My 6 month old daughter whom is breastfed and also eating solids at night has been having some hard #2's and seeming to have trouble going #2. She is my third, and I don't remember what that means or what to do about it. She is on cereal (barley, rice, mixed, and oatmeal) and some fruits and veggies and I feed her this just at night because she seems to be satisfied just on breastmilk during the day, of course when she shows signs of wanting more I will start giving her more food during the day. I feel bad for her because it seems like she struggles. Any advice for me??
My daughter is 9 months and she is the same way. I am still breastfeeding along with giving her cereal, jars of food, and water. The one thing that works for me is to add a little bit of apple juice to her water, and try to increase the amount of liquids she is drinking daily. My pediatrician has also recommended giving her prune juice, but it stains everything. The prune juice helps a lot if you don't mind the stains.
I would skip the cereal. It is constipating and has no real nutritional value other than added iron. I think eliminating that will help. Good luck.
Prunes always gave my daughter bad diaper rash, but plain old natural applesauce works great. At 18 months, I still give her a bowl of applesauce and a cup of water whenever she seems to need some help...ahem...delivering a package...Good luck.
My son had a hard time going at first when we started solids too. He was also breastfed. Our pediatrician suggested giving him a small thing of prunes. But make sure that you are going to be home because it can cause loose stools. a 2.5 ounce jar was what we used and had to do this everyother day until he got used to having more of a solid bm.
A little about me: 25 yr old SAHM of a wild 7 month old boy and Daycare provider
All 3 of my kids went through that on the transition onto solid food. Try pushing prunes and pears...they help loosen things up. You can also use prune or pear juice in the cereal. You can also go to your pharmacy and get this little stick like things that you gentle put up their you know whats and it softens their stools and helps get them moving. I am sorry I don't remember the name of the product. I have some at home left from my son, but I'm at work & can't get to the bottle to read the name! But the pharmacist will know. They are completely safe and great for keeping her from getting too backed up. Be prepared though, in less than 30 minutes they generally go everywhere. We had to go through rounds like this for about the first month of solid food, then they seemed to line themselves out okay. Good luck.
Are you making sure you are getting enough fluids? I know it can be very easy for us moms to forget about our own needs when we have several little ones that need our attention. If you're not getting enough to drink that can dramatically effect the type of milk you're producing, and can be leading to her constipation. Try uping your intake of water as well as fiber for a few days and see if that helps. If your own hydration is not the issue, try cutting out all of the cereals for a day or two and then reintroduce them one at a time. I know my daughter had problems with the mixed cereal as well as with the barley. Once those were removed she seemed better. Also, try gving her the cereal at the begining of the day, that way she'll be getting enough breastmilk throughtout the day to help it pass through her system.
My first had same issues, my pediatrician told me to stop rice cereal it can be very binding. We used oatmeal or whatever did not have rice only plus the occasional jar of prunes and diluted prune juice.
I had a time once where my son went almost 2 weeks without a poop at around that same age. The DR said not to worry as much with breastfed babies. If she is not straining and going every couple of days then eventually as she drinks less milk and starts eating more food she'll go daily. You can also try prune baby food if you think she is constapated or the prune juice. If it is that bothersome I would call the Dr.'s office for their advice. The nurses will usually do a phone conversation and give suggestions without need for a visit.
Both of my little ones had the same issues and I had to mix prunes in any of the cereals.
Good luck
If you want to keep her on cereal but relieve the pain for her and help her go you could try milicon baby gas drops. Anytime my daughter was backed up i used just a small amount and gave her an ounce or 2 of water and about an hour later she felt much better. Hope this helps. Good luck
the cereal is probably what is doing it. I would try giving her other foods instead. If you absolutely feel you must give cereal, mix a tiny bit of prune juice or apple juice into it. That should help. Just don't use too much or you'll have a blowout on your hands.
