How do you get a toddler to eat prunes?

[Down2Earth]

My DD has had some pretty firm BM. (I'm not talking breastmilk, I mean the other "bm") She has even cried a few times while "going." And now I'm not sure what to do. She nurses and eats what we eat, but there are a few things she has trouble eating, like some raw veggies, so she doesn't.

Anyway, my step-mom said to give her prunes, but she DOES NOT like them. I've chopped them up very tiny and also given it to her whole. We even chopped up prunes and put them in her spaghetti sauce. When she notices them she says, "all done" and she pushes her plate away.

I've never forced her to eat something before, so I don't know how to do that. Is there something else I could feed her to get the same results as prunes? I've also stopped letting her have bananas and other foods that affect her BMs. Any other suggestions?

[amma_mama]

How about prune juice? That might be easier to disguise, or a fiber drink? Or Metacucil makes cookie-like biscuits that are not too bad...also bran cereal, beans, any other high-fiber foods should help her loosen up...

Good luck!

[cristeen]

I would really try finding the cause of the constipation. Is there a recent new food introduced? Is she not drinking enough water/breastmilk?

If she doesn't like prunes, how does she feel about dried apricots? Cherries? Dates? Those have the same effect. But really, I'd work on increasing her liquid and her fat intake rather than trying to force feed her something like prunes, which even many adults don't care for.

If it makes it more palatable, you can stuff a dried apricot with cream cheese or add chopped apricots to a salad. How about baking oatmeal cookies with chopped dried apricots, cherries or dates instead of raisins?

I would not give a child young enough to still be nursing something like Metamucil except as a last resort. Constipation in a young child is most likely due to dehydration, food intolerance or a low fat diet, so I'd definitely address those things first.

[Violet2]

Would she eat beans? We do a lot of beans here. Baked beans are a current favorite.

Yesterday I made a yogurt smoothie with honey, prune puree and frozen blueberries. That might work for you.

Although DD likes prunes. We still use the infant puree.

And miralax is available over the counter if you want to try that.

HTH
V

[nataliachick7]

My toddler loves prunes. We always called them "big raisins" I get the sunsweet individually wrapped ones that look like candy (cause they stay moist) maybe you can get those and say they're a treat?

[StrawberryFields]

I would probably just give up on the prunes and find a different way to get things moving. My kids love prunes so I wouldn't have that problem. Have you tried different kinds of prunes, though? Stewed prunes, regular dried prunes, prune juice?

When my kids are constipated I back off on their Vitamin C supplement and give them undiluted apple juice and they are pooping in no time.

[Down2Earth]

Originally Posted by cristeen

I would really try finding the cause of the constipation. Is there a recent new food introduced? Is she not drinking enough water/breastmilk?

If she doesn't like prunes, how does she feel about dried apricots? Cherries? Dates? Those have the same effect. But really, I'd work on increasing her liquid and her fat intake rather than trying to force feed her something like prunes, which even many adults don't care for.

If it makes it more palatable, you can stuff a dried apricot with cream cheese or add chopped apricots to a salad. How about baking oatmeal cookies with chopped dried apricots, cherries or dates instead of raisins?

I would not give a child young enough to still be nursing something like Metamucil except as a last resort. Constipation in a young child is most likely due to dehydration, food intolerance or a low fat diet, so I'd definitely address those things first.

This is sort of what I was thinking. She nurses a lot but I should probably offer her water more often. She would probably eat cherries, but I'm not sure because she's not a big fan of sweet stuff.

Any suggestions for adding more fat to her diet?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Down2Earth

This is sort of what I was thinking. She nurses a lot but I should probably offer her water more often. She would probably eat cherries, but I'm not sure because she's not a big fan of sweet stuff.

Any suggestions for adding more fat to her diet?

How about dried tart cherries?

As for more fat... any dairy should be full fat, cook with butter, CO or other healthy fats. Pick fattier cuts of meat, and cook veggies in the drippings or use them to make gravy. Serve chicken with the skin on. Yogurt can also be good for getting things moving if dairy is tolerated - either served straight up (full fat with live cultures), or blended into a smoothie. Offer things like full fat cheese or hard cooked eggs (or deviled eggs) for snack. Offer dips with veggies - hummus is a good one, but most dips are higher fat.

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by nataliachick7

My toddler loves prunes. We always called them "big raisins" I get the sunsweet individually wrapped ones that look like candy (cause they stay moist) maybe you can get those and say they're a treat?

This, exactly!

[Sugarshoc]

Avocados are wonderfully high in healthy fat.

[425lisamarie]

Pears are good to make you go. cook a pear down like you would applesauce with a pinch of cinnamon.

[MichAnne]

my DD has the same issue with BM's. We've tried everything, diet change, not having dairy, and nothing helped. what we did was got prune nectar, no surgar or anything and watered it down. she loves it. also our family doctor suggested a powder called "lax-a-day" that we put in her morning juice/milk/water every 3-4 days to help keep her regular. I was the same when I was her age, and eventually grew out of it. I would try prune nectar and if that doesnt help, talk to your ped./fam. doc and get their opinion.

[Liquesce]

Many dried fruits in general can be really good for constipation. You might consider trying dried apricots, just regular raisins, cherries as someone mentioned above, that sort of thing. Fresh fruit, too ... it's just it's easier to eat in bulk when it's dried. Increasing the greens in your regular meals can help a lot ... things like collards have a reputation for a reason. As do beans and lentils and such, also as someone said above. Does she drink enough / drink water? All the natural laxatives in the world rely on elements that draws water to the gut ... if a person is a little dehydrated to begin with it really doesn't matter how much of the "right" stuff they eat, they might still have some trouble.

[CathMac]

Originally Posted by Down2Earth

...
Anyway, my step-mom said to give her prunes, but she DOES NOT like them. I've chopped them up very tiny and also given it to her whole. We even chopped up prunes and put them in her spaghetti sauce. ...

I just lost a very long response. I'll try to keep this short. Further below are two posts of mine in similar threads.

I strongly suggest Bob's Red Mill multi-grain cereals. Preferably the 10 grain with flax. I will sometimes use prune juice instead of water to microwave it. Adding some butter or vegetable oil can also help.

If she doesn't like the texture try adding rolled oats / oatmeal. Initially my ratio was 50/50 now it's more like 80/20 in favor of the wheat cereal.

Oatmeal does have fiber but it's water soluble and for some people (notably my DD) it makes their BMs more "gelatinous" --for lack of a better term-- which didn't make them any easier to pass. In my observation insoluble fiber is better at allowing moisture in and keeping things moving.

I discovered by accident that greasy pepperoni pizza can help. I started drizzling triscuits with olive oil, and topping it with quartered pepperoni slices.

My second post below gives a recipe for what I now call "Gotta Go" brownies. It calls for a 20+ oz boxed mix. I throw in 4 prunes with the black beans before pureeing them.

They do come out dense but I recently experimented with adding 2 Tbs of flour and they came out more cake-like. I might try 1 Tbs next time and see if it comes out a little less cake-like and hopefully slightly fudgy/chewy. They will keep for a week or slightly longer in the fridge.

Now that my kids are older I give them canned chili once in awhile, although I have to bribe them with Doritos. More recently I started giving them various soups with beans and/or corn. They aren't loving it but they will eat a little. I am hoping that eventually they will eat it as happily as they do the hot wheat cereal.

Oh, if she likes the corn by itself you might also want to try the Tex/Mex canned veggie mix with diced red peppers and onion. And when she's a little older perhaps popcorn.

When I'm around and they want a snack I give them mini wheats and triscuits.

Fiber...fiber...fiber
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ie#post6955181

We are now giving her Bob's Red Mill High Fiber cereal with flax. We give half an adult serving (1/8 cup dry rather than 1/4). She likes Oatmeal and she has had other versions of Bob's Red Mill cereals before (kind of like Cream of Wheat but more substantial) but neither one of those seemed as effective as the version with flax.

Apple juice seems to help too. Interestingly, apples are reportedly binding for some people but the juice itself can cause diarrhea so you wouldn't give it to a sick baby at risk for diarrhea.

We add raisins and a prune to the hot "Bob's" cereal. I now cut the raisins in half, otherwise they often pass through her system intact (I guess the skin is too tough to digest).

I am also on the hunt for a recipe for a tasty high fiber cookie for those days when her caregiver can't get her too eat the hot "Bob's" cereal. I think because it's so substantial it's a chore for her to eat it. So I wind up spooning it a little at a time while she is watching one of her favorite shows.

I just found two recipes for "Black Bean Brownies". One is from the cookbook "The Brilliant Bean" (which I now have on hold at my local library) and I think the other is from Weight Watcher's. One is from scratch the other calls for one package of commercial brownie mix (I'm assuming a large package) and a pureed can of black beans (15.5 oz).

I had actually thought of experimenting with replacing some of the flour and liquid/oil in recipes for cookies or brownies when I got the idea to search the net and see if it had already been done, rather than reinvent the wheel. I'm hoping to try the brownie recipe some time this week.

If anyone else happens to know of any other recipes out there, please advise.

In case you haven't heard this before, if you are successful in increasing the fiber in your DC's diet make sure to increase the clear fluid intake. Otherwise you can actually make the problem worse. For some reason her water consumption has slowed down. I have been pushing the apple juice but she doesn't seem to interested. She does seem more thirsty after her nap so I try to hand her the sippy cup when she first gets up before she gets caught up in playing.

Re-fried Black Beans with little or no added ingredients
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=brownies

You need a large package of brownies mix (20+ oz), plus the pureed beans (15+ oz can). The beans replace any liquid in the recipe.

I used Betty Crocker. The only liquid ingredients were oil and eggs, which were completely replaced by the beans. But if your package also called for water it would replace that as well.

You rinse and drain the beans. Replace the canned water you drained off. Puree them. And follow the package directions as usual.

If you prefer homemade brownies I have seen various scratch recipes online. Or you could probably figure it out by using just about any scratch recipe that called for a similar amount of liquid ingdredients as a 20+ oz package mix.

The benefits are obvious, you are cutting fat and cholesterol and reducing the number of net carbs by offsetting the gross number of carbs with the fiber in the beans.

And it's great for constipated toddlers and pre-schoolers. 

Of course I added 4 pureed prunes so that may have helped.

Good luck,
~Cath

[Down2Earth]

Thanks so much for all the helpful replies! I'm going to change and add a few things to her diet. I've also really been pushing the water and that has made a tremendous difference. And I found that a warm bath really helps to get things going. But I'm definitely printing out this thread for future reference.