Have you heard of Natural Calm for child constipation? It’s a common remedy for a common childhood issue. That’s because Natural Calm draws water into the bowels where it’s needed to relieve constipation.
Plus, Natural Calm is great for kids’ focus, sleep, growing muscles, mental calm, and more.
Natural Calm is also easier for kids to take than magnesium tablets because it comes in chewable form, as Natural Calm gummies, and as a magnesium drink in the form of our original Natural Calm magnesium powder.
But what if that doesn’t work?
This month, we got a message from the mom of a 23-month-old girl with constipation.
She’d heard of Natural Calm for child constipation and knew of the many benefits of magnesium for kids.
However, she was having a hard time getting her daughter to take Natural Calm. Unlike most kids, this child doesn’t like the sweet-tart, fruity taste. Even showing her how Natural Calm gets fizzy when you add hot water wasn’t enough to persuade her to take it.
There are a number of ways parents serve up Natural Calm to “picky” kids (I mean, we’re all a little picky, right?).
So, first, we’ll discuss the most common ways parents get kids to take Natural Calm for child constipation.
And then we’ll explain what this parent ultimately discovered.
(It worked really well and we’re thrilled! Because no parent wants to see their kid struggle with constipation when magnesium citrate is such a natural solution.)
Making Natural Calm sweeter is the solution for most kids.
While Natural Calm’s fruit flavours are considered sweet enough for most adults, with just a hint of tartness, just like in real fruit.
Most kids, however, just love sweet flavours.
According to an article in The Guardian, little people are hard-wired to prefer sweet foods for survival. The very first taste most of us encounter – breast milk – is the original sugar-fix. It’s super-sweet, and for good reason: growing people need calories, and sweetness is generally an indicator of dense, dense calories.
Also, their palates are more sensitive than ours. They literally have more taste buds – many more. What seems slightly tart to us may be overpoweringly sour to a very young child.
The solution is to add a touch of sweetness to Natural Calm, but you want to do so without adding junk.
Namely, please don’t add refined sugar or artificial sweetener to your Natural Calm. Refined sugar actually depletes the body of magnesium – it undermines the very benefits of taking Natural Calm.
As for aspartame and other chemical-based sweeteners, they just aren’t proven safe. Avoid, avoid.
For those with kids who love sweet flavours, this is a quick way to make the magnesium go down!
Mix Natural Calm with a small amount of hot water and add a spoonful of honey or maple syrup to give it a sweeter taste. The trick is to use just enough hot water to dissolve the Natural Calm, so the kid only sees a tiny amount of syrupy liquid in the cup.
This works with all flavours of Natural Calm. It’s a sweet way to serve natural calm for child constipation.
Some parents are concerned about adding even natural sweeteners in the evening, before bed. Intuitively, you’d think a hit of sweet would boost their energy, but it seems these natural sweeteners actually promote sleep.
What about adding stevia or another herbal, calorie-free sweetener?
Natural Calm is already sweetened with stevia together with organic fruit flavours. You could try adding more liquid or powdered stevia (or the herbal sweetener of your choice), but remember that more is definitely not always better. Adding too much can result in an overpoweringly sweet taste, and the ‘not quite sugar’ flavour might trigger kids’ aversion.
As we know, kids are unique. While some don’t like sweet things, others simply aren’t into the idea of drinking their Natural Calm. For those ones, Natural Calm Gummies can be a good solution. They’re yummy, fast, and convenient, for little ones on the go.
Natural Calm gummies are made with magnesium citrate, the highly-absorbable form that helps with constipation.
Young children at risk of choking should not take gummies, of course.
But for kids beyond the age of choking risk, your only challenge as a parent will be making sure your kids don’t eat too many! One gummy daily is enough for smaller kids.
If you need to both cool and sweeten your Natural Calm, try adding a bit of pure, unsweetened juice.
This makes sense if you’ve dissolved your Natural Calm in very hot water but want to serve it to kids right away. (Why bother with hot water at all? Hot water makes the magnesium ionic more quickly.)
We’ve collected a number of recipes incorporating Natural Calm, so you can add magnesium into the foods and drinks your kid already loves!
From various types of smoothies to healthy popsicles, or even magnesium-rich hot drinks… the options for getting creative are almost unlimited!
Back to our original challenge!
The mom who wrote in about her toddler with constipation mentioned that the child doesn’t like anything sweet or tart. (Natural Calm is both when flavoured and just tart when unflavoured).
All of the above options are too sweet for this child.
And kids of this age are also too young to take magnesium tablets (which usually aren’t well-absorbed, anyway).
We first recommended the “dilute with tons of water” approach, explained below.
But then the mother got back to us with her own solution: making a broth with Natural Calm!
If you or your kids don’t like sweet tastes either, but love the benefits of Natural Calm, here’s one to try.
Dissolve the magnesium in a little boiling water, add chicken broth, and then a little salt to mask the tart taste.
We’re happy to report that the 23-month-old loves it and even asks for more! We’re so proud of this mom for finding a solution to her daughter’s constipation.
Another alternative is to dilute the taste of Natural Calm by adding lots of water to your child’s daily magnesium dose, and then putting that water in their water bottle and having them sip it throughout the day.
Chances are, they’ll get their magnesium without even noticing it.
Note that Natural Calm magnesium can also be diluted with juice… but you probably don’t want your child drinking a litre of juice a day!
We’re sometimes asked about mixing Natural Calm with liquids and foods that just aren’t compatible.
There aren’t many, but it helps to remember that Natural Calm contains citric acid (it’s part of what makes the magnesium more absorbable).
Citric acid is like citrus. So, you don’t want to add Natural Calm to milk or any ingredient that would curdle. We think this is worth mentioning since so many kids’ drinks include dairy.
Speaking of which, if your child is constipated you should consider whether they have too much dairy or calcium in their diets. Dairy can be a cause of childhood constipation.
Natural Calm for child constipation is a known remedy. Again, that’s because the formula draws water into the bowels to keep kids regular.
We’ve also been asked whether it’s possible to use transdermal magnesium to treat constipation. For example, will a product like our magnesium chloride balm absorb through the skin to affect the digestive tract?
The answer is, that we just don’t know for sure. Dr. Carolyn Dean writes in The Magnesium Miracle about a woman who experienced a laxative effect from a high dose of Epsom salts. That’s the only case we’ve heard of.
Transdermal magnesium is a good option for those who are naturally regular, and just need the muscle relaxant properties of magnesium, because it bypasses the digestive system. Kids with growing pains love getting a magnesium balm massage, for example, and it helps them unwind and get relaxed for sleep.
If constipation or other digestive issues are what your child is dealing with, your best bet is magnesium taken orally.
We hope the above suggestions help! Reach out or comment here if you have any questions on using Natural Calm for child constipation — or any questions at all.
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