Natalie is 15mths. She has about 24 oz. of whole milk per day. She LOVES milk and would drink more, but when she does she gets constipated. She has milk in the morning, dinner, and bedtime. The rest of the time she has water or a juice/water mix. If she only has water, she is still constipated.
My problem is, I can't seem to find a balance between constipation and runny! It seems if she has a little more juice she's runny and a little less she's constipated or borderline. The constipation has been a problem since went to milk full time at 12mths.
I guess my question is, what do your toddlers drink? She switches between white grape and apple juice. And, any suggestions or finding a happy medium with regard to BM's?? Like yesterday, I did more water than juice and she was headed toward constipation (hard, small BM's). Today she had a little more juice and a runny blowout was the result. ???? TIA!

By Annie2 on Thursday, October 6, 2005 - 09:03 pm:

If you think that the milk is the problem try watering that down a bit. Or if she is drinking whole milk try 2%.

By Heaventree on Thursday, October 6, 2005 - 09:15 pm:

Matthew drinks milk with his meals. In between I give him an 8 oz juice box, however I only put 2 oz of white grape juice and the rest is water. I just put enough juice to give it a bit of colour and taste. I let him drink as many of these as he wants in a day but if I feel like he is drinking too much juice I just fill the box up with water. As Matt eats well I don't think it's necessary for him to have 24 oz of milk each day, perhaps you could offer more dairy from other sources if you are not already, it just seems like a lot of milk to me, but I guess that's a personal choice, do what you think is right.

More water should help with the constipation. Personally I would cut down on the milk, but that just me. Hope that helps.

By Reds9298 on Thursday, October 6, 2005 - 11:39 pm:

Thanks guys...I hated to go to 2% because I know the whole is so good for the brain. Heaven- as far as the water goes...we never used to do any juice. I just put a touch in to flavor the water a bit (much like you it sounds) and she drank at least (3) 9oz. cups of water a day but she was still constipated just on water alone. That's when I started going more juice to keep her bowels moving.

She does get plenty of calcium and dairy outside of the whole milk, I just know that 24 oz. is recommended so I've been trying to keep her on that if possible.
Thanks for the suggestions!

By Amecmom on Friday, October 7, 2005 - 08:27 am:

If you give her a supplement of flax or borage oil she will get the omega fatty acids she needs for brain development without the milk.
Ame

By Mrsheidi on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 12:14 am:

It might be the food too...
raisins and dried cranberries work for Connor.

By Reds9298 on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 02:31 pm:

I've never even tried raisins with Natalie - good idea! I guess because my stomach can't tolerate them I don't buy them for her. Go figure!