Foods to relieve constipation (2 year old)

[Maia&Lia]

Hi everyone!
I'm hoping someone might have a few suggestions for foods that would help relieve my daughter's constipation. We focus on whole grains and lots of fruits & vegetables...but we're still having issues. The pediatrician suggested that we might try stool softeners, but I'd rather see if we could do something dietary to improve things.

She isn't a huge fan of beans but does love almost any fruit. Recently she has decided that vegetables are nasty (grr). Anyone have any good ideas on how to sneak those kinds of things in...or recipes that make veggies super yummy to a picky toddler?

Thanks for your input!

[calebs mommy]

As for the constipation.... have you tried prunes or prune juice?  Does she drink any juice?  My pedi suggests any juice for constipation.  I think I would want to try that before stool softeners too. 

[aisling]

How about all these!?

Bio Active yoghurt
Avocado
Peanut Butter
Dried organic apricots
Raisins
Couscous
Hummus
Over ripe bananas


Add a tablespoon of Flax oil to a smoothie or her cereal everday.

Have her drink more water

Make prune juice and water ice lollies/Popsicles for a "treat."

Grrr to docs that just say to give over the counter meds! 
    to him! 

Hide veggies in:
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Meatballs
Tomato sauce
Stews
Pizza

I puree carrots, spinach etc.. and add them to the above so it is very fine and not obviously green and yucky!

HTH,

Aisling x

[taygensmom]

I thought bananas were constipating? Just curious...

[Mom2katiebug]

We make "shakes" using fruit purees (even Gerbers) and milk.  I've also added small bits of flax seed and a couple of teaspoons of flax oil to them. 

My DD also LOVES mandarin oranges.  They can't be that healthy cuz they come in a can but she eats them like crazy.  The only problem is that they definitely soften things.  So we limit her, but even when we do we expect soft stools after she eats them.  Also prune/prune juice (like A's idea about prune-sicles!).  Come to think of it DD loves almost all fruit and if we need to soften things a bit we just give her an extra helping and she woofs it down!  I would feed fruit at every meal (maybe like a dessert) until things soften up and then cut back as you see fit.

[aisling]

Taygensmom,  when DS went to solids he battled constipation a bit, so from speaking with other Mums and reading, over ripened, yucky brown, ready for the banana bread making bananas are a laxative whilst normal ones are good for binding a la the BRAT diet for diarrhea.  Lo and behold it was true, worked for DS and also for me when I am bunged up.   Probably from the breaking down of the natural fruit sugars, it makes the banana have a "corn syrup effect."  Which BTW, golden corn syrup is a good for constipation relief but not very good for you or your teeth! 

HTH,

Aisling x


A x

[taygensmom]

Hmmm, very interesting. I'll keep that in mind, as my LO sometimes gets constipated and I then usually don't let him have any bananas, which are his favorite! Thanks!

[dkjokisch]

Dd is also prone to constipation.  Prunes def help, and I have a few friends who buy the individually wrapped ones - their kids think it's candy.  We also go for high-fiber cereals.  We recently tried Fiber One.  1/2 cup is pretty much all the fiber they need for the day.  I thought it tasted like cardboard but dd loved it.  We told her it was fiber worms.

All the pps made great suggestions, but you also might want to think about limiting dairy esp if your dd is a cheese/milk fiend like mine.  Dairy can be very constipating.  Also try to up her water intake, as all the fiber in the world won't help if they're not drinking enough water.

[LeesMom]

One thing that has recently worked with DD is quartered red grapes... we used to peel them for her  but recently have been leaving the skins on. Must be something in the skins, because it really gets things moving within 1/2 hr. or so. HTH

[Sallyotis]

Pineapple is also a natural laxative. 

[Mom2katiebug]

Oh yeah...pineapple.  Do ask about the pineapple diet I did one time   But do be careful cuz it can cause sores in your mouth too.

Papaya is good too.

[Jimbob]

Pear juice works well with my dd. We also give lots of fresh fruit which she loves so is no problem. You can hide vegetables in mash potato if your lo will eat that. I used to do this all the time but no longer need to do this for my dd which is great.

[evanskimberley]

We use prunes here, at first she wasn't sur about them, but we tried them first in chocloate crispie cakes and then she got a taste for them.