We've got a problem. Well, I think so.

Lena is having an awful time with pooping.

When she was first born she pooped all the time, but by 5 months old she was pooping once a week. I decided to let her have baby cereal at 5 months since she was begging for food, and grabbing food from other people. She got cereal with breastmilk, about twice a week. She continued to poop once a week, but I didn't think much about it because she was eating very little cereal.

So at 6 months I started her on solids--once a day. I added fruits, veggies, and meat, one at a time, and once a day. I figured she would start pooping at least once a day or every other day, but she's not doing that. She's still not pooping much, so I bicycled her legs, and it made her poop a few times. Now she doesn't want me to bicycle her legs at all, and she fights me a stiffens up so I can't do it. Yesterday, she pooped three micro poops that were a heavy pasty texture. I know based on the color of poop that it was food from 2 days earlier. Then, today she didn't poop at all.

Do you think I'm expecting her to go too often? I feel like she's constipated (This also happened to Mark when he started eating solids), and she should poop more often now that she's getting solids. For those of you who had breastfed babies that rarely pooped while being breastfed, did they also rarely poop when getting solids? Did they have more trouble transitioning to solids than your kids who pooped more often?

(Yes, I am obsessing about poop these days. :laughing: )

 

hmm...seems like I was constantly changing dirty diapers here! LOL I would look at the total amount of fluids she is getting a day. Has her nursing decreased with the start of solids? Is she drinking any water or diluted fruit juice? I would probably nurse her more, and nurse her before each feeding of solids. What about feeding only things like apples, pears for a day or two and see if that helps?

 

I was constantly changing dirty diapers as well. I found that Nathaniel got/gets constipated extremely easy. I usually have to give him prunes 1-2 times a week. He was weaned about 2 months ago, and I STILL give him prunes to help him.

 

Does she seem really uncomfortable? If she's a mysterious Mona Lisa of no poop and seems content, it's probably OK, but if she's not happy, then there may be a problem. How much are you nursing? Are you nursing before solids?

Ditto Sheryl - more nursing is always a good idea, & I would also try to go to the fruits. Apples, pears, prunes, peaches... Try doing only fruits and veggies, no meat or cereal, for a couple days and see if that loosens things up. You could also try just a couple spoonfuls of (maybe diluted) prune juice. Letting her soak in a warm bath can also help get things moving.

 

I think she's probably dropped about one nursing session, but she was eating 3-4 times and night, and now she's down to 2-3 times a night I haven't given her any water or juice or anything. Is she too young for that?

I did try the all stool loosener foods diet. I've given her prunes, peaches, pears, peas, sweet potatoes, and squash. I haven't given her bananas or rice at all.

You know what's amazing I gave her prunes yesterday afternoon, and she still hasn't pooped 24 hours later.

 

She does seem uncomfortable, not terribly uncomfortable, but I think when I bicycle her legs, it bothers her. She also is gassy every time she eats. She farts up a storm while nursing. Right now she nurses about 8-9 times a day, and I usually let her nurse after she eats. I guess maybe I should try before she eats. How long before? Like 30 minutes?

 

Do you have a walker? ( I know, "they" say not to use them anymore...) all three of my girls loved their walkers and I swear, the second they were upright - let's just say it loosened things up. :ibiggrin:

I didn't give any liquids other liquids at her age, but I think some do. I would stick with BM only, personally, as long as possible. Rick's stepmom & grandma wanted to give Rachel chamomile tea at Lena's age.:lol:

 

I would do it right before, with the idea of her being mostly full of milk. Solids are just for practice and "fun" at her age, IMO. And, then you're not feeding her all day long!!

 

LOL @ at standing. She has a jumper. Plus, she stands and cruises.

I didn't think they were suppose to get water until like 8 months old, but I never really thought about it that much. I feel like she has lots of wet diapers, just no poop.

But am I right in assuming that she should be pooping more than before??? I know Mark got some formula and he pooped like once every 2-3 days before solids, and he had the same problems as Lena is having after he had solids. Eli, on the other hand, pooped like once a day before solids, and like 2 a day after solids.

 

I can't remember for sure, but it seems like there wasn't that much of a difference for my girls, but I started them very slowly on solids. I would just make sure she is getting most of her nutrition from BM still at this point. Kids, geesh, it's always something!!:ibiggrin:

 

Yeah, Sheryl I'm having trouble with all three on my kids today.

I didn't give her solids today just breastmilk, and yesterday it was like 2/3 of a tub of prunes and breastmilk. Well, I let her have a couple little tastes of cranberry yesterday, but nothing much. She's still pooping carrot poop, and the last time she ate carrots was a good 5 days ago. I think 3 days ago it was green beans and turkey. Then 4 days ago it was peaches and peas.

 

I started mine with pear juice and water mixed together then cereal. I know it's a bit unconventional ardon: but mine pre solids pooped once a week. After solids they were on the constipated side, too; so I used the pear juice and cereal once a day. Be careful with the cereal as the iron fortifiers can constipate.


We still have constipation issues (usually when DH gives them too many bananas :gah: ) so if they haven't gone in a couple of days or their last poo looked like it hurt consistancy wise I give them some apple juice or Plum Smart juice. What sucks is if we do too much apple juice it irritates their butts. You just can't win when playing with digestive science

 

It's interesting because I didn't give the boys baby food meat. I didn't like the smell of it, and they got some formula that had iron in it, but when I started getting WIC last month they gave Lena 31 jars of baby food meat. In fact, they gave her 3 boxes of cereal, 64 jars of baby fruits and veggies, and 31 jars of baby food meat for a month. I was like, what 6 month old eats that much baby food? Anyways, she got the meat because it has iron and she's exclusively breastfed. If you look in all of the literature they hand out it says, the meat is for exclusively breastfed babies. Even though they gave us that much food, she usually eats no more than one stage 2 jar a day. It takes two days to finish the meat, and then she eats like 1/2-2/3 of a jar of fruits or veggies, which I sometimes mix with cereal.

 

My DD always pooped a lot less than DS. Even being exclusively BF, she needed the occasional prune juice to get her moving. Once on solids, she didn't really change much because she didn't eat a ton of puree (she didn't really like them) but she didn't get better. I would have to make sure she got pears or prunes a couple times a week. She finally got better once she started eating finger foods and got more fiber in her diet.

6 months is the cut off for water so it would be fine to give her some, but it doesn't sound like she is lacking for fluids. A small amount of juice (2-3 oz) to help her go is completely safe and won't interfere with nutrition from milk.

 

We change dirty diapers like crazy here. They poop like 2-3x/day. My son eats a lot of solid: cereal, veggies, turkey, beef,..he still poops at least 1x/day.oh if someday he doesn't drink enough 20oz, then he doesn't poop.
Do you give her yogurt? I noticed my son poops easier and more often after I introducing yogurt.
We do give them water during the day (maybe about 1-2oz). They love it.

 

I didn't BF but I did notice that oatmeal cereal made my kids go like mad!!! Rice didn't constipate them (nothing constipates my kids!) but the oatmeal I had to limit to every other day or they were crapping machines!

 

I was going to suggest the whole-milk yogurt as well. The Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron swears by the yogurt. She also suggests whole grains ground up for cereals instead of rice cereal etc. she made the comment that her kids never had constipation issues and she attributed it to the yogurt and other healthy foods...

anyway, my two never had constipation issues when I had the on the yogurt. though I know each person's digestive system is different, and actually ours have some type of milk intolerance. And as for bananas, those give our kids the runs too... so just try and see what works for your baby... its different for each one!

 

So we had a poop yesterday morning, a real one, not little pasty spot. Then she pooped again today, so that's two days in a row.

We decided to only breastfeed her two days ago, and then yesterday I let her have solids again. I also tried nursing before a feeding, although it was like 25 minutes before the feeding. I gave her peas mixed with a little barley and water. I was surprised that she didn't lower her solids intake, she still ate about 4 ounces of solids.

I think I'm just gonna stop the meat for now, and let her get iron from cereal. Like Amy, I had good luck with oatmeal for the boys, so I'm sticking with oatmeal and barley cereal, no rice.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Rachel, I got WIC for the boys... Imagine double the amount of meat. :gah: We still have probably 100 jars we need to donate someplace- that potted meat is disgusting. :bad: Towards the end I stopped getting it with the WIC checks. I felt bad but we weren't using that much and I couldn't store anymore. ardon:

 

My DD goes once or twice per day. The only thing that plugged her up was the rice cereal. And bananas in excess. She started yogurt at 7 months.

 

You know Lena is still having this problem. Unless I give her prunes like every other day or just give solids every other day, she's all bound up.

I remember this going on for a couple months with Mark, but I could always make that boy poop when I bicycled his legs. Lena is much tougher.

I was wondering about the barely cereal, but it is supposed to be better than rice.

You know I tried this one day, and I think I'm going to do it again. That may have helped her a little.

Yeah, I'm gonna be headed in that direction. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a shelter or something if I need to donate it.

 

Rice can definitely bind things up! I'd switch to oatmeal.. barley was neutral for us. We had good luck with blueberries mixed with oatmeal, or prunes and oatmeal. The latter was the p-bomb.

 

Oh, yeah. I forgot about blue berries. I think there's a pear, blueberry, oatmeal one. I can't get that with WIC, but I'm going to get it on my own.

 

Can she handle any textures yet? If so, it's much cheaper to just buy a big bag of quick oats and put your own fruit in it. Then you can experiment around with the fruits that work.

 

No, she's occasionally gagging on some of the thick purees. Have you tried to puree oatmeal? Does it work? I've pureed blueberries (after I cooked them), and that worked well. Maybe I can puree some oatmeal. For some reason all three of my kids have relatively strong gag reflexes; that's got to be part of the reason I had trouble with the boys starting solids last time.

 

I make my own oatmeal flour. I put a cup to a cup and a half of whole oats in the blender, dry and blend it, anything more than a cup and a half and it won't come out uniformily ground. I keep in in a jar, and I use it for the baby, or for atole (a hot drink) for the whole family.
So for the baby, I just add boiling water and milk to the ground oatflour, stir and cool. Since Leena is having gag issue, I'd make it really watery.

 

Just wanted to tell you that DD is my constipated one and always has been. Yogurt works pretty well for awhile. Flax seed is a guarantee. You can mix it in with pretty much anything. I only use it when I'm desperate because it really cleans her out.