Constipated 18mnth old - only eats finger food..........what the hell do I give him now???

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Very long story but my DS has a history of severe constipation which he sees a specialist for. He is generally ok on the medication and he used to be a really good eater............recently however he has started to assert himself when it comes to mealtimes and is refusing to eat anything which would be vaguely helpful for his digesgtive system.

He seems to live on a diet of sausages, bread and yogurt(with the obligatory biscuits of course). I have tried everything over the last week but to no avail. I can;t get him to eat fruit, raisins, hot meals the list goes on.

Does anyone have any ideas I could try?? I was thining of trying to make some homemade meat 'sauages' with sneaky pureed veggies in but have no idea where to start.

Help he hasn't been to the loo for 3 days now and I'm getting depserate. I could up his dosage but it really doesn't solve the problem, just ures it in the short term and htne it builds back up again.

This sounds like my DD, she refuses to eat any fruit, and often gets constipated, the best thing I do is make a tomato sauce for pasta, but put carrot, celery,courgette and any other veg, but chop it up in a food processor before cooking so they don't realise whats in it. Also I've heard drinking water is good for constipation. I hope this helps.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly - really am struggling at the moment with his food and I know I'm getting it out of proportion but can't help it.

Will try him again with pasta and sauce tonight but I think he is so 'full' right now he won't eat anything. Had no lunch today...........

Drinks gallons of water and liquids in general but makes no difference.

can you get him to drink a smoothie or something with lots of dried fruits/fruit in it?

liquids are meant to be good - perhaps some very diluted orange or prune juice may also help

will he eat things like avocado/lentils/pulses whizzed up and put onto pitta bread?

dried apricots? I know they are still dried fruit, but are quite sweet and a different consistency to raisins.

Fruit bread?

If he will eat meatballs, they are v. easy to make and easy to sneak extra things into. Maybe adding lentils would also help?

I know what else i done, lay him down and rub his tummy in big circular movements, all the way to rib cage to bottom of stomach, do it one way then the other, apparantly that is supposed to get things moving.

I got him a smoothie this morning so hopefully that will make a difference. Fruit juice does help but tends to give him tummy ache when it hits so was holding off for the time being............he has been with MIL today so the stress of that isn't helping

Might try the pitta bread idea, he likes dipping things so could see that working to some extent

prune juice?

agree with cluckie re the massage as well

and bicyling his legs -

dried apricots have a very laxative effect on my DS and as a PP said they are different in texture to raisins

Meatballs sound good and easy to make so will def try them..........

He won;t eat apricots but I found some apricot 'sweets' in the health food shop a couple of weeks ago so have tried to hunt them down again today. They should be getting them in on Weds so hopefully that will help too.

Can you blend some prune juice into a yogurt? It's sweet.

Bought a litre of the stuff and some pro-biotic yogurts today for tea..........poor little bugger. Really was hoping that we could move away from special diets and we really seemed to be getting somewhere - going backwards now

Everybody is focusing on food - how about exercise (as a yoga teacher). Swimming may be good plus generally running around. Also exercise my encourage him to drink more water?

My DD is now 13 months and seems to live on air and a very limited diet. It kills you off doesn't it preparing meals that just get thrown in the bin.

Has he tasted grated apple? A lot of kids like it.

He swims loads (twice a week) and he spends all day running around but it makes no difference. As I say he drinks loads of water..........

Will try grated apple - do you literally just grate it and hand it over. He is a bit funny about 'wet' foods (ie most fruit!) so maybe would need to pat it dry first to get him to try it

Peal it, grate it, hand it over.

Have you taught him how to dip yet? Most 1 year olds love dipping, especially if they can say "Dip dip!" as they do it.

So chop dried apricot or something into strips, and put some yohurt in an egg cup, and let him dipdip it!

oh dipping fruit sounds a good idea. He likes dipping chips and sausages so hopefully that would be acceptable!

He likes yoghut too doesn't he - for double effect whiz some prune juice in before it's used as a dip.

He's going to look like a prune by the time I'm finished with him!

It was so much easier when he was little and I could just serve what he needed for tea and he ate it....all this independance is a nightmare!

GREETINGS, May I suggest bragging over how good he eats. Children love to watch you eat, and see what and how you fix their food as well as your own. Their little tastes buds are not ready for different foods, and change in diets can effect anyone digestive system. Was there any baby food he loved to eat? Go slow, and add those kindly back onto his food, while still going forward. I am not a medical dr, but the meds can cause him to be dependent on them, as you may already know, so those, if you can give smaller doses, most likely will benefit him and you Mom, in the longest run. You may also try chewable Acidophilus,(good for the intestinal system) flavors strawberry or blueberry, found in most health food stores. I love the tummy rub and bicycle ideas. Shalom to ya all.

GOOD MORNING. AFTER MUCH MORE THOUGHT, I JUST WISH TO REMIND US ALL THAT LITTLE ONES ARE LITTLE ONES... AND IF WE ARE TO GO WITH GIVING "THEM" CHEWABLEs, TO GIVE IT IN AN AMOUNT THAT IS REASONABLE FOR THEIR AGE AND SIZE. CONSTANTLY KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR drs OFFICE, IS A GOOD THING AS WELL. THE OTHER THING I GIVE MY LITTLE GUYS HERE, ARE PAPAYA TABLETS. I WAS THINKING, HOW LITTLE ONES LOVE TO PUT "THINGS" INTO THEIR MOUTHS. NATURALLY, THEY HAVE THE NEED TO TASTE, TOUCH AND FEEL... ONE MAY CONSIDER, MAKING PRUNE JUICE DROPS. I CAN SEE THEM IN MY MIND, BUT HAVE NO IDEA AS TO HOW ONE CAN DO THIS, WITHOUT DOING IT IN MY OWN KITCHEN. RECENTLY, I PICKED UP AND PACKAGE OF RAW SUGAR AND WAS AMAZED AT THE GOODNESS ON THE LABLE. I WENT TO MY BULK STORE AND NOW HAVE ADDED IT TO MY COOKING ITEMS. I HAVE NOT PERSONALLY USED WHITE SUGAR FOR OVER 20 YEARS. I REPLACED IT WITH HONEY AND MAPLE SYRUP. BOIL DOWN THE RAW SUGAR AND ADDING THE PRUNE JUICES. ON THE SIDES, HAVE A NICE COLD GLASS OF WATER, AND DROP THE BOILED MIXTURE, AND MAYBE THESE "DROPS" WILL BE JUST RIGHT FOR YOUR PRECIOUS SON. IF HE LIKES COOKIES, YOU MAY ADVENTURE INTO MAKING HOMEMADE OATMEAL COOKIES, WITH RAISINS. I HAVE RECENTLY READ SEVERAL SITES ON SOY-FREE PRODUCTS, WHICH EXPOSED SOMEHOW THE SOY HAS CAUSED PROBLEMS WITH THYROIDs IN BABIES, AS WELL AS US ADULTS. MY HEART IS WITH YOU MOM AND CHILD.
SHALOM,
ADINA