Infrequent bowel movements - how do I help him?

[ItsNotOnlyTheGoodBits]

My 13 month old has been having huge problems doing a poo. He only 'goes' twice or three times a week and each time is so hard and difficult for him. He is at his wits end and so am I.

Yesterday it took him practically an hour and a half to do a poo, the poor love. I was almost crying with him.

He drinks lots of water and eats lots of fruit and veg. I also massage his tummy and do a bit of reflexology on him. None of it seems to be working though. Is there anything else I could try?

I had the same with ds1 when he was a baby. dd2 gets it a little now at 11 months. I have a few recipes that we nicknamed 'the poo mover' if you want them. They are out of annabel karmel books so nice and healthy but we found these would always get it moving nicely if there'd been a 'backlog'. One is with lentils. Also sweet potato (cut up as chips and roasted) work well I find plus theyre a great finger food anyway. Otherwise I think doctors recommend apples as well. my dd will sit for ages bobbing up and down trying to eat an apple with only 4 teeth! Lactulose solution is probably what youll get given if you go to the doctors but this never worked for us - just made ds windy and still had har lumps just with some water too.

Thanks Nappyneeds, I'll try anything at the moment!

Being of Indian origin we do have lentils quite a bit and he enjoys that. The sweet potato idea is a good one too. He used to have mashed up sweet pots, but for some reason I stopped giving him them since he started finger fooding.

I shall try the recipes in the book too. I am guessing they don't come under the heading 'poo mover'!