Cow's Milk and Constipation in Children

Cow's Milk: Cause Of Constipation?

I did not associate cow's milk consumption with constipation until this week. My daughter started complaining of stomach cramps and this went on for four days. She would crumple up in agony. It was very strange because there was no vomiting or diarrhea and she hadn't eaten anything unusual or that she was allergic to. Or so I thought.

I drink milk myself, and it tends to have a laxative effect on me. It was only after a trip to the local GP and another to the hospital that I learned the cause of her trouble might be cow's milk. Apparently, cow's milk may cause constipation in young children.

The connection never occurred to me because I thought milk would have a laxative effect rather than the reverse. After all, this is what happens with me. I thought if my daughter was at all intolerant to milk, it should manifest as diarrhea instead of constipation.

Evidence Of Link Between Cow's Milk And Constipation

I researched the subject and came across an interesting study done at a university in Italy in 1998. It involved 65 children with chronic constipation who had been prescribed laxatives after dietary changes had failed to cure the constipation. Each child received either cow's milk or soy milk for two weeks, had a rest week, then for the next two weeks had the other milk that they didn't get the first time. When the results were analyzed, it was discovered that while they were on soy milk, 68% of the children were no longer constipated. In contrast, their conditions remained the same when they were on cow's milk.

Dr Alan Greene of DrGreene.com suggests that it could be the protein in cow's milk that is at the root of the problem, and that switching to soy milk can dramatically improve the quality of life of a child suffering chronic constipation.

Preventing Constipation

Switching to a dairy-free alternative is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to treat a constipation issue.

What about preventing constipation? Besides ensuring the child has enough fibre and fluids in her diet and gets enough exercise, is there anything else a parent can do?

Research has shown that probiotics, those friendly bacteria that prevent harmful microorganisms from building up in the body and poisoning it, can help prevent constipation by aiding in the proper digestion of food and nutrients and maintaining a healthy ratio of good to bad intestinal bacteria in the gut. Probiotics are also useful for rebuilding immunity that has been compromised by long-term use of antibiotics. This is something parents want to watch out for, especially in Western cultures which endorse the liberal prescription of antibiotics for all sorts of ailments.

If your child has no major digestive health issues, good for you! Keep her that way for as long as you can with a fibre-rich diet, lots of exercise and a good quality probiotic supplement.

If your child suffers chronic constipation, then you may want to experiment by simply switching her to a non-dairy diet.