Okay so I am getting close to the end of my rope with my babies b.m's. When she was born (full term) she pooped normal and that lasted for the first 3-4 months. Well now for the past 5ish months she has become VERY irregular. She started going 5-6 days without pooping having hard stinky gas then pooping a small rock hard little turd. Then they had me give her a suppository and that would make her go but never seemed like the amount that it should be, (she didnt poop for 5 days so i was expecting a blow out and got what i considered a normal diaper). Now I have been giving her prune juice in her rice cereal EVERY morning and that started making her go every day but now she is starting to get irregular again! I dont feel like thats normal for her to require that much prunce juice to poop! She is breast feed and I was worried that maybe she wasnt getting enough but she is right where she should be on the charts and has stayed growing at a steady pace. I have taken her in for her well checks and also a few extra times for this problem and they tell me its normal. Is it??? I come from a large family my sisters have a lot of children and I have been around them all since birth and have never heard of this problem. She sees a physicians assistant could she just be missing something? Has anyone experienced this problem? I am taking her in for a second opinion with a full pediatrican . I was also wondering if it could be something that I am eating? What do you all think mamas???
My first son had this same thing happen. It was so frustrating! Ultimately, I gave him 2 tablespoons of corn syrup in a bottle of water three times per day and it corrected the problem. The problem seemed to happen when he started solids. I also ended up cutting out anything that could stop him up, like bananas, rice, pasta, etc. and amped up on loosening foods like, veggies and other fruits outside of bananas.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Rice cereal is your culprit! It is a very efficient stool binder! Give her oatmeal instead of you must give her a solid...
I would try adding organic yogurt to her diet (like Stoneyfield Organic or the yo-yo baby yogurts), it's full of probiotics and would complement her breastmilk diet fantastically. Is she nursing often? Maybe she's not getting enough of the breastmilk. Try to nurse her often and in a quiet low light area to minimalize distractions. Now is a prime time for distractions gallore - so nursing often and in a quiet area will be beneficial... especially night nursings!
Well a breastfed baby on going poop once every 5-6 days is actually perfectly normal. What is not normal is that baby having hard poops. That is constipation and since breast milk has natural laxative properties there is something causing this constipation. As others have said I would STOP the rice cereal. It doesn't have any real nutritional value any ways. Are you feeding any other solids? If not, and you remove the rice cereal and she continues to get the constipation then you can begin looking for something in your diet causing the constipation. I would say that you probably shouldn't start introducing NEW food until you figure out what is causing the constipation.
I haven't even read the whole thing but wanted to stop to say . . .
the end of ___your___ rope?
Yikes! Do you think she's doing this to make you crazy?
Poor thing.
It's __her__ rope you need to worry about.
imo.
===========================
It could be something you're eating.
Do you give her rice cereal EVERY morning?
Why?
Stop.
Give her something else.
Give her vegetables and fruits.
Give her a little protein.
If you haven't already, ask your sisters what their babies eat/ate.
I'm sure they weren't eating rice cereal every morning.
Water, she needs water to get those bowls moving. I give my breastfed baby about 3 oz of water a day to help her go. She may be getting enough nutrients but not necesarily enough water, especially if you are in colder climates where she is drying out faster. Think of in in terms of an enema (enema is water being put in to help the poo come out) she is just in need of more water, you could give that in place of the juice. or slip that juice up 50/50 with water
Its the rice cereal. Try giving her a fruit or something instead sometimes.
come to think of it my dd had bm's like that. She is 6 years old now and is fine with that.
I think it was like a phase. I did try prune juice as well as adding more water to the juice. I think more water did the trick. I really can't remember to much from those days. Once you start adding more to her diet it will --work itself out.
I agree with Thea that the rice is probably the culprit. Rice has basically no nutrition and is simply a filler. And no, you aren't giving her too much prune juice. Unless you see her bowels too watery and too often (not likely) then the prune juice is fine. It is full of nutrients, fiber and antioxidants.
Are you still taking your prenatal vitamin? If your milk is not as good as it was, then she could be having some issues. She's also older and requires more food. Avocado and Sweet Potato are almost perfect foods and the texture is well liked among little ones. Also make sure she is getting water. Water is a wonderful cleanser and if she is eating food then she is not getting enough liquid from your breast milk.
Hope this helps....
M.
I found that mixing ground flax seed into yogurt helped (and continues to help my now 4 yr old) daughter stay regular. When we run out, or forget, she becomes irregular. My solution: yogurt, mixed with applesauce, wheatgerm, and a heaping teaspoon of flax seed. It's part of her daily diet. Also, lots of baby veggies. And even though she's still breastfeeding, you might try adding water (if you haven't).
HI--
This happened to me with my oldest. It turned out he had food allergies. What happens is food allergies put stress on the liver and gall bladder so they don't function correctly. They don't produce enough bile, which is what lubricates the digestive tract, and therefore baby gets constipated. I had to take quite a few things out of my diet (I breast fed as well). Other signs of allergy/sensitivity to foods include eczema, a "target" rash (redness just around the anus), dark and/or puffy circles under the eyes, a persistent cough or runny nose, swollen tonsils (with no signs of sickness), frequent ear infections....I'm forgetting something, but you get the idea.
Also, babies digestive tracts are unable to properly digest grains until around one year of age. The body must produce a particular enzyme to digest those starches, and that enzyme isn't produced until around one year. That is why cereal so often constipates babies. I would take her off the cereal and just do fruits and vegetables. Prunes, flax seeds, etc can help, but it's better to treat the problem versus the symptoms.
I'm a bit of an expert on this after both my boys have dealt with these issues--if you feel like I'm on the right track with your little one, feel free to contact me with more questions.
Good luck!
J.
