Persistent constipation in almost 2yo

[GreenGranolaMama]

Asking this for a friend who is wary of the Internet but is getting really desperate for help/suggestions

Her LO is 21 months old and has been dealing with constipation since she was 9mo (about when she started *really* eating solids) They've tried prunes/ prune juice, pears etc... limiting dairy/cheese, making sure she gets adequate amounts of water/fluids throughout the day, a healthy, varied diet with high fiber snacks (seriously, at this point everything she is eating is high fiber). She self weened at 17 months but that didn't seem to make a difference. They've been using miralax daily and sometimes that doesn't even help. She's taken her to the MD a few times because of it- they told her to keep giving her the miralax daily and eventually it will stop, but my friend is hesitant to keep giving it to her daily as she would rather try and figure out the cause and she is also concerned that it might be something more serious. 

Has anyone else ever dealt with this? 

[mkksmom]

We didn't get to that point, but I've had plenty of issues with my girls. I basically had to figure out which foods worked for them. Ped said this time around to watch the protein. Too much causes problems. I found that giving her shredded wheat ( I break it up and soak it in milk) and black beans and spinach all seem to help her. I do prunes and pears too. Peaches don't seem to help us. Bran flakes can help. It's so frustrating. Hopefully she can figure out some foods that will help.

[GreenGranolaMama]

Thanks for the info, I will defiantly pass it along to my friend : )

[lessmith23]

My daughter is 18 months old and we struggled with constipation issues from around the same time (9 months).  She weaned at 15 months and this got even worse after that.

We also tried all the dietary recommendations and all the Dr. did was prescribe stool softeners and laxatives which, like your friend is finding, didn't always work.

What I finally did was start a food journal and quickly realized that DD had a gluten sensitivity.  Once we removed gluten from her diet the results were almost instantaneous.  We've been GF for about a month and DD is pooping on her own everyday with no issues.

Looking back, for us, there were other "problems" that I now realize were related to her intolerance (slow weight gain, poor sleeper, irritability) but at the time I had no idea.

This may not work for your friend but it's worth investigating especially if they've tried a lot at this point and don't seem to be having any luck.