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The most common causes of constipation are a poor diet, stress or the lack of exercise and fresh air. Constipation not only leads to a general feeling of malaise but because the body becomes toxic can actually cause or exacerbate many ailments, including thumping headaches, spots, hypertension, hear burn, catarrh, arthritis and rheumatism. It can also make you extremely bad tempered. The simplest answer is to ensure that you eat a high-fibre diet including fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly apples, pears and strong greenstuffs, plenty of live yoghurt and drink lots of fresh water. Cut down on refined foods, red meat, coffee and tea. Particularly avoid convenience and junk foods.

One of the most frequent causes of pallid listlessness and ‘tummy ache’ in children is constipation and an important thing to remember is not to allow them to become reliant on laxatives but to form the habit of their going to the lavatory at a regular time each day whether or not they consider it to be a waste of time.

The oldest and simplest suggestions for a regular movement of the bowels varied from taking a glass of cold water morning and night, conversely, taking a hot drink and a pipeful of tobacco  after breakfast. Cold baths daily vied in popularity with the 15-second icy cold sits bath, whilst gentler souls fell back on the old standby of a spoonful of honey each morning or the ever-faithful ‘apple a day’. Genteel nursery nurses and sterner nannies resorted to the  well – tried rose petal jelly or home – made syrup of figs, both of which were preferable to chewing the searing mustard leaf or inflicting the enema of red hot chilli pepper seeds.

Home Remedies for Constipation

Rose Petal Jelly 

100 g (4oz) white rose petals
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons clear honey
450g (11b) white cane sugar
150 ml (1/2 pint) water

Cut the base from the petals and discard them. Place all the ingredients except the petals in a stainless steel pan with a heavy base and leave to stand without heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the rose petals and heat very gently then continue to cook in this very slow fashion, stirring constantly, until the petals appear to dissolve. Allow the mixture to cool a little before potting. Seal when cold. What you will have is a wobbly syrup with transparent pieces of petal floating in it. Taken by the teaspoon it is a gentle laxative and it is also an effective remedy for tonsillitis.

• Elderflower tea Deliciously perfumed, it probably does more to make a fractious child feel cosseted and relax.

• Peach blossom drink One teaspoon of dried peach blossoms infused in a cup of boiling milk and drunk twice daily has got to be far more acceptable to a child than some things. One of the good home remedies for constipation.

• Liquorice sweets These are effective but make sure that teeth are well brushed afterwards.

• Castor oil and orange juice One tablespoon of each mixed together and taken at night is better than liquid paraffin or cascara.

• Salts From Glauber’s and Carlsbad to Andrews and Epsom, these are all effective.

• Olive oil One teaspoon of olive oil or any good vegetable oil taken each morning will lubricate the system.

• Bran Two teaspoons daily may at first have a dramatic effect but taken every morning, sprinkled on cereal, will ensure a regular movement. Small children may be given a little on the tip of a spoon. One of the useful home remedies for constipation.

• Blackstrap malaises Full of vitamin B, take it in milk. Fruit juice or water.

• Honey and hot water Use in the proportions of 1 teaspoon to 1 cup of hot water.

• Lemon and honey Squeeze the juice of ½ lemon into hot water with a pinch of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of honey. One of the useful home remedies for constipation.

• Slippery elm Mix the powdered bark to a drink with warm water and honey.

• Iceland moss Sip the water from gently cooked Iceland moss.

• Agar-agar This gelatinous substance made from seaweed is rich in minerals and was at one time a popular health food . It is a good gentle laxative and can be used to make slightly cloudy jellies or sprinkled into other foods such  as soup. In vegetarian and vegan cookery it is commonly used to replace animal-derived gelatine.  

Diet and Drink

• Prunes and figs As tradition relates, both these dried fruits have amazingly laxative properties and are delicious eaten as they are. However, if you wish to cook them place them in a deep bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to stand overnight. Drink the liquid and eat the fruit first thing in the morning.

• Rhubarb Stew with honey then eat or drink the juice from the cooked fruit every morning.

• Baked potato in its jacket Eaten plain, including the skin, this will relieve constipation and is also remarkably effective in easing migraine.

• Apples As well as taking the popular ‘apple a day’ use them in salads and desserts. The following is a particularly good recipe as horseradish has a cleansing and purifying effect on the system.

Apple with horseradish

1 crisp eating apple
½ teaspoon freshly grated horseradish
lemon juice
1 tablespoon yoghurt or sour cream

Grate the apple and mix it with the remaining ingredients.

• Fruit and vegetable juices If it is possible to make your own from fresh produce do so and drink immediately for maximum benefit.

• Carrots Eaten raw they add valuable minerals and vitamins to the diet. Also try this nourishing soup which is sweet and tasty enough to tempt children and acts as a mild aperients.

Carrot Soup

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 carrots, thinly sliced
¼ bulb fennel, thinly sliced
fresh thyme and bay leaf
sea salt
300ml (1/2 pint) warmed milk
parsley to garnish

Fry the onion and garlic gently in the olive oil until soft. Add the carrots and fennel and toss lightly until golden brown. Add the herbs, seasoning and stock, cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft. Discard the bay leaf then puree the mixture. Return to the pan and heat through adding as much of the warmed milk as is necessary to give you the right consistency. Garnish with plenty of chopped parsley and serve with whole meal bread.  

Whole wheat and Bran Bread  

1.5 kg (3.5 Ib) whole meal flour
3 tablespoons bran
1 tablespoon sea salt
40g (1.5oz) dried yeast
4 tablespoons molasses or treacle
1.25 litres (2.5 pints) water

Put the flour, bran and salt into a large bowl and stand in a warm oven. Mix together the yeast, molasses and 150 ml (1/4 pint) of the water warmed to blood heat. Leave to stand in a warm place for about five minutes, when it should be spongy. Grease four 150g (11b) loaf tins and put them to warm. Stir the yeast mixture well and pour it into the centre of the flour adding the remainder of the warmed water. Using your hand incorporate the flour from the sides of the bowl into the yeast mixture and continue kneading until you have a wettish dough. Divide equally among the tins, cover loosely with a cloth and leave in a warm, draught-free spot for 20 minutes to rise. Preheat the oven. When the loaves have risen by about one third pop them into the oven and bake for 40 minutes. They should be well browned and sound faintly hollow when tapped on the bottom.

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