Tell me about your brilliant cures for constipation

[AstroNess]

Just interested really. I already eat a good diet with plenty of fibre and fluid.

I tried prunes- yuck.

Any good suggestions?

Prune juice. Seriously. I actually like the taste so not a problem for me, but as of about 13 weeks if I don't drink a glass every day I just can't go

Prune juice was recommended by my doctor. One cup of coffee should also help (unless you are anti-caffeine)
Lots of water, I had bad trouble with it and had salad for my dinner three days in a row, I must have had 12-a-day, but it was worth it.
I always thought I'd a good diet but now I'm pregnant I really try harder to get extra fibre into me because I can't suffer the pain of constipation.
Hope the prune juice works, even if you don't like the taste its worth it for the effects

Dried apricots or prunes did it for me - and chocolate helps keep things moving, I take spatone as am anaemic (not pregnant though) and this is better than iron tablets but still prone to constipation. Also sweetcorn doesn't hit the sides, goes straight through - is a family thing. We can't seem to digest it.

Fig rolls seem to be working for me.

prune juice, yoghurts and porridge are keeping me going :)

califig, it's a liquid, you can get it from supermarkets or chemists, doesn't taste great, but a spoonful of that each evening works wonders - i wish i'd discovered it before my first pregnancy/birth, it really makes life easier. i started taking it as soon as dc2 and dc3 were born too, as pooing/stitches are not a great combo

My midwife recommended lactulose for me - tastes very sweet, available from the chemist, definitely helps

Three custard cream biscuits dunked in tea first thing in the morning, it must be the sugar in them as it makes me as regular as clockwork!!!

glycerine suppositories if it gets really bad. This is cure not prevention though... best ways to prevent it in the first place are trying to keep your stools SOFT - rather than eating loads of fibre to push out hard stools - you can end up with hemmorhoids and fissures that way, so be careful of too much fibre, especially if it is the processed (rivata, all-bran) kind.

Try to increase your intestinal flora by eating foods with probiotics in them, and also eating foods that the flora feed off, like bananas, onions, garlic, leeks
more here More flora = softer stools. Too much fibre = hard stools (its strips away flora, so overdoing it on the fibre can get you into a vicious circle)

Also, when you go to the loo, use a footstool so that you get into more of a squatting position, this means you have to push less, and empty your bowels more completely. If you dont have a footstool already, buy one for toddlers, it will come in handy for your bub eventually and wont look to weird in your bathroom.

If you are taking iron tablets, switch to slow release ones, and be very careful about taking cocodemol tablets - they will make constipation ten times worse.

If you currently eat a lot of fibre, and want to reduce it, you have to do it slowly because a sudden drop will make you very constipated (no flora present to soften stools, and no fibre to push them through) so if you currently eat a bowel of all-bran a day, start reducing slowly or replace with a more natural fibres (fruit and veg).

Better stop writing now, didnt realise I knew so much about poo and constipation

Linseeds (sometimes sold as flax seed - same thing) - you can get them in supermarket or health food store. I sprinkle them on cereal, or you can use them in cakes/biscuits etc. They kept me regular during the constipation of 2 pregnancies.

And they have the added bonus of being high in Omega 3s, so you'll end up regular and clever.

Oh God, I was constipated for a month in first trimester.
Also had hyperemisis so nothing much was staying down.
Had to get Movicol in the end, and when I finally went it was horrific.

I'd try liquorice, dried apricots and dried figs for now, maybe also Lactulose.

Thanks for all these suggestions ladies. Prune juice is in the fridge, chilling. That's my first shot. I hope it tastes ok.

Ps bike- a month?!? OMG.

TIP - If you don't like prune juice mix it half and half with orange juice and it tastes like OJ!

OOh - I also have all bran for brekkie!

Pear juice- it's quite hard to find and quick thick but it's brilliant. Also give it to my 2 yr old when he gets a bit bunged up. That and lots of water and dried apricots, but they really make me fart

• Make an international phone call.

• Go to a book shop.

• Go to the library.

These are all guaranteed ways to help me get things moving ATM.

Figs. Fresh ones - yum. And very effective. Local market had them on offer the other day (5 big ones for a pound!) and I hadn't noticed how many I'd pigged nibbled down.

All bran for breakfast each morning meant I never had any constipation.

Don't balance your feet on the bathside to lift them up, and cunningly jiggle too much and break the bog seat in the process.

Oh no - I didn't do such a thing = not me.

Nor did I then try to blame the bog seat breakage on hubby. Honest.

Glad the flax seed worked for you midnightexpress, but whilst I was researching vegetarian sources of omega 3 I came across a lot of sites advising against taking flax seed during pregnancy. From what I can tell there's no hard evidence to show that it's definitely harmful, but several articles that suggest that it might be as it can act like the hormone estrogen. The consensus was that it's therefore safer to avoid it.

The serious fruit juice habit I've developed over the last couple of weeks (and generally staying well hydrated) seems to be staving off the constipation for me

Ah, Ok, didn't know that. I don't see any ill effects in my offspring, but best avoid if you're PG then.

BTW after eating a bar of liquorice I just read this:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8292392.stm

So, maybe don't have that for constipation

Fybrogel is good. You can get it on prescription (so free if you're pg) too.

For some reason gentle swimming works for me.