Constipation Misery in 7 Month Old

[JuniperMama]

My DD is 7 months old and has been eating solids for about a month. I stupidly started with rice cereal and carrots and got one constipated baby. Oops. I switched quickly to oatmeal with either pears or peaches or sweet potatoes or peas and always prunes with every meal. Still I have this terribly constipated baby. She is now to the point where she's really straining to poop and clearly it is uncomfortable. We stopped any cereal at all a couple days ago and now are feeding her just prunes and pears or peaches. She poops but they're hard little clay-like things (sorry if TMI). We tried a glycerin suppository a couple times but mostly they end up coming right back out with no poop.

Got any ideas on what I can do? She's getting plenty of breastmilk, no cereal, only pears/prunes at this point. I'm stumped!!

[maptome]

water with solids?

[JuniperMama]

Oh I forgot to mention, I've tried giving water and giving diluted juice. She's not interested in either.

[leighann79]

I, personally, would stop all solids for now. Give her digestive system a chance to recover. She can't be constipated on breast milk alone.

[bandgeek]

Originally Posted by leighann79

I, personally, would stop all solids for now. Give her digestive system a chance to recover.

I'd stop all solids for now too.

[SeekingJoy]

Me, too. And when you start back, what about exploring baby-led feeding?

[JuniperMama]

I'm curious, what do you mean by 'baby-led'?

Right now, she's only eating as much as she wants. She loves to eat food. We only started it because she was eagerly trying to get our food and putting things in her mouth, etc.

[blumooned]

Baby-led means that the baby feeds him/herself. You don't spoon-feed purees; instead, you offer cut-up pieces of food (on the highchair tray or table) and let baby do it him/herself. The suggested BLW (baby led weaning) size is similar to a steak fry. Our experience led to offering bite-size pieces instead. DS had a hard time with fry size at that age, so I diced everything & let him go to town. It makes a mess, and not everything gets in the mouth - but my DS loves eating this way.

You could offer pear & peach very easily this way - just cut them up instead of pureeing. For the prune, just soften it and cut into little pieces.

My DS also strained quite a bit to poo shortly after starting solids. We offered prunes, which usually did the trick. Water helped too - it just takes time for them to get used to the cup.
Hope this helps a bit!

[j_p_i]

I was going to say prunes too. My DD LOVES them, so it was a good option. Also give water with each feeding.