Should Stools Be Solid

It depends on the child and what they eat and drink. I run a family daycare and if I am trying to potty train a child like that I ask the parent to try a brat diet along with mild foods for a couple days. It just makes potty training a little easier. Brat diet is bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. Also I watch the amount of juice the child is drinking. Sometimes when the stools are losier they just do not have enough time to make it to the potty.

I just had this conversation with my mom this morning! She reminded me that poop in a diaper is smooshed and sat on, thereby making it an unusual shape. If it comes out in pieces in the toilet, I think it's ok. Adult poop can be soft sometimes, too. We just never sit in it (ha ha). As for the BRAT diet, I understand that that is for true diarrhea that is watery and grainy, and for a child who is at risk of dehydrating. That doesn't seem to be your daughter's case. However, it's probably a good idea to call her pediatrician and see what the professional opinion is.

Also, have you tried a pro-biotic yogurt? Maybe that might help?

I just had this concern with my 18 month old. She is on solids but still breastfed. I went as far as going to a gastroenterologist at Children's and had them take a stool sample. She apparently just has mushy incredibly smelly poop. She eats a lot of bananas which I thought would firm her up but no luck. She also eats a lot of other fruits, her favorite food, so I think that has a lot to do with it. I think also, if I don't change her immediately then it's a lot worse than when I catch it right away or in the toilet, on occasion. I guess everybody's poop is different....

My son's stools are pretty mushy/soft most of the time too and he is the same age. I think it really just depends on how much fiber etc they get...just like adults. No doctor nor my daycare has ever seemed concerned about it. Especially if they eat high fat or have juice etc I think the stool would tend to be this way.

Not true. My daughter, who is 5 now, had the same condition. There is "toddler's diarrhea." It's when toddlers have diarrhea for no reason. They grow out of it, but I would have your daughter thoroughly checked out by a pediatrician.

E.

I have the same problem only my son is younger, he has never had hard poop, always soft, no matter if I put him on the BRAT diet or not, he doesn't get any juice at home only water. I had to take him off milk at daycare because they were calling me once a week to come and get him, I know that it is very frustration, I don't have the problem with daycare anymore after I explained this situation, and also they called the daycare he was at before this one to verify the information (kinda funny having a conversation and knowing there have been conversations over your son's poop). There is one thing that helped as well, we have him on a probiotic, he was on Florastor, and now is on Culturelle.

From my experience, the same stool looks soft in a diaper and hard in the potty. The diaper mushes it. If they come out hard in the potty, then it's probably fine. I was surprised that the same poop could look so different depending on where you catch it! I wouldn't worry about it. Potty training is always challenging, just be patient!