Confused about what foods to treat constipation

[silkenladder]

2.8 yo DD has been holding in her poos since we potty trained last Oct/Nov. She usually goes once every three days, although it is now day 5 since her last poo.

Things seemed to be getting better recently - she would recognize the need to go and ask me for a nappy, plus the frequency seemed to be increasing - but we were away last week and she was ill and not eating much and we seem to be having a set-back.

I think I could probably help her by making a few changes to her diet, especially by reducing dairy and giving her more veg, but I'm confused by the recommendations for fruit and cereals, particularly wrt apples.

So, do apples make things better or worse? What about oats? And sugar - orange juice with brown sugar seems to be recommended as a home remedy, yet a high-sugar diet is supposed to cause constipation .

Sweet potatoes - high in fibre. If DS has too much in one sitting, he'll go within an hour.

Dried apricots - you can add one to chicken casserole for flavour or add to porridge in the morning.

I think apples make things worse (theyre part of the "BRAT" diet you use for diarrhoea so makes sense).

I'd avoid sugar anyway as not great for little ones.

Don't underestimate the importance of water - get her drinking it between meals too.

And not too many rice cakes (a common snack!) as bungs things up.

Good tips, Iggly. Thanks.

I will definitely add sweet potatoes to my shopping list. And hide the rice cakes, which DD loves .

I'm still wondering about oats, though. I was thinking about making some oat and raisin biscuits (to substitute for rice cakes and banana as snacks), but I can't work out from Google whether oats may have the wrong sort of fibre (as presumably apples and bananas do?)

yes definiteley need to get her to drink LOTS OF WATER! that will really help x

Bran. You can add it to soups and stew, or just mash into veg or stewed fruit.

pears are good.

lots of fluids too.

dired apricots, but then lots of extra fluids. you can warm some dried apricots, and then use the water from that to dilute eg juice, and add the apricots to cereal or porridge.

Try a bit of running around outside. My two always seemed to want to go after a bit of exercise !

Orange juice (fresh), plums or prune juice.

out with wheat and bran, low on dairy
Include a few flaxseeds in any meals that contain liquid, eg soup, caserole etc, or make sure enough liquid is in the diet

Any kind of fruit (including apples!) and any kind of vedge really..(bananas not so clever but not constipating), but basically NO food actually bungs you up, its just high fibre foods promote better passage of the faeces through the gut. It cant be emphasised enough about the importance of fluids though.

Avoid processed foods, as much of the natural fibre is stripped away, white bread/rolls etc. Cook fresh as much as possible. Look at the wholewheat options, such as shredded wheat, rather than frosties. Sugar is not good generally.

If you are going through a rough patch you can buy lactulose over the counter and this is good for short term problems, and can help avoid the constipation, witholding cycle.

cheese and eggs bung up
o.j/prunes may cause"explosions" in some kids

add butterbeans/chick p etc pureed to mashed potato
dried apricots/dates(just a little0 added to porridge is great

i was recommended pinapple by a teacher who worked in special needs with kids minimal movement and constipation.it helps no end(fesh or tinned)
plums and melon are high water so help make sure bowel has plenty of fluid
(can you tell 2 of my kids have had similiar issues?)

Too much bran can make things worse in small children.

yy to lots of water, exercise, apricots and prunes, ditto prune juice, reduce dairy.

Will she sit on the loo silk? If so get a stool so that her feet can rest on it - it puts them in a much better position to poo.

Will your dd drink homemade soup?

I make a veg soup - sweet potato, butternut squash, carrot and parsnip are the main ingredients (I soften an onion in a little oil first and also add a low salt stock cube and blend it when cooked) and it never fails to get a result.

Absolutely no bran, no wheat flakes, no wholemeal bread & no dried fruit unless it has been soaked in water.

Does DD like kiwi fruit? 1 or 1/2 followed by porridge with a tsp brown sugar.

Apples are great, bananas are not

Sandwiches with cucumber sticks & carrots sticks, diluted juice. No added sugar drinks.

Tea, a combinations of potatoes + /broccoli/carrots/peas/sweetcorn

Cut back on milk drinks & don't offer follow on formula as the extra iron can cause constipation.

Do remember that what works for adults is not the best advice for children.

It's not about offering bits of food here & there, it's about a dietary change. Regular meals rather than snacking all day helps.

There is some really strange and very unscientific advice being given here. Where is the research saying eggs and cheese are constipating and should be cut from the diet. Wheat and wholemeal....ditto?? As for reducing dairy (and therefore calcium) to a growing child?? what.... ?

Medicinal iron causes constipation, but not that found in iron rich foods.

Avoid processed and sugary. period !

total common sense from a reliable source here!

My daughter saw a private paedatrician for her severe constipation.

Bran/wholemeal breads & cereals are not easily digested by small children, it takes the majority of the water from other foods & the poo becomes very dry & difficult to pass. Then continuing these foods keeps the cycle going & the child holds on to the poo because it's hard & painful to go.

So, drop the constipating food & the problem improves, however if you don't tackle the holding on very quickly, you ended up with a different problem, which is fear of going.

OP is not talking severe constipation. Her DD is still within normal limits and would benefit from the advice on patient uk website (quoted)

No one is saying go overboard with wheat and wholemeal foods, but as part of a balanced diet they provide essential nutrients, vit B etc.The very fact that they are not easily digested is what makes them useful, they provide fibre within the gut which propels it faster through the gut. As you say fluid is essential to prevent constipation and would also help alleviate the problem you mention. I personally would not go with bran as an added part of the diet as its not found in that powdered form naturally iyswim.

Totally agree with tackling the problem before it starts to become one, and the pain/witholding cycle starting.

Have you thought about attacking constipation from the 'other end'.

Ask your doctor for some glycerine or maybe some olive oil to 'ease' a hard poo out.

If the poo is very hard it can hurt for a little one to push and filling them up on bran and fruit just adds a backlog to the blockage that makes a little tummy that is impacted already more painful.

Apples including the skin & apple juice are good for constipation, ds2 has chronic constipation as part of his disability & medical conditions & his consultant recommends apples, all fruit & veg & lots of fluids.

Both our DDs suffered from this occasionally. What worked was apple juice cartons. Drinking from a straw seemed to be a novelty so they drank lots. Fluids certainly helps and apple juice ( or fresh orange) seems to assist as well. One carton a day seemed to sort the problem put for us.

Our youngest was screaming in pain from constipation. The nursery had to call us a couple of times. GP recommended this - works a treat. Fingers crossed.

Large amounts of dairy can cause constipation.

Yes it's a good source of calcium and as a result kids probably have too much. You don't need much cheese to get the daily requirement of calcium, for example.

Wow, lots of replies. Sorry I didn't manage to come back on yesterday evening.

Thanks for the link, sneezecake. I googled a bit yesterday, but it's impossible to tell with so many websites if the information is reliable (or you can tell from the name that they probably aren't). You are right that DD isn't badly constipated yet, and I would take her to the dr if she were. In fact, when she finally pooed yesterday (at gym club - the exercise got things going) she didn't seem in a lot of pain, just moaned a bit at the start, which must have been pretty dry and hard after 5 days. The rest was very soft, from what I saw in her nappy.

She started withholding out of fear after doing a couple of half poos on the potty. I tried to get her to sit down again to do the rest, she didn't want to, poo ended up on the floor and down her legs, she got very upset. Things were getting better, I seemed to have successfully convinced her that I would not make her poo on the potty and she started telling me when she needed a nappy to poo in. I hope I can get back to that stage soon, but I think a few dietary changes and bribes might help.

You are all right about needing to get her to drink more. homeagain - the idea with the juice cartons is brilliant, DD is always more inclined to drink more when the container is somehow novel (she was given diluted apple juice in a champagne glass in a restaurant recently and drank much more than she would normally and I was on edge for the whole meal waiting for her to knock it over).

Otherwise I guess I need to offer her a bit more fruit and go back to trying to make it all seem completely unimportant and not a Big Deal...

NHS Choices and Patient UK (quoted) are the only sites used by NHS Direct as they are research based.

Its sometimes a bit of a struggle with potty training but always sorts itself in the end. children who have serious bowel problems are often that way anyway despite plenty of fresh fruit and vedge and fluids, and they need managing medically...not fun

Large amounts of dairy causes constipation ? Why would anyone want to feed large amounts? If anyone fed exclusively on dairy they would be constipated, not because it constipates but because they wouldnt be eating fibre! Absolutely no research anywhere supporting the claim dairy foods eaten as part of a normal well balanced diet cause constipation!

NICE guidelines on constipation in children would also give good ideas re diet, but I think it is more for children with serious constipation.

Thank you again, sneezecakesmum for confirming the reliability of those websites.

To be fair to Iggly, reducing dairy consumption is recommended in pretty much everything I've read on dealing with the problem DD has. For example there are two lists in "It hurts when I poop!" (written by a clinical professor of paediatrics) cheese, yoghurt and milk are listed under "foods which make poop bigger and harder" (apples are also in this list - hence my confusion). It's not a massive jump to make the statement "large amounts of dairy cause constipation", even if it's a sloppy way to point out what you have, scm, that consuming a lot of one thing automatically means consuming a lot less of other things.

In my case, I have been guilty of resorting to cheese sandwiches and/or yoghurt for tea a bit too often since DD started kindergarten. Ringing the changes a bit with hummous or peanut butter or something else entirely can only be a good thing.

Anyway, DD pooed again this morning, hooray! She did seem frightened beforehand that it would hurt, but was fine once it got underway. Hopefully I can keep up the frequency by continuing the dietary adjustments .

Pear juice is very good and a spoonful syrup of figs always works atreat

I would take the dairy and the 'poop' stuff with a pinch of salt, still find no clinical trials that normal amounts of dairy in a mixed diet harmful unless lactose intolerance is a problem.

There is also evidence that children in this country are presenting with rickets and serious vit D deficiency which can be found in fortified milks (follow on milks presumably?) So any jiggling with diet always take into account possible deficiencies. Best is sunlight but apparently we are putting on too much factor 50! You cant win as a parent nowadays! Rickets fgs

Low sugar baked beans are also good for kids and they usually like them Great on wholemeal toast (unless they are gluten intolerant of course see the minefield.....