Constipation in Children

Constipation is another common digestive system condition that affects many children. As parents, your job is to try and alleviate this frustrating situation and I want to help you to accomplish this. I have a different perspective on childhood problems compared to other practitioners. This comes from my clinical experience as a pediatrician and from my current private practice in alternative/energy medicine.

I rely heavily on the Chinese medicine system to help explain conditions and particularly the timing of when and under what circumstances symptoms develop. In the case of constipation occurring in childhood, parents often ask why is this happening to my child? I think this is a very valid question, especially because most kids have had normal bowel movement habits at some time in their lives.

For example, babies whether they are breast fed or bottle fed, generally have multiple stools per day. The question should be asked then, as to why constipation develops in a child who previously had no problems with bowel regularity. I have learned that the Chinese medicine system of organ and meridian energy pathways can explain much of these changes that happen, using energy as the term used to describe what is going on.

The large intestine or colon is the organ responsible for passing stools and eliminating wastes from the digestive process. If we only focus on the physical organ itself, we will miss a significant proportion of the causative factors at play in the child with constipation. There are very few cases which are attributable to physical problems like blockage, abnormal formation of the digestive tract, or inherited disorders like Cystic Fibrosis or Hirschprung’s Disease. These conditions generally present early in life and fortunately can be diagnosed and treated when found. However, in the vast majority of cases, children develop constipation with no known obvious cause and then we are left to recommend symptomatic care.

There is nothing wrong with treating the symptoms of constipation to provide relief, but we should not mistake the temporary alleviation of symptoms with actual resolution of the problem. It goes without saying, that prune juice or mineral oil is not the “cure” for constipation, although they can be helpful along with other measures like keeping well hydrated with fluids or avoiding too much dairy products. My point is that no child is “destined” to have constipation as part of their natural pattern of existence. We must be much more diligent in looking for and uncovering the cause, not limiting ourselves to a few diagnosable conditions only.

This graphic depicts the inter-relationship between the large intestine, the spleen, the stomach and the lungs in the Chinese medicine system.

I have found that in the Chinese medicine system there are multiple correspondences with the large intestine energy circuit that can readily explain many of these cases of constipation in children. For example, if your child has had any respiratory illness in the past like a pneumonia, bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, ear infections, etc., this will predispose them to preferentially send more of their available energy to the lung circuit instead of the large intestine. You can ask yourself the question, which do you think your child’s system deems as more important to take care of, the lungs and breathing or the large intestine and regularity of bowel habits?

As they say, this is a “no brainer”. There would be no problem with this energy redistribution if it was just temporary. However, in young children especially, these energy changes can become a set pattern which is difficult to unwind. Fortunately, kids are very amenable to energy inputs like the BodyTalk system which I use extensively in my clinical practice. Often it only takes gentle energetic encouragement, focus and awareness to help your child’s system to revert back to its more normal and balanced settings.

You can read more about the large intestine energy circuit on my website and more general information about how I use the Chinese medicine system and the energy medicine paradigm as part of my practice. As always, I encourage you to find the approach and modalities that fit with your child’s individual needs, not some ready-made formula. And finally, be open to new ideas and new information. This strategy has worked well for me as a doctor and I’m sure it can work for you, too.

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Stomachaches in Children

Stomachaches occur in children quite commonly and over the years I have seen many kids with this condition. I have a different perspective on the causative factors that need to be taken into account and I feel this is an important topic to discuss with parents.

In my practice I like to use the saying, “The more information, the better”. What I mean is that we can gain a lot more ground by being open to different systems, interpretations, and models of explanation, rather than just relying on one single description.

If we are evaluating a child with stomachaches, we must address the symptom and condition and try to elucidate the likely causes. However, often there is no discernible cause from a physiologic or anatomic standpoint. Then what do we do? I have stated in other places how I am in agreement with doing testing to make sure there are no obvious or hidden physical problems, like blockages, ulcers, growths, appendicitis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. In the vast majority of cases, however, none of these are identified as the cause and we are left with no answers.

This is the situation where I believe a broader more holistic and energy derived description and evaluation comes in very handy. On my website I have given more information about the Chinese medicine system and how it addresses conditions found commonly in kids. There are specific groupings which bring together body organs and energy pathways in a coherent and clinically significant way, which I find extremely useful as a physician and I think can be very insightful information for parents to know.

In the Chinese medicine system, the stomach organ and channel are grouped with the large intestine, the lungs and the spleen. These four organs and channels essentially work together on the same circuit, and your child’s energy system must distribute or parcel out its energy in the most efficient and beneficial manner that it can in the context of your child’s daily life and experience.

I have found that when we open up the breadth and scope of our questioning and increase the potential topics of inquiry, our chances of finding the right causative explanation for something like stomachaches goes up dramatically.

So, the bottom line is this: Get an evaluation done to look for treatable and serious problems that could be going on with your child. But don’t stop there if those lab tests and procedures don’t reveal anything. It is important to keep looking for the causes, even if it takes you beyond the physical realm and into the arena where energy becomes the more useful explanation.

In my practice, I use a consciousness based system called BodyTalk which allows us to have access to those things which are only accessible through the energy medicine or consciousness based paradigm. I discuss these concepts in more detail in my ebook called Energy Medicine Principles for Parents and you can read more about the Chinese medicine system and your child on my website called Principles for Parents.

BodyTalk: Consciousness Based Healthcare

Dr John Veltheim, the founder of the BodyTalk system, presented a full weekend workshop called Finding Health: Mapping the Healing Process in Portland, Oregon which I found fascinating and awe inspiring. He also gave a public lecture and I was asked to say a few words before the presentation. I have included my remarks below.

“8 years ago, I received a handwritten letter in the mail from someone I had never met, the letter said that a speaker was coming whom I had never heard of, and he was to discuss a technique known as BodyTalk which I never imagined could become part of my daily clinical practice as a physician. I followed an inner prompting to follow the directions in that letter and I showed up for the talk just like you all have done tonight. That night 8 years ago, I listened to an interesting Australian named John Veltheim, and afterwards my pathway was set, I enrolled in the first BodyTalk class I could find and my learning which started back then continues to this day.

This curious twist of fate or what I can call a synchronicity happened when I was in the middle of transitioning from a conventional pediatrics group practice to the complementary or holistic medicine practice I have today. I had always wanted to treat kids with non-invasive approaches whenever possible, and in my opinion, BodyTalk is the ultimate system when it comes to natural, gentle, respectful techniques used in the treatment of children.

Let me just back up a little bit and tell you that I was trained in the conventional way as a physician. I graduated from medical school, went through a 3 year residency program in pediatrics at the University of Michigan, I joined a pediatrics group in Vancouver WA and practiced for 6 years as a primary care pediatrician. My duties included seeing newborns in the hospital, performing well child check ups and school physicals, putting in sutures for lacerations and cuts, and spending time with parents trying to give them the best advice I could.

At that point in my career, I didn’t have the faintest idea what energy medicine was or even how it could be useful to me or my patients. I was on track to put in my 30-35 years and retire along with my colleagues. That was my assumption and I had planned to stick with it.

However, something was pulling me toward new ways of thinking. I was gradually exposed to the energy medicine paradigm which included fascinating fields like acupuncture and Chinese medicine. And then when BodyTalk came along, my mind was really expanded.

What I now realize is that a consciousness based system like BodyTalk is able to embrace the simple notion that we as human beings are much more than what our anatomy and physiology reveals. What I learned in my conventional medical training was no doubt useful and necessary, but I did not realize how incomplete it was until I became exposed to these concepts. Seeing kids in my practice over the last several years has taught me even more about the energy dynamics that play a role in all aspects of health and wellbeing for children and their families.

Before I finish, I want to express my personal thanks to John Veltheim for writing the foreward to my recent book called Energy Medicine Principles for Parents. I wrote it with the intent to make it available to my own patients and families in my practice, but then it became clear that it could be useful to the larger community of parents who are looking for answers to help their kids.

Even though it is our job as practitioners to help alleviate problems and prevent them wherever possible, I have found that it is the awareness of parents and kids themselves that is the first necessary step. It is my hope that this book will serve as an introduction and a resource for parents who are exploring this new realm of medicine called BodyTalk.

I know you will enjoy tonight’s presentation by Dr Veltheim. Thank you.”

-Peter Hanfileti, MD

You can find more information about my ebook at www.principlesforparents.com

You might also want to visit the International BodyTalk Association website at www.bodytalksystem.com.