foods to soften toddler stools

[nony]

Hi - I asked the same question recently, but I'm not getting any responses so will ask it a different, hopefully clearer way. What are the best stool-softening foods for toddlers? and what are the tricks to getting them into their mouths?

Thanks!

[tinyblackdot]

prunes, any high fiber food, but high fiber veggies and fruits are best.

I think not only should you be looking at foods to ADD to the diet, but looking at foods to take out of the diet.

I would really restrict foods like cheese, bananas, and rice.

HTH!

[Llyra]

I would offer more water-- increasing fluids is a good first step for dealing with constipation. Not juice, just water. Try letting the LO have a Really Cool Cup, if the LO is resisting drinking more. My DS had this issue, and I wound up tempting him with this enormous insulated coffee mug "just like Daddy's," and he LOVED it, and sucked down so much water.

Try raspberries, blueberries, plums, apricots, grapes, peaches, and other fruits with a lot of fructose. Some kids who won't eat them fresh will eat them if you offer them frozen, so that might be something to try. Oatmeal is full of soluble fiber. Restrict binding foods like bananas or white rice, and cut dairy back to 16 oz a day or less. Also, try increasing the non-processed natural fats-- olive oil, oily fish, grass-fed butter if you can get it, avocado, coconut oil, or any other whole-foods source of dietary fat. Increasing DS's fats and fluids has solved his problem, without us adding or taking away any other foods.

[blumooned]

Agree with everything already said. Also wanted to add, I think yogurt helps DS. Also, for DS, cooked carrots & sweet potato are on the list of foods to remove because they bind him.

[KempsMama]

Yogurt helps my little guy a ton, he;s just like his momma and gets bound up super easy, as long as he eats yogurt every day he's fine.

[pumpkin]

DD loves prunes. We dice them. She has gobbled down three prunes in a sitting before I cut her off.

[HappyMommy2]

Raisins.

[Smokering]

I've heard kiwfruit are really good.

For DD, what worked in the end was giving her Xylitol candies. They're for her teeth, but also have a laxative effect - if she has 8 or so a day, her constipation is manageable rather than traumatic.

[tanyalynn]

I'd consider whether your LO (and possibly others in the family maybe with different symptoms) could be intolerant of any foods, dairy, gluten and soy would be a few biggies to consider. Some people need more magnesium in order to have regular BMs and that's pretty straightforward to supplement.

Probiotic foods tend to help normalize digestion, whether a person tends towards constipation or loose stools. For us, we love fermented veggies, which are WAY tastier than the phrase "fermented veggies" implies. Long thread in Traditional Foods with ideas, things like homemade pickles and kimchee or sauerkraut or others.

[samy23]

Fresh Orange Juice helps us stay regular, we drink a glass daily usually.

Oatmeal is a good source of fibre and Im sure helps me personally that way.

Healthy fats such as olive oil, which I add some into whatever dish I'm making.

[nony]

thanks so much for some great tips. Some of these we've tried, some not - we are going to keep trying. She seems to love one thing for a while, then won't touch it, so i think we need to try things in rotation. Thanks again!

[hildare]

add a probiotic to all the previous suggestions.