Diet and poop

[nevviemama]

Hi all, my lo is 19 months, and she is a terrific eater, and since 11 months a terrific sleeper (don't ask before that, I was a zombie!) The issue she seems to have on and off the last few months is with difficult poops. I try to feed her a variety of foods and upsize the prunes if she skips a day, but at times she'll have a difficult time and cries. It's not that she's backed up, she may skip only a day or so, but the poop is big and hurts her. I'm afraid that she'll start really fearing it and that it may lead to problems with trying to hold it in.

I know it's a yucky subject, but looking for a potential culprit in what I'm giving her. I usually try to give her a protein at every meal, is that too much? Protein is the filler upper so want to make sure she's being kept through the night (which she sleeps 12-13 hrs). Here is an idea of her diet:

7am: wake and 5oz milk
8am: breakfast: usually banana (1/4 to 1/2), cheerios w/milk, or a waffle or whole wheat bread with almond butter or cream cheese and touch of jam
10am: snack - usually ends up being buttered bread like rye, and some cheese. My parents live with me and get up and have breakfast then, so she wants what they're having
11:30ish: 5oz milk and nap (1 - 1.5 hrs)
1pm: lunch - homemade whole grain pasta with cheese or tomato sauce, scrambled egg, or homemade chicken meatballs or light veal sausage (very fine texture - parents buy freshly made from Polish deli), always try a good helping of fruit (pineapple, strawberries, apple, or blueberry, avocado - whatever is on hand) and veggies (cooked carrots, broccoli, corn, cauliflower, sweet potato)
3pm: snack - fruit, fruit cereal bar, arrowroot or cinnamon organic biscuit (usually we're on the go here)
5pm: dinner - mostly same as lunch, additionally give her yogurt
6ish: 5oz milk
6:30: bedtime. She is happy to go, lay her down and she is out (BW worked here!)

So she gets 15oz of milk per day, and drinks mostly water in between. Rarely gets juice but sometimes watered down. Very rare on any sweets/dessert. She is slight but I feel she eats a lot. Any insights? Too much milk? Not enough water? One of the food or lack thereof?

[Texomamama]

Hmm, at first I thought there was a lot of bread and dairy products in her diet, and not as much fruit, but as I read on, it appears you are offering fruit at lunch and snack, so as long as she is getting enough, there should be no problem.  Overall, her diet looks pretty varied and healthy.  Perhaps she is not getting enough hydration, particularly with the warmer weather (assuming you are Northern Hemi).  15 oz milk does not seem like too much milk to me.  How is her urine output?  If that is normal, then I doubt it is dehydration.  I would just try and focus on offering more water (even if it has a bit of juice) and fresh fruits.  Good luck.   

[We Three]

Sounds just like my dd!!  She also eats very healthy, tons of water, tons of fruit, and still she has this issue fairly constantly.  The only thing that jumped out at me was the bananas....we avoid them like they're poison!  They are notoriuosly constipating, and my dd cannot have ANY.  Cheese is something we also avoid.

When things got very bad for us several months ago, my SIL did a little research and found that my dd was getting WAY too much calcium. I don't recall the particulars (sorry) but she was having milk at every meal, plus a yogurt a day. That added up to more than twice the calcium she needed, so I cut back to milk with b'fast and milk after dinner, water the rest of the day, and I think it helped. It seems like your lo is not getting as much milk as my dd was, but still I wanted to let you know that too much calcium can bind things up, just so you can have that in your mind.

We offer her a prune/pear mixture of baby food about twice a week, just to keep things going. We learned that if we offered that once she was already struggling to go, it didn't work. So now we just keep it at every 3 days, and it really does help. We also add a natural pro-biotic powder to her milk once a day, our homeopath gave it to us, and it works also.

We still have bouts where she doesn't go for 4 days...and it is so upsetting, because I truly belive we are doing everything possible to help her. Did your dd have reflux? Reflux kids can have sluggish digestive systems...my dd had horrific reflux/milk allergy, which she outgrew.

Hope that helps!!   

[nevviemama]

Hi Texo, hmm, maybe we should try going 'no bananas'. She usually only gets them at breakfast, but there have been days where she's had more. I do think she can drink a bit more water, but she is into juice lately so maybe mix in some prune juice and that may help. I do fear that there are days she gets a lot of bread and have to watch that.

Amelia, no she never had reflux but did have some major gassy issues when little and we actually tried reflux meds with no results. She basically grew out of it. In addition to milk she'll also have yogurt, cheese etc, but sometimes I don't want her having too much meat so default to dairy for protein. It's such a fine balance! I think you're right; I need to build the prunes into her regular diet rather than being reactive with them. She seems to like them so that would work.

[We Three]

Yes, it is so hard to find that balance.  I wanted to offer this: most toddlers in fact get far more protein than they need.  From 1-3 years old the target is 16 grams/day.
 8 oz milk/yogurt has 8 grams.
 1 oz cheese has 8 grams
 1 oz meat (chicken/beef) has 8 grams
 2tbs peanut butter has 8 grams

So it looks like your dd is getting what she needs from the milk alone, and she still eats her meats, so she's just fine with regards to protein.  We often will toss a little pulverized wheat germ into dd's yogurt for some extra protein as well...my dd will NOT eat meat, so we are always looking for ways to add protein that aren't diary.

Try avoiding bananas like the plague....that should make a difference. I swaer my dd cannot even have a few bites of banana.

[Texomamama]

I occasionally give DD some of my Fiber 1 cereal to snack on (she actually likes the ones that look like twigs.  Weird child).  As an aside, Amelia, you are such an active poster and always give such good advise.  That is my favorite thing about this board.  So many helpful (and polite and nonjugmental) people.  

[We Three]

Wow that's so nice of you to say!! I have been helped soooooooooo much here at BW...just trying to pay it forward!  Me and my degree from "Google University"!!   

[my3girlsjde]

My girls are 15 months and we've been going through this issue since birth. I'm putting off any invasive testing in the hopes that they will outgrow whatever issue is causing it. I've done food journals and have come up with the meat being the culprit, but I refuse to cut it out of their diet entirely. I've gone back to pureeing it, and they love beans. Beans are a food staple in this house and I've even pureed them and mixed it into casseroles, rice dishes and some other questionable mixtures that they love. They have fruit with every meal, but still seem sensitive to things like rice, oatmeal and unpureed meat as they are not big fans of chewing. Hopefully they outgrow this Bran muffins are also a staple in my house and I mix in some applesauce when making them instead of sugar. Their poop is still hard at least once a day but it's coming out without complaint, and after 14 months of issues we're finally living the poop dream lol

[chars mum]

Hi,
My DD is 21 months old and we have also been having trouble with difficult poops for the last several months too.  We found that cutting back on her milk and other dairy really helped.  She is still getting what she needs but not all the extra we were giving her.  We still have our issues though and have been trying to increase her fibre, fruit and veggie intake.  We only offer whole wheat bread, bagels and pasta, for example. 
The information shared here has been super, we are going try some of the other suggestions (would love some of those bean recipes!).  Thanks nevviemama for starting this thread! 
Helen

[my3girlsjde]

I call this one bean slop but they love it.

Mashed beans - you can mash them to whatever consistency you want and add a little water to make it more soupy and sticky for the spoon.
Brown rice (adjust amount as I find it can constipate the girls if they have too much)
You can also use whole wheat macaroni as they stay small when cooked
Mixed veggies
Pureed meat ie chicken, beef, (small amounts of tuna as I also find it constipating to girls)
Heat with a slice of soy cheese

This is a great 'spoon' meal, but I've since learned in the last couple of days to only put one spoonful on the tray at a time. No bowl - we had our first foodfight. Spirited twins - enough said lol If the girls could handle tomatoes I would put them in also but tomatoes normally get puked back up



I have no idea what to call these but the girls love them

Pie shell
Mashed beans - really wet and soupy works best
Whole beans
Mixed veggies
Mashed potatoes
Pureed cooked meat

Mix everything together and spread in a 1/2 inch layer on the pie shell. Roll and slice as if it were a cinnamon bun. Place flat side down on baking sheet and bake for recommended pie shell time. 30 mins I think - I don't have the box anymore. Serve with a slice of soy cheese melted on it. It's a really sticky finger food but the girls love them. I use whatever leftover pie shell I have and put a piece of fruit in and bake it for a treat. They love canned peaches and pears in water and I find the pears help them poop quite a bit. Blueberries and pears are also mashed and added to oatmeal which has helped quite a bit too.

Both of these recepies freeze excellent.

HTH

Vicki