Infant Constipation - Saint Petersburg,FL

Hi J.,
Our little boy had a similar problem about the same age- who is also a breastfed baby. We started giving him more water and that seemed to help a lot. He is almost one and I have never had to give him fruit juice. He still may not go every day, but his poops are not as hard and he doesn't strain to pass them.
When you start giving her fruits, stay away from cooked apples (apparently they are constipating)!

J.,

Yes, cereals can be very binding to alot of children. If the cereals are causing that much discomfort, then I would either switch to oatmeal (with some breastmilk mixed in) and avoid rice for a first try or then if that doesn't help then just avoid cereals all together. Cereals aren't necessary and contain little nutrition. The US is only one of a few countries that even tell new moms to feed babies cereals and usually old-school pediatricians will promote it because it's just what has been done in the past. I would just listen to your baby, and if the cereal is causing more trouble than it's worth than just move along to something better. The best first foods are banana, avacado and sweet potato...either by mashing/puree them yourself or getting a good quality prepared variety. Remember to continue to always breastfeed her right BEFORE every offering of food...this way she continues to get the valuable nutrition she needs from your milk. Right now she will continue to get very little nutrition from any solid food for some time. Way to go on breastfeeding her...you've given her the best gift you can!

Happy feeding.... and poo-ing! :-)

Ssame thing happened to me when my daughter started solids. She is also exclusively breastfed, and the rice cereal was the culprit. Even a small amount constipated her.

When I discontinued it, she returned to normal.

Good luck! It's awful to see them suffer.

Both of my kids had that problem when they started solids. I tried to move them on from rice and bananas and applesauce, which are all constipating, as soon as possible. If you waited until six months, there's no reason why you can't introduce prunes next. Earth's best has a really good Stage 2 prunes and oatmeal. I still give my son about a third of a jar a day at eight months. Of course, you'd have to introduce oatmeal before you do oatmeal and prunes.

The pediatrician also recommended lots of water. And move them around! "Bicycle" her legs and things like that.

Hope it helps!

I had the same problem with my twin daughters, now 18 months, and have grown out of it. I used an herbal syrup, Grip Water, which can be found in most natural food stores, you can also look it up online and order it. It worked wonders with my girls, I just gave them the dose before they ate and they didn't seem to so much trouble going.
Good luck to you
K.

J.
You baby has been nurturing on breast milk. They say rice can be binding. So I guess what I would now do would first talk to the baby doctor, and also ask the dr. if you can add some fruit (like peaches) to the diet. This may help with the constipation.
good Luck...Great Grandmom

My son went through the same issue. I breastfed until 7mo. and he was eating solids from 6 when he started getting constipated. Before adding anything to water and juice, consult your doctor. Babies can have adverse reactions to things that other babies tolerate beautifully. Try giving more water and observe the amount of rice cereal your giving your baby. I cut down on it and noticed that home made cereal was easier to tolerate. Try oatmeal cereal too. It is supposed to be easier to digest. Introducing new foods will bring new bowel issues. Prune juice is safe and effective. Can be mixed with milk (breast or formula) and/or the cereal as well. (Mix half and half).
Good luck!

Infant cereals have 45% iron in them, so constipation is quite common when first starting solids (ie: cereals). With my son, we reduced the amount of cereal we fed him until we could start introducing other solids which would counteract the cereal's effect.

Good luck.

Do not give her rice. Give her oatmeal instead unless you that she's allergic. My niece is the same thing. All we did was change her cereal to oatmeal.

The cereal will cause some constipation. Try putting making a 6 ounce bottle of water... 2 ounces natural baby apple juice and 4 ounces of water... my daughter has been doing this since her 6 month old baby was born and it seems to work.

Rice cereal did the same thing to my baby. We switched him to single grain oatmeal, then eventually to Earth's Best whole grain oatmeal, and he did great. Instead of water or breastmilk, use diluted apple, prune or pear juice in the cereal to get it in her. You might also try feeding her fruit before any other food in the morning...especially fruits starting with "p"...peaches, pears, etc. Once in awhile we gave him Milk of Magnesia to help him go. It's really gentle and works fairly quickly.

Good luck!

My daughter is 7 1/2 months old and has the same problem every now and then. And yes it started with the introduction of solids. Some of it may be because it is so hot out and us nursing mothers need to drink even more water because most of the babies liquid comes from us. And eating solids means the babies need more liquid. Drinking more water helps to flush out the bm. I use both rice and oatmeal and I think the oatmeal constipates her or it maybe a coincidence with me drinking less water than I should. I know they say nursing babies don't need water but if you live in FL everyone needs water! Good Luck.
My favorite way to get more liquid my daughter is to use the munchkin fresh food feeder and put ice in it. Great for teething and keeps her occupied.

From my experence, this is completely normal. My daughter, 5 months old, use to only have a bowl movement every 3-4 days. She is a breast feed baby. Cereal is known to stop up babies. I have been giving my daughter prune juice (1 ounce prune and 1 ounce water) since she was 3 months old. I give it to her daily. She seems to go about every other day now. I also change the prenatal I was taking. I now take a prenatal that has NO IRON. Since I started that she is more at ease and goes on a more regular basis. I think the no iron makes her regular and the prune juice makes it not so hard. Talk with your doctor though! Good Luck.

Hi J., my name is Jennifer and I live in Brooksville, I have a 12-yr old son, and a 4-yr old daughter. My daughter went through constipation, the suppositories is what helped her, I would also keep them in the fridge, nice and cool, and give her a different cereal, as the rice is binding and will keep her constipated. If she is still on formula, the iron contributes to that as well. A great website, that will help that I often use, is www.WebMD.com. You put in constipation in the search, and it will tell you exactly what to do. Hope that helps !!

Best wishes !!

Give her a teaspoon of prune juice a day. If that isn't working, increase the amount.

yes, it is the rice cereal. My 4 & half month old got very constipated because of it as well. My pediatrician told me to give her a little bit of apple juice to ease it. I've been givng her just a few ounces of diluted apple juice a day and that has been helping. You may want to change the cereal to oatmeal. That will eliminate your problem as well. Good luck.

If this were my Daighter I would give her aloe vera in her water or actually juice would probably be the tastiest.
The foseage for an adult is usually between 3 & 4 ounces. So I guess I would start at maybe 1/4 oz. To find her doseage increase by a little (maybe 1/4th oz) each day. When she had loose stools then drop back by one measurement until stools OK. This is the amount that she should take each day.

S.

Try the oatmeal instead of the rice cereal. I breastfed both of my girls. Don't give her fruits whatever you do. If you do this then she will never want to eat her veggies. Have you changed your eating habits? Sometimes it's not what you are giving her it's what she is getting from your milk. Oatmeal is a natural laxitive.

Rice cereal could be the cause for her discomfort, as well as her maturing digestive system. Something that I do with my 7 month old daughter is an olive oil abdominal massage. I just remove her clothes and diaper, place her on a soft towel, and rub small amounts of room temperature olive oil on her stomach area. She loves the attention and we enjoy the time together. Then usually within 20 to 30 minutes, she has a painfree bowel movement.

Good luck.

My son is also 6 months old and has recently started enjoying solids. We found the rice cereal also constipated him. We switched to oatmeal and he is much happier. We also started fruits and vegetables with him. I tend to mix half a container of fruit or veggi with the oatmeal. If the oatmeal doesn't seem to help much, prunes are what work the best to get things moving. Gerber has stage 1 prunes that you could try on your daughter. Just let me tell you from experience with my own daughter (haven't given them to my son yet); make sure she her diaper is well secured and she is in clothing you won't mind getting messy. My daughter had been so backed up and just doing tiny poops cause they hurt so much, that when we gave her the prunes, she had a rather large explosion in her diaper that caused spillage. And once you give her the prunes, bicycling her legs or massaging the tummy will really help.

The Rice cereal will constipate. First off did you call you DR.?? After you do that -you might try adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the cereal--another thing might be corn syrup mixed in with water. But mostly talk to the Dr.

My breastfed baby had a similar problem. It wasn't until I introduced pears that she had some relief. Puree up some pears (my Gipsy loves Anjous) and cut back slightly on the rice cereal as it can by binding. Hope everything comes out alright...literally. ;)

usually when solids are introduced constipation comes with that. continue to breast feed and maybe increase her intake of milk versus solids. try mylicon drops it might help. Also, check with the pedi might be able to give her baby apple juice or baby nutragrain. My son loves nutragrain bars till this day.

I had the same thin with my breastfed daughter. In the beginning, when she was only trying rice cereal, I'd give her a little prune juice mixed with water to drink afterward and it seemed to counter the binding effect the cereal had a little bit. (That's what her pediatrician recommended I do.) When you start introducing new foods, try peaches, apricots, green beans,etc. Lots of roughage. It seems like a delicate balancing act with baby's digestive tract for a few months after introducing solids, but I think their little tummies are just getting used to digesting new things. My daughter's constipation subsided when she was about 14 months old.

I never breast fed my daughter and she started on cereal at the most at maybe 2 months old ,then fruit mixed with the cereal, then veggies. Your baby has been on nothing but milk which makes for soft stool, far too long. The schedule may be different for bottle fed babies, I don't know but my daughter pooped every day. You might try a baby stool softener in suppository form and there is the baby gas medicine also that may help. Her body just may need time to adjust to the solid food. At 6 months my premie daughter had 4 teeth at least and was eating baby veggies and I think the little stage 1 meals. She is 35 now so it is hard to remember everything but I never had the problem you are having.

You received a lot of great advice. I will emphasize the pears. It's a tastier alternative to prunes. I always keep pear juice in the house in the event that any of my kids experience this issue and it works for adults too.

Also the tummy massage, gently bicycling the legs can help stimulate bowel movement, that and the juice should do the trick!

"P" fruits help with digestion. I gave my son at that age, prunes, pears or peaches when he had trouble going. Though, not all babies go poopy every day, even with the addition of solids. I've heard some children go every 5-7 days.

Actually, I remember now....I gave him prunes every morning at that age....up until he was 9 months old.

J., I have a daughter with a 4 1/2 month old. My daughter works with a PHD in Molecular Biology for her own health and the babies. This doctor told her to give the baby 1 Optiflora Pearl from Shaklee daily. It is a tiny round ill that she puts in the babies mouth and then nurses her. Sarah has no trouble swollowing it. This protects her colon. As solid food is being introduced this doctor also suggested staying away from cereal for several months because cereal and milk are the 2 most common allergies. At this age their digestive system, immune system and nervous system are all closely tied and symtoms are hard to distinuquish. If you would like to talk with my daughter, I would be happy to furnish you the info.... Sarah had not experienced any constipation problems at all.... another little one that is the same age has all the symtoms your daughter has. (that mother wasn't open to trying Optiflora). Hope this gives you food for thought... C.

Hi J.,

I don't think all infants have constipation, because my daughter never has yet (she's almost 2 years now). I think if you introduce something and it causes a problem like this, I would just stop giving her the rice cereal for now, wait awhile and try again. Either she doesn't need the solids yet, or she is having trouble digesting and needs a combination (like rice cereal mixed with apples) to help make a BM easier.

My daughter chose not to take solids til 8.5 months though we offered at about 6 months. She never liked rice cereal at all! Maybe it constipates but we never had that particular food experience.

Our doc said although it's normal to go a few days in between, switching to oat cereal and avoiding the BRAT (bananas, rice, & applesauce) diet, which is used for diarrhea will help.

Hi J.,
My son is 8 mos. old and also breastfed since birth. Yes the constipation is normal once you add solids. I've had the same issues. Just remember to keep prunes in the house always! I usually give him some every few days and if he seems particularly uncomfortable I give him a 50% juice and water solution. But that is only every couple weeks that it might happen. From everything I've read unless it's been several days without a BM and they're uncomfortable it's ok. I also stopped rice cereal and went to baby oatmeal. This seems to help as well. If she won't take juice have you tried those teething feeders?. I've frozen 50% juice and water and put a cube in the teething feeder and they work great! It seems like my little one's favorite place (and easiest for him) is in his excersaucer. Don't worry she will be ok!
H.

My daughter has the same problem since birth. We give her miralax (polyeth glycol) powder. I think you can get it over the counter but ours is doctor prescribed so he can give her the right dose. It works great!!! You add it to formula or food. Does not change the taste or consistancy. We use it every day for about 8 months now. Hope this helps.

My daughter went through that too, i would mix up her cereal with baby juice. baby prune juice works best, and it doesn't hurt to try and get her to drink it as well, but water in down.
Don't give her corn syrup, recent studies have shown that it's bad!! or you can get some baby prune food and put in about a regular spoonful in her bottle and shake it up and give it to her. My daughter loved that the best.

Hi.  My daughter now 4 yrs old, had problems moving her bowels even before we started solid foods.  I found that massaging her feet always seemed to help. (Reflexology)

Hello. Yes it is common for babies to have some constipation when starting cereal. My doc said to mix some apple juice with water and it worked like a charm. Try the juice again or try mixing some prunes with the cereal. Good luck :)

S.