Constantly Constipated Baby! Poorie!

K

kyojee

Registered User
Help!

~~~~ My 7.5 month old (who used to poop once a week when exclusively breastfed) is now constantly constipated after solid foods are introduced. The only solids ever given to her are some oatmeal cereal, pears (lots), carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Solids are offered once or twice a day, and she doesn't take much, probably about 3-4 oz in total a day at most.

~~~~ When she does not get a poop in 3 days, I give her plain pear puree for dinner and diluted prune juice. If nothing happens still, I stop solids altogether for a day and offers boob and prune juice. And when that doesn't work, we use glycerin suppositories to induce a bowel movement (poor baby!)

~~~~ She's not the best drinker and only take small amounts of water and juice (probably 1-2 oz) a day. She's breastfed otherwise, with 5-7 nursings in a day.

~~~~ Doc had advised not to stop the momentum of offering solids, and what I should do is offer more high fibre fruit & veges, and more fluids. I don't foresee my baby drinking much more at this moment, and I thought/read that pears are one of the best laxatives.

Just to add: We do tummy massages and bicycle kick exercises pretty often but it doesn't seem to be working for us.

I really wish to hear from mommies who had to the same problem, and if they could share some advice. Thank you loads in advance!!!
 
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Oh poor baby. Try apricots, buy the dried apricots soak them overnight in some water and then simmer them in a pot till soft and puree. Add this to her cereal and hopefully that will get her bowels moving. Keep offering water at each meal and in between meals, she will soon get used to drinking more.
 
My 12-months old girl doesn't like to drink water too... I don't know how can I make her drink more... she would only takes a few sips a day!! Whenever I offer her the cup she would just pushes it away, the nurse in MCHC said I give her too much milk (I give 7oz 3 times a day) thats why she is not drinking water... so she suggests me to cut down on milk intake... any suggestions from moms on this?

Kyojee, apart from apricot, you can also try broccoli, cut the small florets and steam and puree, it helps poo poo too.
 
Mine baby, like yours, was also exclusively breastfed (until about 8 months) and before starting solids would only poop about every 3-4 days. You have to be careful with the introduction of solids, as I learned. Some good foods I have found that help:
-prune puree (Gerber Organic line has this, it`s really great)
-papaya
-pear
-whole grains like oats help to push through that poo in the baby`s digestive system.

Stay away from:
-banana (it`s a binding food)
-apples (also binding)
-white rice (maybe this is only for the caucasian race but white rice is really binding. Give the whole grain instead)

In all of your baby`s food it would be good to add either extra water or breastmilk (if you can) so make it more watery to get your baby some more fluids.
I have heard that sweet potato can go either way, but I tend to view it as binding since it`s a starch. But I could be wrong.
My son is also a bad drinker. But I have found that a mouthful here and there goes a long way. He was also very interested to start drinking from a regular cup (new novelty) so maybe you can try to put some water or diluted prune juice in a cup(not a sippy cup) and then try to give her a sip every now and again. It will add up throughout the day.
 
To help your baby drink more water, you might want to try to offer a range of drinking bottles. I find that it keeps things interesting enough that the baby will drink more than usual just for the pleasure of playing with different textures. You can try ones with a hard straw, soft straw, hard "nub", sippy top, movable handles, flip-flap lids for the snack compartment, etc. Good luck!
 
Oh mommies! Thank you so much for the great tips and for sharing your experiences! I think different foods work for different babies, I will be trying out lots of these till she gets regular good poop.

apricots, broccoli, prunes, papayas, spinach, various cups, staying away from sweet potato and carrots (just to play safe!)

Sazzy: Yes... lots of straining and crying. Her poop was so hard in our first constipated episode I could not believe what I saw in the diaper. Pains me to see her in such discomfort.
 
Homemade juice

To help my son to drink more water I usually make him some pear, dried fig sugared dates juice and this also help him with constipation. I buy about 4-5 pears, about 3-4 dried figs and 2 sugared dates from the market, wash it and with the skin cut it into pieces. Boil some water (about 2-3 liters) and add the pears and dried fig and cook it for about 30-45mins at low heat. Cool the juice down and then I usually water it down about half and half; I store the left over in the fridge for up to 3 days and add hot water to it to give to my son. He loves this. I usually give him this twice a day about 200ml each time. Hope this will help.

Cheers.
Lucy
 
Try to massage your baby's buttocks, especially the side and middle part (try to get to the piriformis muscle, the small muscle below the big buttocks muscles that are gluteus maximus and medius).

For the sweet potatos it depends which one you get: the soft kind or the hard kind. The hard kind (Japanese, or the paler ones) are closer to the consistency of a regular potato (if not denser!) whereas the soft kind (USA sweet potato at Welcome) is perfectly good and full of fiber. Carrots should not be a problem for the constipation.
Prunes and papaya are great for helping digestion. Brussel sprouts are good too but beware of the gases.
 
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