Introducing Solids= Constipation

Same thing happened to us. We felt really bad for our daughter too. Here is what we did. Less applesauce. More peaches, prunes, pears, plums, apricots, apple juice, pear juice, prune juice (prune only for really bad days and all juices cut with a lot of water). We also fed her half jars 6 times a day instead of full jars 3 times a day. For some reason AppleSAUCE stops them up while Apple JUICE helps them go. Cereals can also stop them up. We cut that out altogether. I got all this stuff from the Sears (Doctor & Nurse couple) baby books. It is very informative. Good luck. Hope she feels better.

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With the introduction of solids your daughter will basically have to learn how poop again so to speak. I would try giving her the more solid foods earlier in the day so that she has time to digest and process them before bed. That will help her with any nighttime tummy issues she may have. You can also try a small amount of prune juice in some water that may help. I know that applesauce seemed to help my daughter go easier. I'd stick to veggies over fruit and rice cereal over oatmeal for now and perhaps try just giving her solids at lunch. She's probably not as constipated as you think just learning how to go. If you find she's just continuing to have problems you may consider waiting until she's at least 6 months old and then try again. I know that we had to postpone the introduction of solids with my daughter because she got a cold and was teething at the same time and it was overload. Good luck!

I feed my son a small serving of baby prunes about every other day. (He is 9 months old.) I have found this helps him a lot. He goes pretty much every day now.

T.,

Hey there. If your little one is only five months old, she may really not be ready to digest anything but breast-milk, and MAYBE a little rice cereal w/apple juice (even though she might like the taste of the solids). Just take it really slow, and I'm sure the problem will clear itself.

Hi T.,

Solids are not recommended for children under the age of one because their stomach lining is not yet developed. Introducing solids before age one can cause a myriad of problems, including food allergies.

I recommend sticking with breastfeeding, or formula if you absolutely have to until she turns one. You can add in baby rice cereal if you feel she needs a little more food.

Best wishes to you!

Warm Regards,
G. Van Luven
Health and Nutrition Consultant
Healthy Habits Wellness Center, LLC
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Hi T. - I have had a lot of trouble with my son (now 2) and this type of thing since he was a baby. The dr. doesn't think it's a problem but he doesn't have a bowel movement every day and before, he had the most difficult time with elimination. His father has a very sensitive gastric system and I suspect the same is true for him. He responds pretty well to fiber. When he was a baby, we started feeding him the prunes which helped a lot, now he has to have fruit very regularly in his diet or he will get stopped up and it doesn't really matter what we feed him - he loves vegetables and will even devour an entire tomato in one sitting but without the juice and fruit at meals it's no use. It's not medical advice but it has worked well for us. Good luck, I know that can be so frustrating! (Also - if you are eating extra iron, you may want to think about lowering your iron intake as some people/babies are really sensitive and it causes constipation)

Using oat cereal instead of rice can help, giving a little bit of water or juice with meals, and also make sure she's getting plenty of exercise. Plenty of time on the floor rolling, scooting, if you have a bouncer, etc. Just not all day being held or pushed in the stroller, etc.

I don't know if you are doing baby cereal at all, and usually they say to start with rice cereal first before fruits and veggies, but my doctor recommended that you mix the cereal with apple juice if they have trouble going instead of using milk or water. I have had great success with this when my son has trouble going. Bananas and applesauce do have a tendency to make the poo harder.

Hi T.,
Try green beans or spinach. They work for adults, too.

Try adding pears, and prunes. That should help.

Just in case you need this:

1 part tepid water to 1 part Karo Syrup (dark syrup works best) in a bottle is a great, natural constipation reliever.

this is COMPLETELY normal. get some pear juice and have her drink about 8 oz, it worked like a charm with each of my kids. her system is just getting used to solids, it will fix itself soon. in the meantime, pears & peaches will get things moving.

Not sure if you have spoken with your pediatrician or not but we were always told (our daughter has had constipation problems as well) that dairy, bananas, and rice cereal were things that we needed to avoid because they are harder to digest on little tummys.
For immediate relief we used glycerin suppositories - it is a bulb of glycerin you squeeze in the anus then about 30 mins to an hour later they should have a BM. For long term treatment we used 1/2 tsp of MiraLax in the morning juice or whatever, as long as it was morning and as long as it was something we knew she would eat / drink all of.
Good luck to you - if it continues I would definitely see her pediatrician as there could be other causes.

After starting solids I too made a few calls into the Pediatrician about my son's stools. They said true constipation is not about the frequency, but rather if the stools are small pellets. My son would have a smooth, peanut butter like poop one day and an actual solid poop the next. He would make grunting sounds and get a red face on occasion, but the Ped said that most of the time they are lying down when they poop and that is hard for them. He has adjusted now, but the first few weeks may look like they are straining as their bodies are adjusting to the solids. I also read that rice cereal and bananas may cause constipation in infants, not sure if you are feeding either of these. I would always call your Ped if you have concerns, mine was happy to talk to me when I had poop questions!

T.,

It is completely NORMAL for babies' stools to change when they start solids, and it is also normal, and even expected for them to get constipated. They stop having BM's as frequently as well, so don't expect it as often as before. I agree with the previous suggestions of prunes. That always did the trick for my son. Plums (as they call them) work as well, because really they are the same thing. Good luck!

Same thing happened with my daughter. My husband and I thought she was going to explode trying to push out her business. Her doctor suggested that giving her a little pear or prune juice might do the trick (# of ounces of juice equally measured with # ounces of water) only after making sure that I was drinking enough water and I had given her prunes, pears, apples...and cut out the bananas. Constipation is a normal occurence when you start a baby on the solids...there little digestive tracts need time to get used to it. Talk to her pediatrician...

Hi T.,
It sounds like you are giving the right kinds of food (number 1/stage 1, etc). My pediatrician recommended introducing one food at a time for three days. If there is no reaction or difference, you can add in the second food. Then, again wait 3 days to make sure there is no difference. This way you may be able to pinpoint what is making your daughter constipated. It could be just one of the number 1 foods or a few, but slowly adding foods may help.

Good luck! :)
C.

I have the same problem with my 9 1/2 month old. First of all, her poop is going to change. It will be much more solid, but probably shouldn't be that hard. My daughter also didn't have a poopy diaper for a couple of days at a time when she first started eating solids. They're tummy just takes a little while to get used to solids going through. If if lasts longer than a couple of days, I would call the doctor and see what they say. I read that bananas and apples are constipating...and they are both in just about every type of baby food! Maybe try to back off on the foods with bananas and try giving her some prunes. Also, give her plenty of fluids. Good luck!

You really should introduce solids to your daughter one food at a time. I usually switched the food every week. This way you can monitor any changes in her bowels, watch for allergic reactions, etc.

My children were exclusively breastfed and then I gradually started introducing foods. With both of my children I found that bananas constipated them and pears and apples gave them diaper rash(too much acid?) Anyways, when they did get constipated I would take them off all solids and go back to exclusively breastfeeding for a day or two. They are not eating the solids for nutrition right now, so it will not hurt her to not have them for a few days. This always worked for me and I never had to use over the counter products. I have heard of adding a little prune juice to rice cereal and that can help too. My sister-in-law did this and it worked wonders, but I didn't give my children juice until after they were one year, so I did not go that route. I hope this was helpful-good luck and let us know what works for you!

The same thing just happened to my 7 month old son. A few weeks ago this happened. We did a few things and they all seem to work. He is now pretty regular. I give him prunes every other day for breakfast and a few days a week I mix prune juice with his rice cereal or oatmeal instead of water. This really seems to regulate him. One thing that a doctor told me to do was to put baking soda in his bath water and sit him in it a couple of times a day. He said that relaxed his sphincter. I have never heard of that but we did that also. Anyway, hope this helps.

I recall my daughter having a horrible bout of constipation after introducing her to different foods, i.e., solids or anything other than breast milk. Provide your baby with a bottle of water with her feeding. Dehydration is probably the culprit. Best of luck to you!
L. L.

Is your baby gaining appropriate amounts of weight for his age?
Is he passing lots of urine?
If the answer is no, he may not be getting enough fluid in the form of water or juice and this can lead to constipation.

My 8 month old also started having difficulty going when we started working our way through the process of introducing solids. The cereal, any grain, and bananas did make it more difficulty for him to go. So my Pediatrician recommended offering him juice (pear juice has lower acidity), and that helped to relieve the straining. Since I was still nursing when I started the solids, the Ped. recommended offering the juice in a sippy cup to prevent confusion between breast and bottle nipple.

Hi there, the same thing happened to my baby who is now 7 months old. We introduced solids and she became constipated. I cut out the rice cereal and bananas and that helped a bit, but she still was a bit constipated. Pediatrician recommended giving her pear juice which also helped. But, I think just cutting down (or out) the rice cereal helped her, maybe it will help your baby too.