19. Breaking The Constipation Loop
Did you know that children with autism are more likely to experience constipation due to lack of fiber, dehydration, low muscle tone, food sensitivities, and other underlying GI issues like yeast and dysbiosis? This may leave you wondering what exactly you can do to help, but let me reassure you that this does not have to be a chronic condition for your child!
Listen along as Brittyn discusses getting to the root of the constipation loop and how to break it.
SUBSCRIBE ↓
IN THIS EPISODE
How encopresis can be mistaken for other GI symptoms
Supplements (other than Miralax) that can help your child’s constipation
What consists of the constipation loop and how to break it
LINKS
Join the Autism Nutrition Library
Follow @AutismDietitian on Instagram
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the Nourishing Autism Podcast where you take a deep dive into the research on autism and dietary changes, nutrition supplements, and lifestyle modifications. Every week, we break down nutrition topics and an easy-to-understand way for you to feel less overwhelmed and feel confident on your nutrition journey with autism.
Hello everyone! And welcome to the Nourishing Autism Podcast. I'm your host Brittyn Coleman, the autism dietitian. And this week we are talking about the constipation loop and I'll explain what that is in just a minute. First, let's talk a little bit about constipation and autism. So constipation is the most common GI or gastrointestinal symptom in kids with autism. And not only is this an uncomfortable issue by itself, but constipation can also cause irritability and moodiness, heightened stress, anxiety, and sleep disturbances.
Especially in children who are not able to tell you that they are chronically constipated. Kids with autism are more likely to be constipated due to a limited diet with a lack of fiber, dehydration, low muscle tone, food sensitivities, and other underlying GI issues like yeast and dysbiosis. Now, those are two huge topics in themselves, and we're not going to have time to go through yeast and dysbiosis, but if you are interested in those, I do have information on them inside my membership called the Autism Nutrition Library.
Chronic constipation can lead to a condition called encopresis, which is the involuntary leakage of stool in children. And what's interesting is that this can look like watery stool on the outside, but it's really constipation.
So basically the watery stool goes around the blockage. So it really on the outside looks like diarrhea, but internally it's constipation. So a typical approach for diarrhea could actually make the issue a lot worse, and you might be wondering how does it get that bad? Well, enter the constipation loop. So what happens is that a child becomes constipated for the first time, this could be for a wide variety of reasons as mentioned before, but it becomes worse and worse over time. Why this happens is because they're constipated.
And then it's painful while they use the bathroom. Then they start to withhold their stool to not have to have that painful experience, and what happens is the stool becomes to get larger and larger and they become impacted. Now it's especially painful for them to go to the bathroom, so then the next time they just try to hold it more and more.
What happens over time is that this can actually enlarge your intestines, and then you don't get the urge to go. So you have this expanded colon and you're not getting the typical urge that a bowel movement needs to be past, then they don't feel that they need to go to the bathroom and they start to get more and more and more impacted and it becomes more and more and more painful.
Then over time, we see that this encopresis, stool leakage starts to occur. It just keeps happening over and over again. So you also might be wondering how do we break this poop loop? Well, most parents will just get Miralax thrown at them, which is one way, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem, and I've talked about that before.
There are many dietary changes and nutritional supplements that can help break this cycle, and the first thing is helping get those bowel movements as soft as possible in order to help the child recognize that having a bowel movement isn't painful. The first two things that we think of when it comes to nutrition are fiber and water, and I can't say that enough, a lot of kids don't get enough fiber because they are selective eaters. Oftentimes the foods that selective eaters choose are not high in fiber, we often miss out on those high fiber foods like vegetables and fruits, and whole grains.
We also see a lot of kids are not able to tell when they're hungry or thirsty. If they're not eating enough, it's hard to have a full bowel movement, and if you're not drinking enough water, you can't have a bowel movement that is easy to pass. It can be really dried out. That ability to sense if you're hungry or thirsty is something called interoception. I've talked about that before on this podcast, and I talk about it on my Instagram page because it's something that a lot of kids on the spectrum struggle with.
So if these two things don't work, fiber and water, I do encourage you to look into food sensitivities and underlying gut issues and do that alongside a functional medicine practitioner, because this is a lot to do on your own. It's really complex. There are nutrition supplements, as certain types of magnesium, for example, among many others.
They can make stool, softer and serve as a natural laxative. And I have all of my dietary supplement and lifestyle recommendations for constipation, and encopresis all inside my membership called the Autism Nutrition Library. You can log in or join at autismnutritionlibrary.com and you can also join in on the forum, and I am happy to point you in the right direction if your child is struggling with this.
So it might be hard to get your child, the urge to go. If they're having these softer stools that they're not used to. They're used to having these harder stools that are really bulky in the beginning. They may not recognize that early urge to go, so establishing a consistent toileting routine preferably right after they eat can be really helpful to help train their body to recognize those internal cues get on a good routine, and also just sit down and try even when they don't feel like it.
So after having consistently softer stools, the colon can begin to shrink back to normal size so that they do get that urge to go and can go painlessly. This takes time and does not happen overnight. Really, really important to stay consistent and work with a provider who can support you on this journey.
If you need some community support and research-based nutrition information, I highly suggest joining the Autism Nutrition Library. Thank you all so much for joining me this week in Nourishing Autism, and I will see you next Friday for our next episode. Remember to click subscribe so you can be notified when new episodes are published and I would be so appreciative if you left a five-star rating. See you next week!
This podcast is brought to you by the Autism Nutrition Library, a one-stop hub and community for all things autism nutrition created to help you explore evidence-based nutrition approaches that have proved to be effective to help individuals with autism feel their best, do their best, and be their best.
Join now by clicking Autism Nutrition Library or by stopping by my Instagram @AutismDietitian. See you next week.
Transcribed by Descript
ABOUT Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, CLT
I’m a Registered Dietitian, Autism Nutrition Expert, and the Creator of the Autism Nutrition Library.
I work with parents of children with autism to optimize their child’s diet, supplements, and lifestyle based on their unique needs. I help expand accepted foods for picky eaters, improve digestion and gut health, find the root causes of many symptoms, and ultimately help them feel their best so that they can do their best and be their best.
Not only do I relate to families on a professional level, but also on a personal level. I have been a part of the autism community for over 20 years, as my younger brother was diagnosed on the spectrum at a young age.
I look forward to working with you to uncover the root cause of your child’s symptoms and help your child be the best version of themselves!
