Daily grams of insoluble fiber for an 18 month-old?

[MegBoz]

Help! My son sometimes poops like five times a day! & sometimes food seems to go RIGHT THROUGH him. Poops are most often kinda soft (not liquid runny, but like natural peanut-butter goopy.) Although his weight gain is great – not the least bit over or underweight. Never has been.

It’s been this way for a long time now, so I can’t even think to attribute it to a food allergy or something.

My daycare provider & DH are telling me not to feed him beans or lentils – but I don’t see an improvement when I cut them out. I refuse to believe that healthy, whole-unprocessed foods are NOT the best thing for him. I’m NOT about to feed my son white-flour!!!! So what IS a good amount of insoluble fiber for an 18 MO?

He’s growing increasingly picky, but here’s a snippet of the foods he eats:

• Breast milk about 2X per day
• Dairy: yogurt, cheese & cottage cheese (all whole milk)
• Fruit: oranges if he’s in the mood, apples or apple sauce, tomato sauce on pasta, occasionally grapes or melon, raisins in raisin bread
• Veggies: Not enough starchy veggies like sweet potatoes & carrots, if he eats lentil burgers or black bean soup, then he gets veggies from that, such as onion, green pepper, celery, etc. sometimes salsa
• Grains: steel-cut oats or instant plain oatmeal, whole-grain pasta, whole-grain bread (usually homemade), sometimes brown rice or cous cous, whole grain tortillas
• Fats: olive oil IN things, or peanut or almond butters (sandwich or smeared on apple pieces)
• Proteins: eggs, occasionally some meat like chicken or even ground beef but he isn’t a big fan lately

Are there any problems with the foods I'm giving him? Is there a maximum amount of fiber I should stick to??

[tanyalynn]

My daughter's poop was similar, from the beginning, and it was gluten and dairy. They were ubiquitous in our diet, even when I was nursing her exclusively the proteins were getting through and causing issues then, so it _was_ hard to figure that it could be a food.

Fiber didn't seem to ever play a role for us, but since I saw similarities in our situations, I wanted to share what our solution was.

[MegBoz]

Thanks!
I've heard of gluten & dairy causing problems for lots of people. Hm - and DH & his Mom sometimes have some problems with lactose intolerance. But no one on either sides of our families has any issues with gluten.

He seems so happy & healthy otherwise - i don't even know if I should consider "goopy" poop to be a problem! I'm reluctant to even talk to our pedi about it because most docs are so clueless about nutrition.

[cristeen]

SOme people just poo more often than others. My DH goes once a day, period. I got at least 4 times a day. He thinks it's weird, but even when I made drastic changes to my diet it didn't change. There are certain things that can make me go more often (like olive oil), but unless I'm constipated I don't go less than 4x/day. So long as he seems otherwise healthy, I wouldn't consider 5 poos a day something to be concerned with, particularly since he's still nursing.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

that's what ds's is like (2yo). I figure it'll solidfy when he weans and decrease in frequency

[blueridgewoman]

You might try him on a good qulity probiotic geared towards infants and toddlers-- I'm guessing that would firm things right up.

[dogmom327]

We had similar problems with DS...it was a gluten and dairy intolerance. I'd have him checked out by a naturopath who can help you diagnose any food sensitivities he may have.

[weasleyx]

I would actually suggest increasing the amount of soluble fiber foods and decreasing insoluble fiber foods. I have IBS, which is not the same thing but I often have, say, 4-6 fairly loose bm's a day. One thing that does help me is to make sure I have soluble fiber foods with every meal, such as bananas, plain oatmeal, sweet or regular potatoes, or (sorry) white pasta, rice or other grains. Now, that doesn't mean that I never have anything whole grain, but for me it is too high in insoluble fiber to eat rampantly. Foods with insoluble fiber are very, very healthy but I have to be careful when eating them because they are very hard on me. I also don't handle dairy very well or anything that is very high in fat.
This website might be helpful: http://www.helpforibs.com/diet/fiber2.asp
Now, of course I'm not saying your DS has IBS or will have IBS in the future, but you might find incorporating some of these guidelines to have a positive impact on him. Oh, I would also second the pp who recommended a probiotic - I take one and it helps a lot too.
hth and good luck!

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber

that's what ds's is like (2yo). I figure it'll solidfy when he weans and decrease in frequency

YES - that could certainly be it!

I haven't asked my pediatrician about it, to see if she thinks the poop is even a problem, but I guess I might as well. MDs have a dreadful lack of training in nutrition anyway, so I don't really expect any great insight there.

Originally Posted by blueridgewoman

You might try him on a good qulity probiotic geared towards infants and toddlers-- I'm guessing that would firm things right up.

I thought of that, but he eats yogurt practically every other day. Shouldn't that be enough for a source of healthy probiotics?
I'm somewhat anti-supplement. Our bodies absorb nutrients better from food sources anyway & as long as we're eating a nice wide variety of fresh, whole foods, we don't really need processed supplements in order to be properly nourished.