Foods That Provide a Laxative Effect?

Updated on September 17, 2007
A.C. asks from Zelienople, PA
28 answers

My daughter seems to have "hard" poop ALL the time. She's only 7 months old... does anyone have any idea of what kinds of foods I could feed her that have a laxative effect? I've been using apple juice, but I don't want to give it to her daily unless we don't have any other options. Any suggestions?

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

Y.H.

answers from Hartford on

dear A., my daughters best friend (they are 3 months apart)had the same problem. the ped. had recommended prunes in form of baby jars or juice also pear juice seemed to help. For my daughter mashed banana and applesauce would help. let me know if anything helped you out. Y. H.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.B.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My son had a lot of pooping problems for the first 6 months of his life...he was only going about once a week and very fussy by day 4 or 5...finally my pediatrician recommended that we add a tablespoon of karo syrup to his bottles once a day...it worked like a charm...now he goes at least once a day and no longer relies on the karo syrup at all!!! good luck

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.O.

answers from Pittsburgh on

A.,

I have found it helpful to mix jarred food with oatmeal. It tends to move things along better instead of rice cereal.Also, you could try a little bit of prunes. My daughter likes all her food thickened up with cereal and if I use rice all the time it causes terrible constipation for her. Oatmeal and barley are easier, but especially oatmeal. Hope this helps!

M.

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.R.

answers from Allentown on

Hi! I assume that you've been feeding more solid foods lately as your DD gets older? Are you also using formula, or are you breastfeeding?

If you are breastfeeding, a simple solution is to cut back a bit on the solid food, and breastfeed more. Breastmilk is a laxative. If you are using formula, the iron in the formula could be the issue. You may want to check with your pediatrician and make sure you aren't giving too much formula to your DD--I know there is an upper limit somewhere that most peds reccommend, but I'm not sure what it is--I never used formula.

As far as foods...most fruits and veggies help with passing stools. Canteloupe seems to help soften things up, as does prunes. Definitely also make sure your DD is drinking enough water in this hot weather.

I will also note...a couple of people mentioned making up your own food for your daughter, while others said things like "she's too young for 'real' food." Ummm...what ever did we do before Gerber came along? ;-) None of my kids really liked babyfood. My first daughter absolutely refused to eat baby cereal (we ground up cheerios and she would eat a bit of that), and ate very little of the other jarred foods. Once I accepted with DD#2 that jarred foods didn't need to be the main solid food supple, but rather just a conveniance when I didn't have time to find something "real" that was appropriate for her (and then her 2 brothers that followed), things went a lot better. She ate beef barbeque when she was just about 8 months old! She was trying to get my sandwich, and I thought that I'd just give her some to get her to quit bugging me...well that was the end of bland baby food for her! Go slow of course with seasoned foods...but in many cultures they give seasoned soft foods even to small babies. It may help your child to be a more adventurous eater as she gets older.

Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Apricots work really well - the juice or the fruit.
S.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.M.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My son was the same way almost since birth. Our pediatrician recommended juices that start with "P" to poop - Pear & prune. She also advised that we could mix malt in with his formula. Malt may be purchased at stores that sell supplies to produce beer - we used 100% Malt Extract. Your doctor should advise how much should be mixed in with the formula/milk. Now that my son is older, he still gets malt through Ovaltine.
Note that we were advised to avoid Bananas & Apples - as they bind. We were also advise that certain types of cereal could act as a binder & that we should avoid rice cereal.
GIL Pediatrics are in Magee Woman's Hopital - they could provide specific instructions on treating this condition.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.G.

answers from Erie on

My daughter had the same issue. My pediatrician recommended prune juice. It works great and fast; but she also told me that 2oz. of apple juice daily was a great way to keep her regular and only use the prune juice when it got bad. We were lucky and she liked prune juice, slighty warmed. I was also told by an amish woman to give a tsp of black strap molasses. I personally couldn't try this one, but sometimes the amish remedies are the best. Good Luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.N.

answers from Lancaster on

The P's - pears, peaches, plums. Also as she gets older and can tolerate bigger food - grapes are OUR #1!
Have you tried prune juice - at that age my daughter loved it!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.E.

answers from Reading on

Not sure why someone else said no to this, but bananas work very well for both constipation and diarrhea. Bananas help to balance things out in the digestive tract and this has been recommended to me by 2 different doctors.

Are you feeding her rice cereal? My son always became very constipated with that. I switched him to oatmeal and things are fine now.

Good luck,
K. E.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.D.

answers from Reading on

I have a 16 month old daughter that has this problem since she was just tiny and all of the foods that the doctors told me to try do not work. We ended up using a laxative prescribed from her pediatrician called Glycolax. They say to give 1 capful daily and that is to much. We use 1/4 of a capful every two days and it seems to really relieve her. I went through the applejuice and prunes and everything else. Sometimes the natural remedies are just not the answer. Hope this helps you.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.M.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi A.,

I would suggest any kind of fruit. Grapes really do it for my son - as do blueberries and strawberries. Since you baby is so young, you may want to give her strawberries yet, but you can cut grapes up into little pieces and give her a bowl of them - that should help.

J.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.R.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Most powerful is definitely prune (step 2 baby food as well as juice) but even tomato works wonders. They are what I stick to and they have always given guaranteed results within 4 to 5 hours!

M.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.H.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi A.,
My daughter had the same problem when she was that age. She would actually cry when she tried to have a bowel movement. I felt so bad! We tried a lot of different things. Apple juice definately works, oddly so does gatorade, although I understand your want to not have to juice up your daughter every day. Sometimes just getting them on a different eating schedule will work. In the morning try just giving her a bottle and baby fruit(pears or peaches work well). And save the thicker foods like cereal and veggies for lunch and dinner. That is a great way to regulate a baby and that way you typically will know when to expect the messiest diaper of the day!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi, My son has "hard" poops, and we have been through he$$--and like others who responded, none of the home remedies worked. We went to a specialist at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, and are on miralax (glycolax)--and it works wonders.

If you haven't found relief, don't hesitate to go to the Dr--we messed around with all sorts of homeopathic stuff--while my son suffered--and none of it worked. Miralax works.

Good Luck.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

A few ladies already mentioned this but we did the Karo syrup as well and it was wonderful. It also works pretty quickly. We also had an issue with Desitin getting "packed in" if we used too much on our son (now 10 months old) and the Dr said we could put the rectal thermometer in there and wiggle it around a little bit. A pop of air came out and away he went lol

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I am a nurse in a pediatrician's office. We usually tell parents to use white grpae juice 1-2 ounces mixed with 1-2 ounces of water. Also, baby food pears and prunes work really well. Increasing the fiber helps too, and cheerios are great for that. Hope it works.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.G.

answers from Allentown on

We had luck with baby food prunes. Check the labels for foods that contain fiber- bread, cereals, etc. She's little for 'real' food, but when she gets there, cereal and high fiber bread works well. Beans are high in fiber too.
Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My pediatrician told me to use white grape or pear juice. Apple juice is binding. Also lots of water may do the trick. Hope it helps.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.B.

answers from Albany on

Hi A.,

I give my daughter rice or oatmeal cereal mixed with stage 2 prunes and formula (my daughter is also 7 months old) almost every morning and that keeps her regular. When she gets really hard I give her prunes for lunch as well. It really works great.

S.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.M.

answers from York on

I would try things like of course prune juice, skinless grapes maybe anythinf with fiber. If you are using formula with iron that is most likely the reason so switch her to formula with no iron it is a little harder to find o make sure you really read the labels the same thing would happen to my son when I started supplementing.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.S.

answers from York on

rasins (though 7mo. may be too young)

***dr. said give 4oz of prune juice (comes in the little Gerber juices, too; even a little would do the trick)

try giving more fiber (i.e. cheerios)

good luck!
liz

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

V.C.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi A.,

My daughter had some what of the same problem but our Ped. told us to try a little bit of Karo Syrup(I believe it was in the Blue Bottle because it was very dark & Thick looking) in her formula. We just mixed it in.

This really helped the situation. Hope this helps.

V.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.A.

answers from Allentown on

Instead of apple juice, how about pear or prune. You can even try feeding her prunes. Also, you can add a little karo syrup to her bottle.

Hope this helps!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.J.

answers from Sharon on

This may seem nasty but with all 3 of my kids we put some kayro in their bottle/cups and they went.Also pruines(baby)and do the"bike"exercise with her

HTH
J.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.D.

answers from Reading on

Prune juice or prunes or plum baby food are great sources of fiber. Apples, watermelon, anything that is fibrous or has water in it will help. Even just a plain sippy or bottle with a few ounces of water can do the trick. I have one that is more constipated and we used all these tricks and it worked.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.L.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hello A.
You can try prunes(baby fod),papaya(this work very well a lest in my kid and my self), water, please no juice, no apples no bananas and give some massage in her tommy with warm water and washcloths.

A.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.H.

answers from York on

Hi A.. I had the same problem with my daughter and oatmeal worked great. Apple juice didn't really do much, but oatmeal did. Try it and let me know how it works out.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.G.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I gave my son some prunes mixed w/ another fruit from a jar.
My ped didn't recommend juyice until after 12 mos but maybe a little prune juice mixed into water. how about more milk? Maybe more liquids would help soften it. hm???

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches