by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Parenting

By Bethanie Garcia
When I pictured having a preschooler, I never thought we would have to deal with regularity issues. I thought that once our daughter was potty trained (at age 2), we wouldn't have to deal with poop problems anymore, let alone at age 4!
Well, that couldn?t have been further from the truth. My daughter would go days without pooping and had stomachaches and gas. I was at such a loss. I did some online research, talked to parents who have gone through the same thing, and found some great ways to help keep her digestive tract healthy.
Here are 5 things that have worked for us in the 2 months since we started trying to address our daughter's occasional issues.

Encourage lots and lots of water. My 4-year-old used to hate drinking water. It seemed like the more I pushed it on her, the more she hated it. So we started making it fun for her. Rewards worked: If she took 5 drinks of water, we?d play a fun game. If she drank a glass of water, I would let her stay up 5 minutes past bedtime. Now she looks forward to drinking water. I?ve noticed a huge difference in her regularity when she?s staying hydrated.
Eat berries as a midday snack. There are a lot of fruits that help with occasional elimination issues, and strawberries and raspberries are at the top of the list. This was an easy one for my daughter, because she loves fruit!

Start the day off with oatmeal or yogurt. The oat grains in oatmeal contain fiber th...