difficulty passing bowel movement

[bbc mom]

Hi everyone,

Ever since my baby (now 8 months) started solids, he seems to have difficulty in passing stools. He grunts and goes red in the face, but nothing passes unless I assist him by moving his legs. Is this normal?

He is not constipated since his stools are soft, and I have stopped giving him rice cereal and limited his intake of potatoes. He usually has fruit and porridge for breakfast, and lots of vegetables and small amount of meat/fish for lunch and dinner. He still breastfeeds alot (8 times) and drinks a small amount of water.

I just wonder if he will ever be able to pass a stool by himself or if he will become reliant on us assisting him. Anyone else have this problem? Thanks

 

[odm_post]

Yeah.... usually babies poo will get harder when they start taking solid.

What kind of fruit are you giving your baby? Apple and banana are known to harden the poo. Try kiwi or GREEN pear. No grapes at this age, it's too strong thus can cause loose bowel movement.

Rice cereal and potates can cause poo to harden too. Have you ever thought about giving your baby pasta?
In City Super, you can find small pasta (in forms of rice grain, small rings, etc). Instead of tomato-based sauce, at this age, cook the pasta with vegetable broth.

It's very easy to make your own vegetable broth: find some green leaves veggies (spinach, zucchini, broccoli), a few slices of carrot/potato (go easy on this as they make the poo hard as well), then boil them with slowly for 2 hours.
I don't make a lot, just enough for 2 days, so it's always fresh.
You can crush the veggies with spoon or blend them with a hand-blender before cooking pasta in it.

Hope this helps

 

[bbc mom]

Thanks for the advice. Wow, I always knew about bananas but I never thought apple could harden poo, and he's been having apple puree quite regularly! I also give him papaya.

He is not a big fan of fruit but I'll try some kiwi mixed in with his porridge. The veggie broth and pasta sounds good too. Thanks again.