Home › Resources › Toddler constipation: why it gets worse around age 1 to 3 (and what to do about it)

By Karen · Kiddo Kitchen · 7 min read

Toddler constipation: why it gets worse around age 1 to 3 (and what to do about it)

You made it through the starting solids stage. Then your toddler discovered the word ‘no,’ gave up vegetables entirely, and the nappy situation became a nightly standoff. Here is what is going on and what actually helps.

Theo (3) turned eighteen months old and decided vegetables were personally offensive. He had eaten them for a year without complaint. Then one morning he looked at a piece of broccoli like it had insulted him, and that was that. Toddler constipation crept in within about two weeks. I had sorted the constipation that came with starting solids. I had no idea this was a completely different thing.

The Children’s Health Queensland guide notes that constipation is common in the under-three age group, and the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne flags it as a particular issue around the time of toilet training. Once I understood why it works differently at this age, the whole thing made more sense and felt a lot less like failing.

If this started earlier, when your baby was just beginning solids, that is a different picture. See: Baby constipated after starting solids?

Why toddler constipation works differently

Baby constipation after starting solids is usually straightforward: the gut needs time to adjust to solid food, a few dietary tweaks sort things out. Toddler constipation is more layered. Multiple things stack at once, and they reinforce each other.

Nobody tells you that the purée phase, which felt hard at the time, was actually the easy part. At least then you controlled what went in.

Diet changes dramatically around twelve months. The gradual shift away from breast milk and formula means less natural digestive support. Toddlers start eating more of the family’s food, which often means more refined carbohydrates, more dairy, and fewer of the puréed vegetables and fruit that were reliably on the menu in the early months. The Better Health Channel recommends increasing fibre from fruit, vegetables and wholegrains as the central dietary strategy for children with constipation. This becomes considerably harder when your child has decided fruit is suspicious.

The fussy eating phase tends to peak right around twelve to eighteen months, and this is developmentally normal. Many toddlers go through a neophobic phase where new or previously accepted foods get rejected. The casualty list often includes vegetables, fruit, and anything with a noticeable texture. Fibre tends to be the first nutritional casualty. This is genuinely not the child being difficult. It is a phase. It passes. The challenge is getting through it without the gut grinding to a halt in the meantime.

Toddlers also discover, around this age, that they have control over their bodies. Some start withholding bowel movements, whether from distraction, discomfort about the sensation, or a newly established sense of autonomy. Each withheld stool becomes harder and drier, which makes the next one more painful, which leads to more withholding. The Raising Children Network describes this holding-on behaviour as a significant contributor to chronic constipation in children. It is a cycle that can be hard to break once established.

Signs of constipation in toddlers

Some of these are obvious. Some of them I only recognised in hindsight, which is annoying.

The Pregnancy, Birth and Baby service outlines these signs in detail. The soiling one catches a lot of parents off guard.

What to feed a constipated toddler (including fussy ones)

The dietary principles are consistent: more fibre, more fluid, fewer binding foods. The challenge is executing this with a toddler who has opinions. Children’s Health Queensland recommends ensuring plenty of fruit in the diet for constipated children, and that is the starting point.

Pears and kiwi fruit are often accepted as finger foods and are among the most effective constipation remedies available. Corn on the cob is high in fibre and tends to be genuinely popular with toddlers. Peas mixed through rice or pasta are easy to slip in without a confrontation. Oat porridge and oat-based snacks are a reliable staple. Beans and lentils blended into tomato sauce or bolognese are essentially invisible once cooked, and the fibre they contribute is significant.

For fussy eaters specifically, the strategies that tend to work best are the ones that operate below the toddler’s radar.

Blend prunes or stewed pear into a pasta sauce or curry. They disappear completely, with no detectable flavour once cooked down. Add chia seeds to yoghurt, smoothies or porridge. They swell and soften within minutes, have no noticeable taste, and add meaningful fibre to whatever you put them in.

Swap white pasta for wholemeal and just do it quietly without announcing the change.

The SilliSqueeze Pouch is one of those tools that becomes part of the daily routine rather than a remedy you reach for in a crisis. Fill it with a blended prune and banana mix, hand it over, and let the toddler squeeze it themselves. The act of controlling the delivery tends to make the whole thing acceptable in a way that a spoonful from you simply would not be. We have one in the bag whenever we leave the house.

Hydration matters more than most parents expect

Theo went through a phase of refusing water entirely unless it came from a particular green cup. I am not proud of how many times I tracked down that cup. But hydration genuinely matters here, and it is worth whatever ritual it takes to make it happen.

By twelve months, toddlers should be offered water with every meal and snack. Adequate fluid is essential for preventing constipation because fibre only does its job effectively when there is enough water in the gut. Children’s Health Queensland recommends ensuring plenty of fluids as a core component of managing constipation. Practical strategies include offering water in a cup the toddler finds appealing, including foods with high water content like cucumber and watermelon, and using warm soups and stews which count toward fluid intake.

Diluted pear or prune juice, no more than 120ml per day, can help during acute constipation but should not replace water as the primary drink.

Excess cow’s milk is worth watching. The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne recommends limiting cow’s milk to a maximum of 500ml per day for children over eighteen months, because large amounts can reduce appetite for higher-fibre foods and contribute to constipation.

Physical activity and routine

This is the one nobody mentions in the constipation conversation. Movement and gut motility are directly connected, and a quiet, still day indoors shows up in the nappy department by the next morning.

Movement genuinely helps the gut at any age. Active play, tumbling, climbing and outdoor time stimulate gut motility in toddlers in the same way that exercise does in adults. Regular physical activity is a useful baseline alongside dietary changes. Routine matters too. Toddlers with consistent mealtimes and a relaxed, unpressured approach to toilet time are less likely to develop withholding habits.

When constipation becomes chronic

If things have not shifted after two weeks of dietary changes, or if the changes are not making a dent at all, see your GP. I had to do this with Theo when the withholding cycle got established and diet alone was not enough to break it. The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne notes that chronic constipation creates a feedback loop that requires medical support to interrupt properly. Paediatric constipation is one of the most common reasons parents see a GP in the toddler years. You are not overreacting.

If you want to go deeper on which specific foods are causing the problem, the foods swap guide covers every common trigger in detail. And if you need something you can actually make tonight, the recipes article has five options your toddler might actually eat. (Might.)

The fussy eating phase is developmentally normal. It is not the child being difficult. The challenge is getting through it without the gut grinding to a halt in the meantime.

Sneaking fibre past a fussy toddler just got easier

The SilliSqueeze Pouch lets your toddler squeeze their own meal, which is often the only reason blended prunes, pear and chia make it in at all. Fill it, hand it over, step back. Same-day dispatch on orders before 11am, and we are a family-run Australian business.

Shop the SilliSqueeze Pouch

Frequently asked questions

Sources