Feeling Fiber Fine: Ways to Increase Fiber Intake

As a parent, you realize early on that a lot of your job has to do with poop: the looking for poop, the wiping of poop, the removing of poop stains. It’s just the way it is.

Sometimes, your job may require you to help your child produce poop. And that’s what this post is all about. (Go ahead, put your lunch away, I’ll wait.)

I’ll start off by saying again that I am not a medical professional, although sometimes I feel like I play one on the Internets. Most of what I’m sharing here I’ve learned by parenting or teaching or being the daughter of a nurse.

Kids can get constipated pretty quickly- a change in diet, a couple of hot days without enough fluids, medications and traveling can all do it. Once your child is constipated, he runs the danger of developing further complications by withholding what is now a painful stool to pass. Your best bet is to keep things evacuating smoothly, and to jump in with fiber and fluid when you notice it may have been a day or two since his last bowel movement.

Without further ado, here are easy ways to add fiber to any kid’s diet:

1) Fluid, fluid, fluid. Use straws or a fun cup, but keep pushing the fluid.

2) Fruits and vegetables. This is an easy one, but it can be challenging to get kids to try new ones. Start by introducing new produce alongside what they like, as well as when they are really hungry.

2) Sunsweet prunes, individually packaged. These little gems present themselves more like a sweet treat, but really, they’re the same prunes my grandpa ate.

3) All-Bran crackers- they are a little bit sweet, but pack a lot of rock and roll, at 5g of fiber per serving.

4) Flaxmeal/flax seeds- It’s pretty easy to hide anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of this unsuspecting food. Add it to bread dough, as well as pancake and waffle batter. I’m also putting it on the record you can add a little to the otherwise nutritionally pointless grape jelly.

5) Kashi brand products- the entire line of Kashi products are fiber fine. They make assorted cereals, crackers, snack bars and cookies, and they are available at any grocery store. Try a few products out to see what your kid likes.

6) Fiber One products- As the name implies, these are fiber fine goods as well.

7) Nuts- Some kids just love nuts, and many are a good source of fiber. Pistachios contain 3g of fiber per 1oz, 1/2 c of shredded coconut contains 3.5g of fiber.

With a little planning (as well as the limiting of nutrient-poor food), fiber can be worked into anyone’s diet. One word to the wise: if you are trying out a lot of different fiber-rich foods for your family, don’t taste test them all in one day. Trust me on this one.

For more information on kids and fiber see: http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/fiber.html#