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.
A fibre packed muffin with applesauce, prunes and milled flaxseed that is moist and delicious. The prunes and applesauce are pureed together in the food processor and are the base of these muffins.
15 minPrep Time
15 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 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.
Comments