Constipated Toddler - Need Creative Salty Ideas

I use Miralax on my son. you can mix it with anything, there is no taste and they usually go within a day or two. It is very gentle it just softens the bowel movement. My ped. told me and him to use it. I love it.

My daughter and husband don't eat a lot of veggies either. My daughter does like cucumbers with salt and pepper on them she will also eat a salad with feta cheese in it and greek dressing. Both of these are salty and something you might try. Good Luck!

Check out the book Deceptively Delicious By Jessica Seinfield $6 or $7 lots of ideas on how to get the fruits and veggies into a meal without the kiddies knowing it.
D.

My daugther had the same problem at one point. Someone suggested the liquid form of sugar that you use for baking. I used to put in her bottle of milk and you could hardly taste it(I used the one from Trader Joes's). You can probably put in most any drink, all you need is about a table spoon in each one. Also, at some of the grocery stores and Target with grocery sections have drinks in the veg/fruit section by Bolthouse farms. My daughter loves them and they have a lot of protein and vitamins. There is even a chocolate milk flavor but they have many flavors you could try, fruit & non-veg/fruit.

Good Luck!

Benefiber makes a powder that can be added into any food or liquid without changing the taste or texture, which will help with constipation, I would also recommend a childrens multi-vitamin because if she's not eating any fruits or veggies she's missing out on essential vitamins and minerals.

Fiber, fiber, fiber. That's what she needs every day to have soft poops. I've been there!! My two-year-old daughter likes to hold on to her poop (potty training), so my pedi recommended upping the fiber for smooth, soft poops. Try whole grain breads and pastas, but even easier, find some high grain snacks. My kids love mini wheats and cinnamon toast crunch-- put some in a sanck bag as a dry munchy. Fiber One bars with chocolate ships are amazing. They taste like cookies and have an amazing NINE grams of fiber in a bar. Go easy -- 1/2 bar or so a day so she doesn't get too gassy. And make sure she drinks lots of water to counteract the fiber. Happy pooping!

Yogurt covered raisins (cut in half?) or other such yogurt-covered treats? I'd visit a natural food store/whole foods type places as they have a big selection. Fig newtons or Nutrigrain bars could be good, too.

As far as fruits/veggies, have you tried to make a smoothie? Our 16 mo daughter was refusing yogurt (she does not like being fed), so we used whole milk vanilla yogurt, shredded carrot, banana, and a frozen (or can) fruit. it makes a bunch, and we try and give it to her at snack time in a sippy cup w/o the rubber insert (so it comes out easier). If you sneak a vegetable in there, it's hard to taste it. Perhaps if you experiment and try it with a few options (like a toddler v-8) there might be a winning combination.

good luck!
: )
D.

Hi
Have you tried some fun ways to eat fruits and veggies. My kids love frozen veggies and fruit like blueberries and grapes. Also, for our toddler, she only likes to eat peas with a tooth pick. I get teh colored tooth picks and she just thinks that is the coolest. Also have you tried "dippens" as they are called in our house AKA, ketchup, BBQ sauce and white dippens, ranch dressing and yogurt. Sour cream for veggies and cottage cheese for fruit also help with getting these foods into the tummy. Also have you tried cherries? Cherries are very high in fiber and are not as sweet as other fruits like apples. Cinnamon also can help fruit.

Good luck!
M.

I have not read the other responses so pardon if this repeats but how about beans?

We don't have this problem but here are my thoughts. You mentioned she would eat chocolate - what about chocolate or yogurt covered raisins and dried cranberries. Also a good salty vegetable is edamame - my husband sprinkles salt on them for a snack - they taste much more like a nut than a bean. Another good thing is peanut butter - use it as a dip for pretzels or on crackers to give it the salty kick. Another hig fiber food is potatoes - break out those salty french fries and try sweet potato fries. Do a google search for applesauce recipes - there are ones for pancakes, cookies, brownies, and breads. I believe you can also substitute applesauce for oil in most baked good recipes.

My kids don't have this problem, so it's only a guess, but two things that you could try are a chex mix type snack made with a higher fiber cereal than chex. I'm sure there are a millon chex mix type recipes out there and you could tweak it to something your daughter likes. You can also try adding dried fruit to savory dishes (raisins in couscous, dried apricots in chicken, etc). You also could add dried fruit to her snack mixes. My one other suggestion is edamame. You can get it precooked and frozen at trader joes, and you can just leave it in the fridge to defrost and then eat it. My veggie-phobic son loves it and begs for more. It also is very high fiber. Good luck!

I feel for you - I think a lot of kids are like this! Make sure you keep offering an vegetable or fruit option at every meal, and she will expect to see it there, even if she doesn't eat it.

Have you checked out "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook, or one like it? You might be able to get it from the library. She has all kinds of recipes where you sneak healthy foods into regular meals.

Ketchup also worked wonders - everything they eat on the veggie side still gets dipped in ketchup - A1 works for some people too.

One thing that my boys love are fruit smoothies -I know, it's not salty. I make them with frozen fruit in the blender, blend it as fine as I can, and they sometimes have it for dessert! I don't normally put dairy in it, just juice and fruit. Good luck!

I'm with the person who uses Miralax. Please don't assume that since she is eventually pooping, though very painfully that her bowels are clearn throughout. When it gets too uncomfortable, many children (40% of boys statistically) withold part of the bowel movement. When mine was screaming at bm's, we had him x-rayed and found he was backed up through his chest cavity. It took days of enemas and other products to clear him out. It's excruciatingly painful, even if they can't tell us. So, please consider the Miralax. It works fast and while it's great to look for fiber sources (we like oatmeal, grapes, blueberries, and watermelon) there is no guarantee they will work. I fill my youngest up ALL day with only high fiber foods, avoiding cheese and yogurt (yogurt can constipate many kids) and he still has a hard time passing. But with a half capful of Miralax in his juice in the morning, he has a pain-free day.

Have you tried disguising the veges? Instead of meatloaf make 1/2 meat 1/2 vege loaf. You can do this with lots of things, tacos, burgers, chili, tomato sauce. Make pizza and load it up with TONS of spinach before you put on the tomato sauce. We bake sweet potato fries all the time and make spicy fries too. Have you tried hummus? Salsa? The only problem is I don't think any of these will work as an easy travel idea. Maybe aboard ship the chef may have some hidden vege recipes, it can't hurt to ask.

try to give your baby any kinds of laxatives because they are too harsh for their little system.
Give them lots of water, fruits with fiber such as plums, prunes, apricots, grapes or peaches. They might not be getting enough green vegetables in their diet. Broccoli, green beans, peas, lettuce, and spinach are all good greens to help them go.
Avoid bananas and foods that are high in potassium and sodium, because they will cause constipation and fluid retention.

Toddler magic tea is the best remedy to treat your toddler’s constipation and certain tummy related problems without any side effects. It’s totally organic herbal tea that contains no preservatives at all.

I agree with dipping vegies in hummus or dressing to make them more interesting, and with hiding vegies in other foods. I used to give my son pancakes full of fiber like wheat germ and flax meal, even broccoli. You can save the water from steamed vegetables and use it with any product that absorbs all the water, such as couscous and rice. If she's constipated, she shouldn't have much rice though - still you can use a lot of green water to make small amounts!. Add butternut squash puree to macaroni & cheese, add broccoli or spinach puree to spaghetti sauce. Look at "The Sneaky Chef" or even "Deceptively Delicious" (some controversy on the latter on whether or not it is original) but you can view it in the library without purchasing it to see if it helps.

I think Karo syrup is not a great option as sugary syrups are bad for the teeth, plus your daughter doesn't like sweet things much anyway. Just as well!

If you supplement, be very careful. Most products have a lot of chemicals that we don't want in our own bodies, let alone out kids' bodies. I work with dozens of people who have their kids on Now for Kids - it is a delicious and fully balanced supplement complete with everything kids need in a highly absorbable formula. The key is absorption! Many supplements have high quantities of vitamins, minerals, etc. but the body cannot absorb them because of the formulation. Now for Kids is a powder that can be mixed in water, milk, soy milk, juice, yogurt, or mixed into a smoothie (with fruit even!). It comes in vanilla and chocolate and is delicious. It also has DHA & omega 3s - a few companies are jumping on those items lately, but Now for Kids has been doing it for years. It takes all the worry out of the "I hate vegetables" argument - and it's being used worldwide through a charitable foundation which is feeding 43,000 people a day, many of them children, both in the US and in the 3rd world. It is saving lives too because the nutrition is so powerful. I can give you more info and connect you to other parents who solved the constipation and nutrition issue very easily. Love to share. Feel free to email me directly at ____@____.com.

Will she eat Fiber One cereal? You can mix it in with chex mix if she likes it salty and add raisins. You can get 50% of your fiber in one serving. Or 30% if she likes the cinnamon kind. Also, you can buy Fiber Sure or Benefiber and add a little to her juice or milk. Cut out the cheese during the trip and the rice. Best of luck.

V8 juice, it is certainly salty, or pops made from the v-8 fusion? good luck, Nat

Hi,
My daughter is very similiar, though she's already reached 4 years! She refuses to eat most fruits and veggies with the exception of strawberries, cucumbers and a very few other things. Even if I try to hide something, she recognizes it as something she doesn't like and spits it out. I know this can be very trying, but be patient - no doubt this will chinge - if however slowly.
Try incorporating more fiber into her diet - hummos, oatmeal and bulgar work well for us. Also I bake carrot cake and zuchinni muffins and applesaue cake (using 1/2 whole wheat flour too) that she seems to like. And we've found a few juices she takes to well - apple and mango.
Good luck to you and don't get discouraged. Kids change their eating habits all the time.

Hi,
I'm sure you will get lots of ideas of what to offer your daughter. I'm going to mention what helped my daughter. It was what she needed to remove from her diet as much as possible. Chocolate and rice, even rice cereal. For many children, they increase constipation.
Have a wonderful trip.

The only thing that works for my son - karo syrup! It's just a light corn syrup and you only have to put about a teaspoon in her drink. It's not a food like a fruit or a vegetable, yet it's not a medicine either. Works every time for my son!!! Good luck!

Our toddler also gets constipated. Our doctor recommends fruit juice (will your daughter drink juice?) and breads and cereals that are high in fiber. Stay away from cheese, rice and bananas but you probably know that already. Try to get her to drink as much water as possible and you can also put KARO syrup in her bottle or sippy cup. It mixes well with milk. Good luck!!

My kids both did the "voluntary fecal retention", which means they would poop in a diaper but otherwise hold onto it and get constipated. They ate everything, but would still get constipated because they "hold" it. We used Miralax (polyethylene glycol dissolved in 8 ounces of water, juice, soda, coffee, or tea.) which is now over the counter. It gets absorbed by the food in the intestines and keeps it moist and soft. It comes out the same way you take it, so it does not change in the bowel or get absorbed into the bloodstream. My kids took it for months, since one painful (even bleeding from stretching) bowel movement would take months to forget. We also made charts so that they would get a gift after 10 poops in a potty. Hot apple juice or pear juice late in the day also seemed to help. Good luck.
PS: my brother-in-law eats only meat/bread/salad/corn and is healthy as a horse, so try not to worry to much and give them some vitamin supplements.