screaming constipated 16 month old - possibly TMI

[Willow33]

My dd screams whilst have bowel movements and what passes is hard.
She has never accepted milk from a bottle and so I still bf her once or twice a day. She has probably 100ml milk in her morning porridge and then I give her water through out the day but I couldn't say how much she actually takes in.
Any ideas as to how to increase her fluid intake/ help the constipation?

Will she eat things like cucumber, melon etc - things with a high water content?

Also, if it's causing her pain, then maybe a trip to the GPs to see if she needs treatment like being prescribed lactulose or movicol.

What's her diet like? Can you tell us what she eats on a typical day?

Breakfast is Ready Btw with formula milk - the Toddler one.
Lunch is pasta with tomato sauce and tuna or cheese followed by yoghurt.
Dinner could be dahl or egg sandwich or fish fingers with bears and potato waffles.
She has just started eating raspberries and bananas.

I would try and increase fruit and veg uptake, cooked or raw. Even if she doesn't eat it one day still offer it as she might try it another. (Also cooked into food she already likes- blueberries in porridge, grated carrot in a pasta sauce).

It might also be worth a trip to the GP to help sort out the constipation, but increasing fruit and veg might well go a long way in solving the problem.

Also make sure

.... She is able to drink as much water as she like during the day.

Good luck!

I'd give her brown bread on sandwiches and try prune juice? or the prune baby pouches. Bananas are a funny one, here they say it helps, in my country they say it makes you constipated, so maybe don't give them to her a couple of days as a test?
Also yes to more veggies but not the ones that have high content of iron.

You can buy lactulose at the chemist and add a spoonful to her drink, it's not unpleasant, so she won't notice.

My son was prescribed it at a few months old to soften the poo.

I would take her to the GP. She might need to be prescribed lactulose or movical to make her stool softer so she doesn't experience pain. If it huts her to pass anything that can cause constipation - and things just get worse. I remember my dd at that stage and it was horrible. Eventually she was prescribed Movical and we gave that to her (in cranberry juice - it was the only way we could get her to take it) and eventually tings improved. She's 14 now and we still have to make sure she drinks enough or she gets constipated very easily.

Prunes, apricots or prune pouches? Sweet potatoes seem to work well for DD who gets constipated

Ellas kitchen do prune pouches. You could also buy ground flax seed and sprinkle it on yoghurt and porridge. It's very high fibre.

Do you not give her any drinks? Like water (she should be given this in a soppy cup with every meal....keep trying, she'll get used to taking it) or even watered down juice (not ideal but she obviously needs fluids). Try her with dried prunes as a snack. Give her more fruit like kiwis and plums and pears.

It doesn't sound like she eats any vegetables and very little fruit?

Really she needs two 1 year old size portions of veg or fruit at every meal. Her food is very stodgy. A portion is around the size of the palm of their hand ( so quite small at 1 year)

Breakfast - ready break is fine. No need for toddler formula now. But normal porridge would be better as more fibre from whole oats. Add two portions of fruit or veg. Ie some cooked apple or pear on the porridge ( can make in bulk and fridge/ freeze), or some banana ontop or on plate. Can add raw veg like cucumber as a 'starter' whilst you make porridge .

Lunch - there's no veg or fruit here apart from the tomatoe sauce. Add several veg to the pasta. Add some fruit after

Dinner - again no veg? If you serve fishfingers, that is already the carb element form breadcrumbs so I would just serve with veg rather than more carbs as she won't be able to eat fishfingers and potato products and veg as too much. Avocado eat to serve cold, or brocoli/ cauliflower/ peas/ whatever hot. If you give say an egg sandwich, give with raw veg on the side (cucumber/ carrots/ beetroot/ tomatoes/ baby corn/ similar). Fruit purée for after every other day will help bowels.

I think anyone would be constipated with that sort of diet on a daily basis. As pp said she needs some portions of fruit and veg with every meal. So fruit with breakfast, tomatoes/cucumber with lunch and fruit for pudding and veg at tea time with fruit after again.

My DS has this but at 2.5. We were prescribed lactulose and senna which have helped no end. I would advise going to GP asap. With hindsight I left it too long just trying to get him to drink more and he developed a real phobia of having a poo. Got really distressed at the thought of it. He's now just three and absolutely fine, still taking the lactulose and senna.

I found that lactolose didn't work for us (DD is 7 months) as she wasn't drinking enough water for it to be effective. Movicol is amazing and worked within a day.

Keep an eye on foods that are known to bulk up the system. Bananas are one of those. For us, eggs, bread and pasta are on the list of foods to pair with lots of veg/fruit/water. Blueberries are great at keeping things going.
Deffo get seen at the doc and I'm sure your little one will be much happier.
Also my godson (2.5) was exactly like your DD, and movicol has helps him. He's like a different child.
Good luck xxx