Overcoming constipation in babies and toddlers: Simple strategies for Indian parents

Many parents struggle with their child’s poop- whether it’s a baby starting solids or a toddler not being able to go to the bathroom. It is a situation where many parents feel helpless and are not sure how to tackle it when they see their baby or toddler straining and not being able to poop. The good news? There are many gentle ways to help our kids poop. Constipation in babies is common but not normal. Therefore, it is important to take several steps to ensure it doesn’t happen and if it does take the right actions to ease their discomfort. Let’s break it down step by step.First it is important to understand what constipation is? It can be categorized by either a difficult in passing stools, infrequent bowel movements ( less than 3 a week) or hard bowel movements. If your baby is breastfeed and doesn’t poop often, mainly look for longer durations than usual of no poop and also the texture of the poop when they actually do.For babies, when starting solids, their digestive system is adjusting to solids. It’s normal to see changes in their poop from smellier poop to thicker poop to changes in color. Undigested food in stool is also okay. All of this is normal. What is not normal is hard belly, foul smelling gas, irritability when trying to release stool, hard dry pellet or pebble shape stool. Other red flags would be red, grey, black stools or blood in stools. You can always refer to the Bristol stool form scale to refer to ideal stool shapes. For babies, their poop frequency can vary from a few times a day to few times a week. Post starting solids it can be a few times a day to few times a week, both are okay. For toddlers we want them to poop one to two times a day. Post 3 years, at least once a day is ideal.The reason some babies get constipated when starting soldis is because fruits and vegetables are high in fiber, but formula and breastmilk aren't, making it difficult for some babies to digest fiber. That is why it is important to not rush to offering too many meals to baby. Always start with 1 meal at 6 months and then slowly progress to more meals. Offer sips of water post a meal can help them swallow any food in their mouth and help with digestion. Also, don’t make your baby eat bowls and bowls of food, follow their lead and let them have as much as they want. Just following these tips can already help prevent constipation. However, some babies still struggle with constipation and here are few quick things you can do. Give them extra sips of water, stick to 1 fruit or veggie per meal, add an oil in each meal, make the puree a bit grainier. For the foods being offered you can offer more P fruits like pear, prune, papaya, peach, plum. Also, take note of what food caused the constipation and avoid that for a few weeks. Common foods that causes constipation are unripe banana, rice, apple and flour. For toddlers, you can make sure to include good fats that act like a lubricant to the bowel system like oils (olive, avocado, peanut, mustard, coconut, butter, ghee). Make sure they are drinking enough water (their weight in pounds/2= ounces of water they need in a day). Include other foods like sweet potato, oats, whole grains, lentils, quinoa, beetroot.If your child is still struggling with constipation, then it could mean their digestive system is struggling to handle foods and you can consider a probiotic supplement to help. High-quality probiotics containing Lactobacillus casei, reuteri, acidophilus, Bifidobacterium breve, bifidum, longum, and infantis may help improve gut health and relieve constipation. Beneficial bacteria in the gut can help food move efficiently through the body.If your child’s poop is normal but they struggle to poop then it can be related to the muscles having difficulty contracting, in that case include more magnesium rich foods like nuts, seeds, spinach, dals, tofu, oats.Remember, constipation is common but normal, so it is important that we address it right away as we do not want them to hold the poop in their system.Always check with your doctor before starting any supplements.