My 7 month old baby started solids at 6 months and I'm wondering if he's constipated. He eats rice cereal made with breastmilk in the morning, and other stage 1 foods for lunch and dinner. He seems to enjoy them and we never force him to keep eating when he loses interest. I also breastfeed him on demand, except during the 7 hours I am at work. While I'm at work, the babysitter bottle feeds him breastmilk when he seems hungry. His stools have gotten much more solid than they used to be, almost like a grown up's. Sometimes he grunts like he's pooping, but nothing comes out. We've been giving him prunes to see if that would help. Should I be feeding him differently? I thought breast fed babies didn't get constipated???? Thanks for any advice!
My children were in a similar situation, breastfed exclusively until about 8 months and I worked FT. One thing I noticed with my younger daughter is that bananas and carrots would cause her to get constipated. As soon as I stopped feeding them to her, she was fine. I waited until her digestive system developed a little more and then she was able to eat bananas with no problem. Now they are one of her favorites.
Good luck!
I had this same problem when my son started on his rice cereal. We gave him a bit of gerber pear juice and cut a child size glyerin suppository in half length wise to get things moving, per our doctors recommendation.
Dr. also recommended Oatmeal cereal. It does have a higher incidence of allergy than rice cereal, but the constipation is not as much of a problem when we give him oatmeal cereal. Incidentally we had no allergy problems with our son.
Once things seemed to be moving through (well) again, we reintroduced rice cereal, and rotate oatmeal in every other time.
My dr. told me rice cereal is binding, so he recommended giving rice cereal once a day and either barley or oatmeal for the second serving of cereal a day. That way, the baby has less chance of being constipated.
Breast fed babies don't get constipated when they are on ONLY BM. You add other foods into the mix and it gets more complicated. Rice is a constipating food so you might go easy on the amount you feed. Prunes will do it pretty quick though.....if they haven't yet there will be an explosion (probably a messy one) very soon. I would just limit the rice cereal and give more of the actual food, esp those with more fiber in them.
Hi N.,
I am quite sure that it is the rice cereal that is causing your son to become constipated. I was having the same problem when my son was that age. My pediatrician told me that rice as well as bananas will cause constipation. After I switched to oatmeal or barley cereal the constipation problem went away. These cereals are just as nutricous and my son loved them. Since your son is now eating solid foods it is natural that the consistency of his poop will change.
Keep up your good work with the breastfeeding, you will always be so glad that you did. I breastfed my son until he was 19 months old, and am completely amazed when I see all the benefits it has had for hime!
J.
That sounds fairly normal. Breastfed babies can get constipated when they start adding solids. The poop just tends to get more adult like the older they get and the more solids they eat. My daughter is almost a year and is eating table food 3x/day and nurses 6-7 times a day...more or less on demand and her poops are adult like (finally :) ). We do cloth diapers and it's easier for me to clean up.
As long as the poops are not hard round balls, he should be fine. Just probably getting used to solids.
Rice Cereal is constipating and has a lot of added iron. It also has no real nutritional value:) I would try cutting that out and see if it helps. Maybe oatmeal or a fruit instead. Good luck.
You are correct that breast fed babies do not get constipated but you are no longer just breast feeding. His stool is perfectly normal for a baby that has started babyfoods - even with breast mild added.
Yes, their poops change quite a bit when they start solids. Their intestines are also developing and adjusting to the new foods. He could be slightly constipated. My oldest got constipated with rice cereal, and for her(who's N. too!), I changed to oatmeal. I then did oatmeal right away with my two boys, never even trying them on rice until they were older(but I started all three on solids at 4 months). My youngest had the hardest time pushing out poops - I would have to help him by pushing his legs up to his tummy to get the poop out. Exclusively breastfed babies rarely get constipated, but your son isn't exclusively breastfed with the addition of solids. The "P" fruits work wonders - pears, peaches, prunes, and feed him the green veggies - more fiber. Apparently, carrots for example, have little to no fiber when they are pureed. Definitely consider switching cereals though - rice could be the cause.
Good luck!
Pear baby food always did the trick with us. That may be worth a try. Also make sure he is getting plenty of water with his solid feedings because that helps with digestion.
