My 9 month old is exclusively breastfed and we never had a poopy problem until recently. We started her on solids at about 7 months but she still eats about 80 or 90% breast milk. She was eating rice cereal with fruit baby food and started to get constipated at 7 months so I took her off of the rice cereal. We then used a little oatmeal (about a tspn.) (all Happy Baby instant cereals) with applesauce and pear sauce and she seemed fine. Now the only poop in four days was yesterday and today some hard little balls where she is crying and straining to get them out. We started giving her apple juice yesterday and I took her off the cereal and only breast fed her yesterday and the day before and just now while I was writing this she finally had a bit softer stool but a small amount. It's to the point where I'm afraid to give her solids now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi J.,
A baby's stomach lining is not fully developed until age one. Therefore, giving her solids before age one can cause digestive issues. Some refined rice cereal or oatmeal should be fine; but I recommend avoiding fruits and veggies until age one and continue to breastfeed.
Good luck! :)
Warm Regards,
G. Van Luven, H.C.
Healthy Habits Wellness Center, LLC
www.HealthyHabitsWellnessCenter.com
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Solids right now are more for fun and taste and not nutrition, so if you back off of solids for a while, it's ok, she's stil getting what she needs from you. My son didn't start full-on solids until after he was a year old, and my daughter still isn't doing so great with solids so we've backed wayyyy off for now. I'm still sleep-deprived too and will be for a good while, so you're not alone with that or with solids maybe not being fully right for your child yet.
Avoid the grains. Your baby doesn't need them. Just feed her fruits and veggies. Also, you may want to consider making your own baby foods, rather than feeding her store bought ones. They will be so much fresher and also will get her used to your food, not store bought baby food. Just put the food into the blender and blend it up, then feed it to her. (It tastes so much better too)
J. Powers / Author
The Truly Grain Free Cookbook: Beet & Cane Sugar Free Too!
ISBN #: 1-60563-263-5
Try introducing some juice - you can also mix the cereal with the juice and watch her light up at the taste. My 10 month old had some issues at the change from breast milk to solids and we gave her apple and apple prune juices twice a week and that seemed to help. God bless you and your family.
Give her a few small bites of baby prunes. They work wonders. good luck.
I have had some of the same issues.... I put some prunes in some hot water and then into the food processor and he loved them.... pears also. I just had to stay away from too much apple sauce and bananas. Other things that have helped loosen him up are; hummus, whole wheat pancakes (he is 9mos old now) when I make them for the rest of us, I make home-made chicken noodle soup and I put everything with only a few noodles in the blender and he loves that. Most stuff will keep in the fridge a week, or freeze for even longer. He is still nursing a ton- I think more because his teeth are coming in and he wants the comfort. Anyway, I don't use a lot of jar baby food. Hope this helps.
Put pureed prunes in her cereal too. Stick with the oatmeal not the rice cereal.
My son went through some constipation issues around 5 or 6 mos of age. I called the triage line at my pediatrician's office, they suggested some water (1-2 oz/day) and adding dark karo syrup into his milk 1-2 tsp). They also suggested feeding foods that help the bowels like pear/plum/prunes/apricots/peas. I would discuss it with your pediatrician before trying any new stuff depending on your child's health state.
I am a 37 year old SAHM and just had my 4th son about 5 months ago. I used a book called "Super Baby Food" (by Ruth Yaron) for #2 and #3 and will be starting it again soon with #4 once he turns 6 months. Making your own baby food is so much better for your little one, and it's really easy to do. The added bonus is that it's extremely economical! The problem with store bought cereals is that they contain little to no fiber, but you can make your own brown rice cereal right at home that is LOADED with fiber and all the good stuff that comes from the whole grain. And at your baby's age you can also add a legume to the cereal to make a complete protein, high fiber cereal. Your daughter will never be constipated again if you feed her the recommended diet from this book. I swear by it. My babies were fat, happy, healthy, and NEVER constipated!! Oh yeah...super green veggies like broccoli and spinach are also fiber and nutrition powerhouses that can be added to the homemade brown rice cereal. Oh I could go on and on, but go get the book; it has all the recipes and instructions to get you going, and you won't regret it! Best of all, your baby will thank you for it by giving you lovely, unconstipated poopies every single day!! :-) Good luck and happy mothering!!
Hi J.,
I didn't read all your answers yet, but if you got this answer already, my apologies....
When my son was at that age and constipated, I was advised to give him a teaspoon of Dark Karo Syrup in his formula. Worked like a charm! Just do this twice a day. :-)
Hope this helps. And hope your little one feels better. Not very comfortable being impacted. Poor little gal.
Hi J.,
I, like Angela, use the Super Baby Food book which I love. However when we first started our daughter on solids (I don't think we were using the book yet), she also had some constipation problems. Give her up to 4 oz. of prune juice (you can use regular instead of "baby"-the "baby" juice is the same, just overpriced). Give 2 oz., then wait a few hours, if no result, give 2 more. For a while, I'd mix a little bit of mashed prunes to her cereal in the mornings which helped a lot. The other thing is that since she's eating solids, she needs to also have water (or water mixed with a little juice if she refuses plain water) throughout the day. I disagree that brown rice is "packed" with fiber. I believe that it has some, but I add wheat germ to my daughter's cereal for a little more and then most veggies have fiber, and the "p" fruits-peaches, pears, plums. Just remember, the prescription for diarrhea is the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples, toast), so these are the things to avoid when there's constipation.
Good luck!
L.
J.,
This is all apart of the allergies I'm sure. My baby girl had the same issues sometimes going twice a mo! Dr Orona was able to desensitize her overnight to ALL her allergies through the NEAT program & she was good to go in that dept also ;) Hopefully you can get in soon!
talk with you soon,
S.
have you called the pediatrician? i'm sure you know you can call and just talk to the nurse without having to actually take her in.
i had the same problem with my youngest when he was a baby. i have him diluted prune juice. try that.
on another note, if you are still sleep deprived, try reading a book called babywise, by gary ezzo. it's amazing. i used it with four of my five children, and it worked everytime!
R.
JUST went through that with my daughter who was put on solids at 4 months b/c she was getting very chubby and all we did was "lace" her solid fruit she was getting anyways with some prune juice and it worked like a charm. We did it for a few weeks to keep her regular and now we hardly need any prune juice at all. I would say we using just a part of the cap as the guide. Good luck as I know how difficult that is.
J.
J.,
Our daughter struggled with constipation through her first two years.
I'm with Mary. Prunes, prunes, prunes. They're sweet and full of fiber. Mix the pureed fruit in her cereal and use prune juice instead of apple. Diluted, of course. It will work.
In desperation, I think Dr. Sears says you can use part of a glycerin suppository but I would wait on that.
You definitely want to nip it in the bud because it can become a chronic problem otherwise.
Great resource!
www.askdrsears.com
I would continue giving her breastmilk exclusively for the next few days, then gradually add in a fruit or veggie that has more fiber. You could make the cereal a little bit more soupy too, that can help as well. Do you make the cereal with water or breastmilk? I used to only use breastmilk in the cereal. There are certain foods that constipate babies more than others and that is why they recommend introducing one food at a time, so you can see their reactions to the food, including constipation. Bananas constipated both of my children, so we reintroduced those after a year when they were used to eating more solid foods.
I discovered with my own kids that there is no need to give them grains at all. They nursed for their protein and fat and eat fruits and veggies.
Hello J.,
My little one had a similiar problem and the nurse recommended giving him 4 oz. chamomile tea with 2 tsp. of sugar. The tea helps the tummy and sugar is a natural laxative. We started giving it to my son when he was 4 months old, he is now 12 mo. and still loves his tea. Hope it helps.
It can be so heartbreaking to watch your child strain - we had the same experience when transitioning from breastmilk at 12 months. What worked for us was sticking to fruits that begin with "p" (prunes, pears, peaches, plums), putting some prune juice in her milk bottle, and steering clear of the BRAT foods. Best to you!
