Hi moms! Over the past week, my one year old has had a lot of whole food pieces in her BMs. Examples: peas, dried apples, pieces of cherry tomatoes, and even strawberries that are whole pieces but white! Here is what she typically eats in a day (besides 2-3 cups of whole organic milk a day and water): cherries + fruit for breakfast, tofu or lean meat + veggie for lunch, snack of fruit or veggie in afternoon and then lean meat or tofu for dinner + veggie and sometimes small portion of fruit. She is normal in height/weight. Is this a phase? I have never heard of this and wonder if I should be concerned or call the doctor. Thanks moms!!
Our daughter went through the same thing around that age. She wasn't chewing her food all the way. It was a phase and soon passed (no pun intended!). We tried to remind her to chew her food all the way but honestly, it didn't really help. If anything I think she just swallowed things whole more. So, I wouldn't draw a lot of attention to it and I won't worry about it.
Sounds to me like she's probably just not chewing her food all the way. There are so many more interesting things to do at this stage than chew thoroughly.
We just cut our little one's food into pea sized bites (I realize that's some of what you're finding...). At least it will give her body a little better chance of breaking it down if she doesn't chew it.
Also, sounds like she might need a little more fat in her diet at this age. Fat is a major component in brain development. Unlike us, babies DON'T need lean meat.
Check out Dr. Sears great book on nutrition if you haven't already seen it.
www.askdrsears.com
Good luck! It's probably a phase that will soon pass!
Hi J.,
You are right to have concern. Food passing through whole means it's not getting broken down. Has your child started swallowing bigger chunks of stuff without chewing enough? Or "washing" stuff down? That's probably the most obvious place to start. Sometimes kids are so eager to play...they rush through stuff.
The other thought is some food is irritating his/her digestive tract, causing stuff to go through faster. Any new foods recently added. Tofu is soy, and could stimulate intolerance. My daughter had runny poop (not diarrhea) for a few days after a lot of miso soup.
You might want to be aware that tofu is used sparingly in Asia. It is not a fermented food and has substances in it that compete with other nutrients we need to absorb. (Fermented soy products have a much longer history of safe use in Asia and elsewhere) There is a reason soybeans are not eaten raw...they are toxic. Much care is taken to make tofu from them. It is a laborious process, which might prompt the question.."just how "natural" is this food? This info coming from an ex-vegetarian, who had lots of problems digesting wonderful modern culinary soy creations!
Digestion is important for absorption of the vitamins and minerals contained in the foods we eat. She probably just isn't chewing well yet, and since babies digestive tracts are relatively short and clean it comes out like it went in. You could safely add some digestive herbs to her diet. I also suggest that you look for alternative ways to include calcium as well instead of using so much milk in her diet. It is propaganda that says dairy is good for the body - calcium is good, but dairy (especially cow's milk) is not - it is not easily digestible and forms a mucoid layer in the intestines that prevents proper digestion and the absorption of nutrients. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I want to echo the previous posters concerns about soy. Do research on it! (You can start with http://www.westonaprice.org) And strawberries also have a tendency to be allergenic or at least they're acidic and can cause reactions. Anyway, if there are no other reactions, my suspicion is that a one year old does not have all those back teeth to really grind up food yet. So it gets swallowed down and can't get really broken up. I remember lots of grape chunks in the diaper! So if it concerns you, I'd either cut up the food into smaller pieces yourself or avoid big chunky things. Dried fruit will be difficult to break down, as would other fruit with skins. Some veggies will be, too. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
My son is 14 months and has had the same problem. I just try to make things smaller or don't give him those foods for a while. I don't know what else to do.
Some fruits and veggies are harder to digest than others. Sounds like she's swallowing it whole instead of chewing as well. It's not to unusual to find that at all, corn and olives were the worst..yuck!
