At Verbal Beginnings, supporting a child’s health means looking at the whole picture, including well, let’s face it: Going to the bathroom.
Why GI Health Matters
Children we serve at Verbal Beginnings can often experience overlapping needs: autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing differences, food allergies, and gastrointestinal conditions. In our feeding clinic, Healthy Beginnings, one theme surfaces consistently is this: disrupted bowel function. Its consequences extend far beyond the bathroom.
Constipation is not a minor inconvenience. It can impact appetite regulation, sleep quality, attention, and behavior. For children working toward meaningful developmental milestones, this can be a huge issue and prevent progress in other areas.
Did you know? Over 50% of children seen in our 2025 feeding clinic were reported to have some form of stooling difficulty, including infrequent stools, straining, or discomfort during toileting.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for children with these issues to be stooling only once or twice per week. Many families adapt to this pattern over time and come to accept it as their child’s baseline. In our experience, however, we need to understand what’s happening and get a plan to improve what’s going on.
The Connection Between Gut Health and Feeding
When a child is constipated, their appetite is one of the first things to be affected. The enteric nervous system, sometimes called the “second brain,” sends powerful satiety signals when the gut is backed up. For a child demonstrating food selectivity, which may be due to a variety of reasons, the feeling of fullness likely impacts the desire to try new foods. It’s no surprise, this can really interfere with the process to introduce and learn to eat a greater variety of foods, including those that could alleviate constipation.
The Role of Nutrition in GI Regularity
Dietary fiber is central to maintaining bowel health and regularity. For many children with autism that exhibit dietary limitations, fiber intake may not be sufficient to meet daily needs. Our clinical approach focuses on gradually incorporating high-fiber foods into everyday meals in forms the child can accept.
Staying well hydrated works with fiber intake to soften stool and reduce straining.
Toilet Training and Kindergarten Readiness: It’s Potty Time!
Toilet training is one of the most significant milestones in early childhood. In our centers, it is part of the clinical program and something we celebrate constantly for our kiddos making progress! For children with autism or developmental delays, achieving independent toileting is not a given; it requires direct instruction, systematic prompting, and often months of consistent practice.
This goes beyond the health impact too: it is a kindergarten readiness issue. Many public and private early childhood programs require or strongly expect children to be independently toileting upon entry. A child who is not yet toilet trained may face significant barriers in a classroom environment. At Verbal Beginnings that means:
- Setting up regular bathroom times based on your child’s needs and progress
- Gradually helping your child rely less on prompts and start going on their own
- Using positive reinforcement (like praise or rewards) that works best for your child
- Partnering with families to make sure progress carries over at home and school
- Working with medical providers if there are underlying health concerns affecting toileting
A Coordinated Approach
No single clinician or therapy program addresses all of this in isolation. At Healthy Beginnings, our feeding therapists, behavior analysts, and care coordinators work alongside a child’s medical team, including pediatricians, gastroenterologists, and registered dietitians, to ensure GI health is evaluated and managed as part of a comprehensive plan.
If your child is experiencing infrequent stooling, discomfort during toileting, significant mealtime challenges, or difficulty with toilet training, please connect with our team at Verbal Beginnings!
Ready to Connect?
Our Care Coordinators can help you understand what support is available and how to integrate GI health, feeding therapy, and toilet training into a unified plan for your child.
Talk to a Care Coordinator today!
