my 2 1/2 old son doesn't have solid poo!

[LBMarie9]

is this normal? I always thought he just had lots of fiber in his diet because we're so healthy (and he does get TONZ of fiber)--but how is he going to potty train with teh shape his poo is in (sorry can't think of a better word) it's not diahrea--it's just mushy usually with food in it (flax seed, corn, raisins, etc etc etc)--also is there a one certain allergy that seems to cause this problem or all or any?

[BekahJ]

I have been wondering the same thing about my 19 mo old. I thought is was because I was nursing him but we are weaning and his is still mushy.

[tanyalynn]

I don't think it's always one certain thing. For my daughter it was gluten. My son also has problems with gluten, but it doesn't affect his poop. It seems very individual, sort of a guess-and-check game.

[LBMarie9]

but could his frequent and non hard bowel movements be normal? or is something for sure wrong? (i don't think it's healthy to be constipated like most kids either--so what is right?!)

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

but could his frequent and non hard bowel movements be normal? or is something for sure wrong? (i don't think it's healthy to be constipated like most kids either--so what is right?!)

With my daughter, I didn't know for sure until we tried it. However, there are places to read about poop (that I didn't figure out til sorta late in the game).

My personal take on it--constipated kids have issues, and it's more recognized that that's a problem, but our bodies all have different ways of trying to cope when something's not right. Some people with food allergies have skin stuff--eczema, hives, rashes, like that. My kids show the problems in different ways, and there's probably something I can learn from that, but for the moment, I'm mostly working on trying to get (and keep) them well-balanced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

http://www.enzymestuff.com/rtstools.htm

I learned interesting stuff from both sites.

[nalo]

random input: my 18 month old's normal poops are one main mass of soft poop that easily falls of the dipe into the toilet but there is still extra messy poop that stays in the dipe too. when i eat lots of corn her poop tends to firm up a lot but she does not get constipated (but she also gets itchy too so i should never do this). i do think that soft poop in a child can be completely normal. it does depend on diet so there is obviously going to be some variation in normal, yk? if there doesn't appear to be any other symptoms going on i wouldn't worry about it all. although....you say he goes really frequently too. what does that mean? my DD goes once every 2-3 days right now but once/day is probably considered the most normal for her age and a 2.5 year old. is he going frequently through the day? if so, i might be a bit worried that something is disagreeing with him.

[Mommy2Haley]

Different kids have different poop.

My daughter, for example, goes 3ish times per day and it looks much like adult poo. I was at daycare while her friend was being changed and that little girl's poop looked like DD's when she first started solids! To boot my DD is still nursing and this little girl drinks juice and water only.

[LBMarie9]

i'd say he goes 2-3 times a day and definately more some days (like 5x)