go, I even threatened to take her to the doctor, if she didn’t go. We went into the 1 1/2 weeks and I took her to the doctor. He examined her and found 7 blockages. She was diagnosed with encopresis. I was told that the nurse had actually worked in a ER where a child’s intestines had ruptured. Let me tell you that scared the life out of me. The things we ended up having to do just to clean her out, actually changed her relationship with me. Made her a very angry child, as she wasn’t intellectually able to understand it was for her own good. She then had to take a dose of Citrucel with mineral oil 2x a day for a very extendend period of time. We have also found out that she has a allergy to dairy (which might have been the beginning of all the problems). I am happy to be able to say that she is a heathy and happy 34 yrs old women. We have a very good relationship now. So I suggest to anyone who has a child that is having problems going potty, start giving fiber, lots of water, and fresh friuts. I also found the Nutrigrain fruit bar helped her alot. I have a granddaughter now that is having this problem, and we are all trying to potty train, so I am going to make these muffins and see if it works for her. Thank you for the recipe!
When my son was struggling he was often angry with me and the different methods that I used to try and help him. Thankfully he is past this now and I hope these muffins can help your granddaughter.
Trying these for my four year old. Didn’t find a yield amount listed so found out the hard way the recipe makes 24. Took longer to bake than I thought. Texture was fluffy and light. Nice flavor!
Dear Everyone, if someone already mentioned this, I’m sorry. I didn’t read every comment. This is just about the recipe in general, which is a good one except for one thing. The use of all-purpose flour. My advice is don’t use this flour or any non-whole flour. If you’re gluten sensitive and can’t use whole wheat flour, there are lots of other non-gluten substitutions that will due about as well. The finished products will not differ greatly from the original recipe. You can add stuff like guar gum to help things along, but I’ve found this isn’t necessary. I do add a little baking powder/baking soda, so if that’s a problem don’t. I hopes this helps. My grandpa used to say that “white bread will kill you”, and he followed his own advice and lived to be 92, while still chopping his own winter wood. He had other bad habits that should have killed him–home brew, chewing tobacco, and limburger cheese….but white bread did no! 🙂
I made this recipe for my usually constipated 18 mo. Unfortunately due to my location I couldn’t find “milled” flaxseeds, so instead I combined whole flaxseeds, applesauce, milk, butter, and prunes in my blender. It worked fairly well and grinding the flaxseeds and combining everything. I also don’t use muffin papers, but I greased my pan well with coconut oil and nothing stuck one bit, they came out easily and cleanup was a dream. Other than these changes I made the recipe exactly. I ended up with much more than 12 muffins, put the additional batter in an ungreased loaf pan and cooked it a bit longer, it came our rather easily also.
As for the recipe, I quite like the results. I was concerned these wouldn’t be much of a “muffin” and more of a health food Frankenstein. My husband could immediately tell they were “supposed to be healthy” but did enjoy them. Sadly my daughter, the main reason for baking these in the first place, needed coaxing to eat 2/3 of one. 🙁 I’m hoping she will change her mind tomorrow and eat more but otherwise I’m a bit disappointed, but like I said us adults like them it must just be she’s picky.
That’s too bad your daughter didn’t really like the muffins. It is also too bad you couldn’t find milled or ground flaxseed but I’m glad you were able to find a way to make it work for you.
Excited to find this recipe. I used coconut flour instead of all purpose – hopefully that is ok. Have you ever added choc. chips to this?
Thanks for sharing! Hoping this helps!
I haven’t tried chocolate chips but I think it is a great idea to entice kids to try them if they are hesitant.
There is an excellent children’s book “Everyone Poops”. This could be a great help to parent and child.
When we were potty training with our first child, my daughter was so upset when we wanted to flush her poop. Children will often think that poop is a part of them, and horror of horrors we were flushing it down the drain. We immediately adopted thanking our body for our poop and joyfully waving and saying bye, bye poop.
You have to admit poop can be smelly and messy. We could have made a face, or scrunched up our nose while changing a diaper and this could have influenced your child’s thinking.
Leading by example is a wonderful way to influence a child. Announce “I have to poop” and afterward state how good you feel. When our children warmly understand what they are experiencing is perfectly normal and acceptable their reluctance will soon change.
Making these for my daughter. She is licking the bowl while they cook… great start! Fingers crossed, knees in-crossed these will help us. Thank you!
Hi, I am currently in that lack of poop situation with my daughter. What got your son over it? My daughter has an allergy to dairy. Other things constipate her too like bananas, white flour and the list goes on. It is stressful because I don’t like her using a laxative too often. A daily probiotic helps too. Now she is anxious about going on the toliet because it’s painful to her. Or so she assumes and waits to go in her pull up at naptime. It is just driving me crazy. She will be 4 in November. Her digestive system seems to be very sensitive. I am excited to try this recipe though. Fiber rich muffins have helped her in the past.
I really hope these help your daughter. My son’s issue wasn’t really related to food sensitivities. It was more a psychological issue related to being afraid to poop because it might hurt but that was because he was holding it too long. It was a vicious cycle. We went to a paediatrician and she gave us several recommendations. The one that really helped the most was that after every meal we sat him down on the toilet for 5 minutes and he had to try and go. If he tooted we would laugh and be happy about that because it showed he was using the right muscles to try. He certainly wouldn’t go after every meal but eventually we figured out that after supper he would go so that became ‘poo time’. He would also get dessert after he went to the bathroom. Your doctor could have some good recommendations for the food sensitivity.
I wish you good luck.
Hi! Could you substitute already puréed prunes (baby food)? If so, how much? Thanks!
I would have to test it to see how much you would use. As of right now I don’t know what the results would yield. It would make the batter runnier so if you want to give it a try, then you should reduce the amount slightly. You may have to experiment a little bit.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I will be making these tomorrow.
My little girl is 3 years old and suffering from chronic constipation, I have a doctor’s check up this week as I have been reading up on Encropesis and she has a lot of the systems.
I have already changed her diet slightly, but the actual going to the toilet part is hard as she screams and begs not to be put on there. It has been four days since she last went and she has very large stool when she eventually does. I will try everything to help her with the awful thing, even gone backwards and ordered her the fisher price potty friend chair so hopefully that will make her more comfortable.
Sorry for the rant. I will update you on how the muffins turn out!
X
How many large muffins would this make?
This makes 12 large muffins.
How many large (using a regular sized cupcake pan) muffins would this yield?
This would make 12 large muffins.
Thanks for the recipe! Made these today. I generally hate when people talk about changes they made without trying true recipe first, but my goal was as much fiber and as little dairy as possible for my kiddos. And my changes were small, and I know the recipe would be fantastic as written. The changes I made was to use unsweetened original almond milk, used whole wheat flour, and replaced 1/2 cup of flour with quick oats. I also added 1/2 c. chocolate chips. These are going to become a breakfast staple in our household!!! My 6-year-old barely let them cool before swiping one, my one-year-old gobbled one with her lunch, I had two myself with a cup of tea.
That’s great! Several people have added chocolate chips and it’s a great idea.
We are in the throes of this right now with our three-year-old. He is in diapers but had a week of self potty training where he ditched the diapers but held it in for a whole week. I gave him MiraLAX and that got things going again after a very stressful time. He went back to diapers and was pooping regularly for a couple of months. I don’t know way in a hurry to potty train – I just want him to be comfortable and have his body functioning normally. But now the holding happening again because he got constipated and had it painful Poopoo. I wondered if you could clarify something in your initial comments above the recipe. You said that it was an epic fail to force him to sit on the potty, yet you mentioned that you put him on the potty after every meal. When my son is holding a poop and he scared to go, he shows with his body language and refusing/screaming that he wants nothing to do with the potty because he knows that if he sits there The poo will try to come out and he thinks it will hurt him. So could you just please clarify the part where you said forcing him was a fail (agreed) and yet the part were you still had him go on the potty after every meal?
Also I made the recipe and they’re delicious!
This was a number of years ago (my son is 8 now) but from what I recall, when we first tried to force him to sit on the toilet he was very angry about it because he was still backed up. We went to a paediatrician about his troubles and she told me to use Laxaday (Miralax). We ended up only needing to give him less than a teaspoon a day to keep things moving. When he was on the Laxaday we were able to get him to sit on the potty after every meal. He was also 3 1/2 when we were able to get him to do this. Eventually we figured out that after supper was when he was likely to go so we just made after supper ‘poo time’ and didn’t bother with getting him on the potty after breakfast and lunch. Taking him to the doctor about this I think also helped him wrap his head around it that it was a problem that he needs to deal with.
I hope this clarifies things for you. Let me know if you would like a bit more information on what we did to help him get over this.
Is there a cows milk and egg free version? Could I add more apple or some pear instead of egg?
Hi Lindsay – I haven’t made these dairy free or egg free so I don’t know how they would turn out. I’m going to give some suggestions here but I really don’t know if they would work. If you decide to experiment with them, then feel free to write another comment on how it turned out.
Replace the milk with almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk), you could use canola oil instead of melted butter, you could try a ‘flax egg’ in place of the egg. I’m not exactly sure how to mix up a flax egg but I’m sure you could find how to replace eggs in recipes with a flax egg with a google search.
I hope that sets you on the right path and I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. I’m not an allergy-free baker so I don’t try to be an expert in this field since I may lead people astray.
Hi Christina.
I am so glad I found this post. Reading some of these replies gives me hope. My daughter is 18 months. She has bowl movement once a week. The whole time she’s going, she’s in tears. It breaks my heart. We’ve tried everything. I’m going to try this recipe tomorrow. I was wondering if I could swap out the flour for oatmeal. I was thinking I could food process it. Would you happen to know if that’s possible?
I’m sorry your daughter is having such a tough time going to the bathroom. If you swapped ground oatmeal for the flour it would make a very, very dense muffin. Perhaps try whole wheat flour instead. If it is too dense, you daughter may not enjoy the muffin. I know my son was pretty picky so I had to make it so that it was still a bit of a treat or he wouldn’t eat it which is why I used sugar and white flour in the recipe. I figured it wouldn’t do him any good if he refused to eat an overly healthy muffin. I’m not sure how oatmeal would work out.
Your family doctor may have some other suggestions to help her. If she’s only going once a week she could be pretty backed up in her colon.
I hope your daughter starts feeling better soon. Oh and with this mega-dose of fibre, make sure she drinks lots and lots of water or that fibre will clog up the works even more. Good luck. 🙂
Our son didn’t want to go because it hurt. He liked PRUNES when we tried them and we liked the results of giving him 4-5 prunes a day. Just had to get past the “it hurts, so I’m afraid” mentality. BTW too much fiber, not enough liquid can make it worse.
Yes, if you increase the fibre in your diet you must increase your water intake or you can make the problem much worse.
Is there nutrition info listed anywhere for this recipe? I love these muffins!!!!
I’m glad you love these muffins :). I don’t have the nutritional information for them.
Christina, I can not believe how long people have been commenting on your muffin recipe. I am going to try it. My son is 9. He can hold his poop for two weeks. That is two poops a month folks. He is under the care of a leading pediatric gastrointerolgist and has had several “clean outs” and an expensive procedure to see if he has muscle control. No progress has been made. I have finally learned to stay calm but the anxiety is overwhelming. Not sure where I go from here. But we will keep trying.
Oh the anxiety of your situation must be really difficult to deal with. It sounds like you are doing everything you can to help your son. I hope the doctor will be able to find a solution that works for your little guy.
These muffins are the bomb. And he is eating them! Soft and warm out of the oven. If he were to poop tomorrow we would have miracle muffins for sure!
I am in the throws of this right now and really resignated with your post. I was curious to see how things were going now for you.
Thanks so much they turned out perfect! Did the trick for my little guy
Miralax/restoralax is horrible you people esp kids! If you’re still give this to your son please research the negative side effects of it (some include mood disorders, incontinence, ticks and epilepsy). The box says not for kids under 18 and also that it shouldn’t be used longer then 7 days.
Magnesium is great for a clean out as is high doses of vit c. Magnesium was the go to for colonoscopy cleanours before they introduced the poison miralax.
Dairy takes 4-8 weeks to be removed from the body so while the 2 weeks you gave it a try for is great it likely wasn’t long enough and dairy is also hidden in A LOT of foods and mediciations that you may not have actually been dairy free
Gluten can also cause constipation (it also gets baked into pots, pans, cutlery and plates so to fully be gluten free you do need to replace a lot of items depending on the sarvarity of the issue)
Increasing fluids is also important and ensuring their electrolytes are at optimal ranges (adding pedialyte to their water will help this don’t use Gatorade or powder aid as there are more bad chemicals in those beverages) I usually get apple flavoured and add to apple juice 1:1 ratio
100% prune juice is also amazing I mix 1:4 ratio of prune juice to apple juice with no extra water to water it down (heated up is also very beneficial to the bowels as it activates them)
Hopefully these tips will help
I’m looking forward to trying these muffins with my diva!!!
My son is doing very well now. This issue was from a number of years back and we used Restoralax on the advice of a paediatrician that we took him to see. If anyone is dealing with this issue with their child, it is important to seek the advice of a doctor. The issue I discussed in my post was different than plain old constipation.
I hope your little one enjoys the muffins.
Would it be feasible to substitute the milk with prune juice?
I think it might end up a little too sweet. I haven’t tried that so I don’t know if it would work out. I have made different muffins with almond milk and it turned out well. If you have a dairy sensitivity then you could swap out the regular milk for your favourite dairy free alternative.
I never post comments but these were really good. They made around 36 mini muffins which were delicious and not “healthy” tasting- although I did add some chocolate chips so that made them even more alluring! And they worked! I
I highly recommend the M.O.P. protocol. Steve J. Hodges, MD Pediatric Urologist has books, website, etc. with life changing information for those with children who experience potty problems (urinary & fecal). Thank you for the recipe!
I just love these muffins. I’ve tried several other recipes but none are this good. For a little more fiber I’ve added walnuts and they’re delicious. They freeze really well which allows me to have one everyday for a month. Twenty five seconds in the microwave and they’re perfect. Thanks so much for this great recipe.
Thanks for the recipe! It works like a charm! My grandson LOVES them so much he cries and signs more please after he’s eaten his limit. This recipe is so adaptable. I cook down pears instead of applesauce and blend them with the prunes. This is enough natural sweetener for us. I make oat flour instead of using wheat flour. We use 1/4 coconut oil in place of 1/2 c butter. Today, I added a finely shredded carrot. I’ve made them probably 8 times, and change it slightly each time. He goes within 24 hours every time!
Thank you for this recipe! Going to make them this weekend. I am wondering if what we are dealing with is constipation or withholding. Our son is two and has had constipation for the past year on and off but within the last few months he will sit on his bottom (still in diapers) and strain to poop. He is turning red and looking like he is in pain. Our pediatrician believes he is actually trying not to poop because he is scared after having painful movements in the past. He has gone through bouts of pooping after falling asleep I believe because his body has relaxed. We have also noticed him struggling and picked him up and held him so he isn’t sitting on the floor stopping it (which works but makes him so upset). It’s becoming so upsetting for all of us. We have tried Miralax, diet changes, flax seed oil etc… our pediatrician says he needs a month of poops that don’t hurt to get him past this and we are running out of options. If anyone has dealt with this behavior please let me know.
That is so difficult. I had a really hard time keeping my cool during the issue with my son. We managed to get through it even though at the time it seemed like we never would.
What we did to try to get him to push would be just to get him to try and fart and then we would laugh and laugh. He would push as though he were trying to toot and then sometimes he would and sometimes his body would take over and he would go. We appealed to the uncouth kid humour and that really helped get him over the mental break of not wanted to push to poop. He was older and out of diapers so this is a different scenario than what you are going through.
Do whatever your doctor suggests to keep his poop from getting too hard and hopefully you will find a way to take the pressure off him to go. Perhaps he would be willing to be on his hands and knees went he tried to go?
This is my grandson’s tried and true recipe for success in the poop department! It is also his favorite breakfast and three mini muffins every other morning keep him regular. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’ve adapted the recipe for our own needs and here’s my adaptations:
I’ve substituted the apple sauce with a whole steamed pear that I puree with the prunes. I eliminated the brown sugar. The prune paste is sweet enough. And I’ve just recently started to add some honey (only about 3T). Instead of flour, I grind 1 3/4 c old fashioned oats. And instead of the butter I use coconut oil. I also as a splash of vanilla.
I do not have a food processor. Can pureed baby food prunes be used with the same desired effect?
Yes, the baby food puréed prunes are an excellent option.
Hello! Checking to see if I could blend fresh apples in place of apple sauce as I do not have apple sauce?
There is nothing stopping you from trying but I’m not sure how that would work out as the moisture level would be different. Since I’ve never done it myself I don’t know how it would turn out. I’m sorry I can’t offer your more clear direction on this.
Does anyone have any idea how many calories are in each of theses miracle muffins? Or a way of reducing the calories?
I made these for my husband this evening. He has motility problems, so I am hoping these will help him.
I ate two and they are very moist and yummy. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will keep you posted.
Trying this recipe today. Couldn’t remember how my mom used to make hers but this looks great!
Do these muffins freeze well?
They do freeze ok. Just like other baked goods, fresh is best.
These worked well for my kiddo and his potty training induced constipation. I used mashed peaches in place of the applesauce (because that’s all I had) and added psyllium husk powder (a natural laxative), Metamucil powder, and mini chocolate chips too! I used a little extra prunes/juice to counterbalance the added dry ingredients. The chocolate chips really helped make these “yummy” for my kiddo. Thank you for this recipe!
Unfortunately these didn’t work for us. He had two muffins the first day and one every day and he still held for 4+ days and it was hard. I used the muffins in conjunction with other things. He should have been pooping his pants. I’ll keep searching.
Also note at 3/4 way full these made more than 12 muffins. Maybe clarify in recipe.
I made this muffins because of the purpose they serve and did NOT expect them to taste as AMAZING as they do!!! It’s been 2 weeks now that I’m baking them every 3 days we ‘re eating them like crazy
These are so delicious!! I’m baking for a friend for post baby easement haha!! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Just made these for my 9 month old daughter. Since we’ve been incorporating more solid foods we’ve been having a big issue w/ constipation. My pediatrician actually referred me to this recipe and said that it tremendously helped her own little ones. I just came to add that these are delicious! I added some cinnamon and only put 1/3C brown sugar. They remind me of my mema’s prune cake she used to make when I was little. Thanks for this recipe!
Great recipe! It has helped us a lot as my son won’t eat prunes or drink prune juice. I left out most of the brown sugar since he’s only 2 and they are still very tasty.
Your tips are great! We’ve been working with specialists on my son’s constipation for about 2 years and I’m on several Facebook groups, what I’ve learned is obviously different things work for different kids. It’s a good idea to check with a pediatric GI specialist to rule out any physical issues but in general there’s a wide range of “normal” and some kids just don’t go as often. Miralax to soften, along with senna to prevent withholding, works for a lot of kids. Def want to get medical advice because if those aren’t necessary, it’s good to avoid getting into the cycle. Dietary changes are the best place to start and I’m going to try these! You have a great attitude of trying not to blame ourselves, and not stress about it too much – unless there’s a serious medical problem, most kids will grow out of this and get to an age where they’re able to understand why pooping is important and how much better they feel when they let it out! Having my son watch “the poo in you” (Google it) was a huge help, also reading books about it and using humor!!
Ummm sooo. My kid doesn’t eat prunes. I used pumpkin puree instead of apple sauce, he LOVES THEM. Fingers crossed that he poops thanks so much for the recipe !
Hi. Just making them but with psyllum husk. My son suffers too. Someone should make a cook book full of smoothies and food to help digestion. Especially for constipated children