What foods help keep your little one 'regular'?

[*Infinity*]

DS is nearing 11 months and is formula fed. Even before he was eating solids we had to start him on a daily dose of lactulose to help his bowels along - the formula was creating a lot of problems and a low dose of this every day kept him moving along nicely. Recently he was unwell and had diarhhoea for about 10 days so we stopped the lactulose. We haven't re-started him as yet because we're hoping to encourage his system to naturally adjust to less milk, more solids and hence, more solid poos if you like. He's close to 12 months old and we're keen to stop the formula and get him onto cow's milk plus his normal food.

Now that the diarrhoea has passed, his poos are firming up and they're upsetting him quite a bit. I sense that its more because they feel different to him (i.e. not runny anymore) rather than them being painful for him IYKWIM and we don't know how long is normal for babies to adjust to the sensation of firmer poos? They're not dry or pellety, just firmer and more solid.

So in the interest of keeping things moving for him I'm interested to hear from people what foods kept your little ones regular? And conversly, what did you notice blocking them up? I know every child is different but any more ideas would be great. We're avoiding too many bulky carbs and just sticking to fruits & veg mainly with some meat thrown in here & there. We do a mixture of BLS and smoother foods too.

TIA

[~me~]

Kiwi fruit is a great one. I gave DS1 a kiwi fruit everyday (he was FF) and he never got constipation.
I also ate one everyday when I was pregnant skin and all to help keep me regular.

[allycat06]

Avocado and banana are high in fibre. Chickpeas, beans and the like are good too.

[MantaRay]

Unfortunately using medications to help move things along for longer than a couple of days can make the body dependent on it. It might be that you need to talk to a health professional about a plan for weaning off the meds.

In the meantime, drinking lots of water is really important - does he drink water? Other than that, a good diet including plenty of fresh fruit and veg is the best thing. For times when things are a bit blocked up, sultanas, prunes and pear juice are good, but the aim is to have enough water, fruit and veg in the diet to not need this very often. Some other high fibre foods you could include in his diet are bran, baked beans, kidney beans, dry split peas and wholemeal pita.

GL!

[Sequoia]

Avocado and banana are high in fibre.

Banana made my DS very constipated. If it's any consolation, my DS was constipated on FF but when we switched over to cow's milk at 12 months it improved a lot. I make sure he has WeetBix every day for breakfast and a plain or stewed apple for morning tea.

[allycat06]

Banana made my DS very constipated.

They can do a bit of both. Depends on the baby I guess.

[Party-of-five]

bananas and cheese constipate DD1, strawberrys and weetbix are a sure fire way to get her moving
If she eats plenty of veg and fruit and yogart she seems to have no troubles its when I get slack and give her easy food that we have issues and there is nothing worse than watching a baby do a hard poo