How many bowel movements does a 7 month old typically have? My breast fed baby has been on solids for a month: rice cereal w/ breast milk, some organic baby food,& some home made mashed up fruit or veggies. She really enjoys the food. She is still breast fed about 4-5x a day and 2-4x a night. Her bowel movements have drastically dropped from 2 a day to one or two every 2 days. Is this normal?
I'm sorry I'm responding so late, but THANK YOU to everyone with all the sound advice. It's amazing how I got every kind of advice from "perfectly normal" to "not normal at all." So I took it all and found a happy medium. I slowed down my daughter's intake of rice cereal to once every couple of days. I introduced the oatmeal, which was fine, but her bowel movements did not become more frequent. I only give her those cereals every couple of days now and give her vege/fruit everyday. She still breast feeds more than anything else, 4+x a day 2 a night. Her bowel movements are approx.every other day. I had her on breastmilk exclusively one week and saw no change in frequency of movements, so I brought the baby food back in. She does seem fine, and not straining anymore. I know at least one movement. preferably 2 for adults is great, but that's just not happening here, even on breast milk exclusively. I think she's doing ok.
I am a mother of 5 breastfed shildren and having been through this myself, I can say this is completely normal. My youngest son, also 7 months, went from 2-3 a day to one every other day. What you want to watch for is if the stool becomes difficult to pass or is hard, like little peebles, this could be a sign she is constipated.
Call your pediatrician if you're worried about anything concerning your child. That's what they get paid the big bucks for. You can call even if you think it's a small thing or silly.
Anyhow, it is normal for babies to slow down on the poop trail as they get older. Their gut is maturing, stomaches can hold more, and their bodies absorb more of what they are eating.
I have an almost nine month old girl who can poop 2-3 times on one day and go for the next 2 days without going at all. She decided that she only wanted to nurse yesterday and ate like a pig (solids) today. My son used to not go for 2-3 days and was exclusively breast fed for the 1st year. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they are just like we are, hungry one day, not the next, poopy one day, not the next.
Trust yourself and listen to the little person. She knows what her body needs and when she needs it.
You never need to worry. You can just call your pediatrician and put your mind to rest. I used to call my son's for every little thing when I was a first time mom. He told me to do it and told me to never apologize when I did.
Peace.
Its only been a month of new foods, so make sure you keep an eye on it and like others said that she isn't straining.
Check out www.babycenter.com for sample feeding guides to make sure she's not getting what she needs. If you get really concerned ask her doctor.
It took my son 2 months for his bowel movements to regulate again...it just takes time for the belly to adjust.
Good luck!!!
My son is going to be 7 months in about a week and he has been on solids since he was 4 months old (only rice cereal until 6 months) and had complications with his bowels since he was 5 1/2 months. He is also strictly breast fed, never used formula. When I went to his 6 month check up I had talked to his pediatrician about it and she said it was normal. That babies tend to have changes in their bowels when adjusting to new foods. She told me to stop with the rice cereal and try oatmeal cereal instead, which seems to be much easier for him to pass. Also, she had said that the green veggies were more loosening than the others so maybe try some green veggies to help things along. He has started to regulate a bit, with one bowel a day, still massive, but it seems to be getting better for him. He was straining at the beginning and now he isn't making the strain sound anymore and things are starting to get easier for him to pass.
Obviously, making your own pureed veggies and using organic will be better for him anyways, so that would be a good route to go as well.
But don't worry too much, things should get better for her as her tummy gets used to the different foods.
Oh and the other thing his pediatrician said was to try one veggie at a time for 4-5 days, then switch to another veggie until he has tried 4 or 5 veggies, then go to fruits and do the same system. This will get your baby used to each veggie & fruit separately, you can see how their body reacts to each item and then once they have tried 4-5 veggies and 4-5 fruits you can begin to mix things up a bit. It sounded like a good system to us, so that's what we have been doing and I think it works pretty well.
The other thing was if she is struggling to try a little apple juice or prune juice. I gave my son prune juice (tablespoon) with 2 tablespoons water, but he wasn't a fan of the prune juice so it was hard to get him to drink it. Then we tried apple juice and he seemed to be more tolerant of it. I gave it to him in his sippy cup and let him try to sip it himself (I helped a little). And when he wouldn't quite get it that way since he isn't too fond of the bottle, I used a syringe and squeezed some into the side of his mouth to ensure that he got some.
Hope this helps...good luck...don't worry, I checked with my son's pediatrician and she didn't seem to think anything was odd with the way things were going.
Hi there. When my daughter went on cereal and first veg/fruit her bowel movements became much less frequent. At one point she hadn't had a BM for a few days, so I called the dr. office. The nurse told me it was normal but if she seemed uncomfortable I could to try these things:
- try oatmeal instead of rice cereal (since rice is part of the BRAT diet generally used for diarrhea)
- massage her tummy and bicycle her legs periodically throughout the day
- give her a very small bit of water (no more than 1-2 ounces)
We did those things to help get her un-constipated, and then she kind of settled into a regular BM every 2 days and now has one each day. Hope that helps, but mostly it sounds like all is normal.
It's perfectly normal :) It just means that her body is absorbing more of the food and therefor has less 'waste' My son only went once a day and he's just fine. Be happy that you don't have as many stinky diapers now! lol
Sounds normal.
Lynne E
This is indeed normal. My baby is breastfed with the occasional
cereal/and or food and has a bowel movement every 3 or 4 days.
I asked her pedi about it and she told me as long as it doesnt go more than a week and isnt a different consistancy than it normally is. Dont worry about it. It just means there isnt much waste being produced by the food in your babies system and she is getting the nutrients she needs. Good Luck!
Hi M., That is not normal. Your beautiful baby should still be having bowel movements throughout the day. We as a society are consitipated. We should be having bowel movemnets 3 times a day too. I would eliminate the rice cereal. It's processed and dehydrating. Dehydration is the main culprit for consitpation. try that - and make your own organic foods for baby such as mashed banana and avacado, lightly steamed carrots mashed with steamed sweet potato and add a little water to keep it fairly loose. Your breast milk is more important than table food. Don't buy over the counter baby food - it's cooked to destroy bacteria and so destroys the nutrition.
Food is funny on little tummies. This may be normal for your DD right now. Just keep an eye on it, make sure she doesn't appear to be straining or in pain (constipated) and you may want to ease off the rice cereal and bananas a bit as they tend to bind. As always, if you notice further problems, call your pediatrician. Good luck!
We had the same issues while feeding rice cereal. I've cut the cereal out (it's actually NOT easy to digest for babies and serves NO nutritional purpose whatsoever), and we're back to normal.
Mom of four here. To answer your question - NORMAL! Absolutely normal. Solid foods change the entire digestive process. It would be alarming if you started solids and her bowel movements did not change. All is as it should be.
To answer your daughters question regarding whether it is normal for her mom to be counting her bowel movements - yes, it is normal. You have a first time mom, and they tend to do stuff like that. It is just because she loves you so much and wants to be the best mom she can be. :0)
Just to echo the other mom. Yes, totally normal! Each baby has there own little systems. Keep an eye of if the poop seems extra firm or if she seems uncomfortable. New foods can be a little binding. No worries. One of my two little ones used to poop every 3 days (while being only breastfed). It caused me a lot of worry and a lot of calendaring. You are doing great. Keep it up.
A baby should be having at least one bowel movement a day. You can try baby food prunes, or a little prune juice diluted with water. If that doesn't work, I'd give up the rice and just use the fruit and vegetable foods. Later on (after 12 months) you could try barley cereal or oatmeal instead of rice, but I wouldn't do it before a year, because you don't want to create a gluten allergy by introducing it too early. (Gluten is present in wheat, rye, barley and oats, and in almost all prepared foods, so avoiding it later in life is a real pain. When my baby had lumpy hard stools, I gave her a little magnesium powder (a formula made for babies, bought at the health food store) and that softened them right up. B.
