Solids and constipation

[veronica]

Hi - I'm wondering if anyone can help me.

My bub started solids at about 5 months (1 month ago) and has been going well eating about 2 tbs of rice cereal at breakfast and about 2 tbs of veges for tea (potato, swt potato and pumpkin so far, trying zucchini next). For the last week I've introduced lunch which is about 1 tbs of pureed fruit (apple and pear tried so far). She has been going really well with her poos changing but no real problems until yesterday :confused: and today where she appears to be straining quite often, screwing up her face, etc. It looks as though she is constipated. :eek: Late yesterday she finally passed what looked quite like an adult poo. She has still been straining today.

Am I feeding her ytoo much starchy food? Should I be feeding her more fruit? Should I be changing to a multigrain cereal? At the moment it is the 4mth + rice cereal. Other than the solids she is breast fed at about 5 - 6 feeds a day.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank-you! :)

[willsmum]

As long as her poo isn't hard little pellets she is OK. It could just be her system getting used to coping with solids.

You could up the fruit intake if you are worried. I make batches of quite runny mixed stewed fruit and freeze them, then thicken them with rice cereal for serving so she gets the iron she needs. If she really is constipated, avoid banana cos that binds them up. And if things are really bad you could try a teaspoon of prune juice once a day to get things moving.


The Child & Youth Health (in SA) website is excellent for all sorts of issues:

www.cyh.com

Good luck!

[KAROD]

Hi Willsmum,

I have a 7 month old son and every baby's system is different but I believe it is the babies system getting used to solids. Try mixing a few other vegies together such as zucchini being a water based vegie, this will help with passing stools too as potato is a very starchy veg. Mixing it with pumpkin and zucchini will help. You can try to add a little stewed fruit blended to a thin consistency to your baby's diet as this will help with bub's bowels too. While my Health nurse says no to fruit at this stage, a little doesn't hurt them and I believe makes them more eager to try different things instead of having only a preference for a couple of things.
Good luck and don't worry.

Mum to Robert 13yrs and Junior 7mths.

[Lucybelle]

Maybe you could drop the potato for a while. It is pretty heavy in the tum. More than likely it is just her bowel getting used to more substance. Mitchell does the same at 8 mnths. I keep to the more watery vegies and he drinks a little bit of water from a cup or spoon, it's got to help a little.

Good Luck.

[veronica]

:) Thank you for your replies, ideas and suggestions! I'm going to up the fruit a little and also introduce more watery vegies (zucchini, etc). Do you know how to prepare meat for bubs who can only eat pureed food. My CHN said I should start thinking about introducing meat but I'm not sure about how to prepare it. I have a 'stab' mixer (can't think of its proper name :o ) and a blender but don't have a food processor. She does not like lumps yet, I can make the puree thicker but not lumpy.

Thanks again!

[willsmum]

A recipe I use is to take a chicken breast, well-trimmed of all fat/sinew, and poach in half milk half water until very tender. Cow's milk is Ok for cooking.

Then you puree the chicken using the cooking fluid to keep it nice and moist, and simply mix it with whatever veggies you want. That way they get pureed meat which is easy to swallow, but you can mash the veggies to whatever state of lumpiness they can cope with.

[Taylor & Lachlans Mummy]

Try giving bub wartered down orange juice this will help, there is also Brauers Colic Relief from the chemist, it is all natural (or so I was told) all you do is give them 1 - 2ml of it when they are really straining & it relaxes their tummy muscles enough for them to realease whatever, wind & the rest. I found it worfs wonders, it generally worked with in 1hr. I hope al goes well

[veronica]

:) Thanks for all your suggestions - much appreciated!

Alyse is slowly getting better. I used Brauers Stomach Calm (thanks Taylor and Lachlans mummy) and I've also 'destarched' her diet alot (thanks willsmum, Karod and Lucybelle).

I'm also going to look at starting the meat - thanks for the recipe willsmum!