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

[Indadhanu]

Banana made Jazz get really terrible green stringy diarrhea!

Yoghurt always helped, and so did some lightly steamed pears or apples.

[*Infinity*]

MR when we started the meds we were in a really hard place - nothing else was working and he was so distressed - and the dose was so low that we were happy with the decision to continue. I know the formula is the main culprit so I am keen to see how he transitions in the next couple of months with more foods (he's gutsing solids like no tomorrow) and switching to cow's milk at 12 months. Thank you for your advice.

He usually drinks water with his meals but not a lot. Just sips really. I'm trying to encourage more but I can't force it down him. I might try some different cups.

I've heard that banana can block them up so we've avoided that. He loves pears, and yoghurt and peaches so we're trying to use those kinds of things to help him. Its been hard - his diet has been mainly fresh fruit, veg & some meats so seeing the problem persist has been tricky. I've got some prunes to stew up as well to mix in with yoghurt too which should help.

Thanks for your help everyone.

[MantaRay]

You are doing a great job hun. I hope things get easier once you can stop the formula

[ShootingStar]

Apricots! Whenever my kids were having trouble as babies, my sister did the same, i just gave them something with apricots in it.. always works.

[*Infinity*]

Thanks ShootingStar - I don't eat apricots myself as they give me really painful gas but hadn't thought to try them with DS. Another one to add to the list.

So tell me your thoughts about Weet-Bix people? DS maybe has it once or twice a week - yesterday we had it for breakfast with pears and this morning he did a really bulky poo (not dry or hard) but big enough for it to make him really upset. And I'm thinking maybe Weet-Bix is the problem? Other than that yesterday he had some fruit for lunch and some spaghetti sauce and veg for tea with us. I think I'm going to avoid it for a few days and see what happens.

Poor little guy.

[ShootingStar]

Id tend to think the weetbix is not the cause of the problem as theyre high in fibre.

Have you tried changing his formula? When we moved DS up to the second stage formula he started to get really constipated due to the increase in iron. Theres also nothing wrong with sticking to the stage 1 formula either. I switched DS's brand of formula and he was then fine. All formulas are different, some agree with their tummies, some dont.. and its different for everyone.

[MantaRay]

Hun, weetbix are a "medium fibre" food and should usually be ok. You might need to try it again to see if it was a one-off or not.

The other thing to consider is that constipation can sometimes be a sign of a food intolerance. This can be pretty tricky to figure out, but I guess if a good diet and plenty of water isn't doing the trick, then it could be worth talking to a dietician about trying an elimination diet. There are dieticians who specialise in food allergies and intolerances, so I would be looking for one of them. You can do a search on the DAA website - www.daa.asn.au - by specialty.

All the best with it. I have a 5yo who still has big issues in this area (and yes, we have resorted to meds too, so I do understand your position!). I really hope you can get it sorted quickly. It gets much harder as they get older.

[*Infinity*]

ShootingStar - we never went to Stage 2 formula as he reacted really badly to it, so we just stuck to Stage 1 and kept managing things that way.

MR thank you for the advice regarding dieticians & potential food intolerances. I'm getting more and more concerned. The past 2 days he's been on a diet of only fruits, veg, some yoghurt and his formula & his poos are still distressing him a lot which is so difficult for us to see. I think I'm going to find someone to make an appointment with as well as seeing how he goes weaning off the formula in the next month to cows milk.

MR - he's so close to 12 months old and I'm really wanting the formula out of the equation to see if it IS the actual issue? Would I be doing any harm to see how he reacted if I start weaning him from it now? I'm just looking for something right now to help us make some progress.

[Mad Scientist]

I found that Soy and Linseed bread keeps my both my girls regular. Sultana Bran or Allbran is excellent too if you want another option to the weetbix. I know what you mean about the formula. Maybe drop the number of formula bottles he's having and introduce a milk bottle instead? I'm no expert though. Just a suggestion. Bowel problems can be so stressful. Sending you big hugs xx