Breastfed baby constipated?

[brinalicious]

I have an almost-8-month-old who is very easily constipated. She eats some solid foods--pears, apples, peas, prunes--which she loves to eat. I have stopped giving her bananas, cereals, or sweet potatoes, but she is still not having loose stools all the time. She really has to strain to go poop, and then the poop is quite firm. I tried giving her fruit juice (about 2 ounces a day), which seems to help a bit, but if I don't give it to her she's immediately constipated again. Please help. What should I do? Stop giving her any solids? Give different solids? Could it be something in my diet (she is breastfed, no formula)? Also, if this should be posted in a different area, please let me know. Thank you.

[slimkins]

My baby was having the same exact problem at the same exact age. I think we have figured out what works for him and he has been having regular BMs every day or so and they have been softer. I, too, stopped all binding foods and was giving some watered down juice. That helped some but not all the time. What has worked for us (and I'm not sure if it is one of them or both of them together) is daily prunes and baby probiotics given twice a day.
Last week I did start to give him some squash again, and he went about 3 days without a poop and cried when he did go (though it wasn't rock hard that time). This makes me think he still needs to stick to the non-binding foods as well.
HTHs

[Bokonon]

Are the stools hard, or just more firm than pre-solids? That can be pretty normal. My baby goes 3-4 days between bowel movements, and they are more formed than before we started solids.

Not having loose stools is 100% normal for a baby who has started solids.

[Abraisme]

Originally Posted by Bokonon

Are the stools hard, or just more firm than pre-solids? That can be pretty normal. My baby goes 3-4 days between bowel movements, and they are more formed than before we started solids.

Not having loose stools is 100% normal for a baby who has started solids.

My 9mo also has decently formed poo since she started eating solids. It looks more like adult poo, it's soft, but certainly not runny like is used to be.

[brinalicious]

Originally Posted by Bokonon

Are the stools hard, or just more firm than pre-solids? That can be pretty normal. My baby goes 3-4 days between bowel movements, and they are more formed than before we started solids.

Not having loose stools is 100% normal for a baby who has started solids.

When she isn't uncomfortable her BM is soft but formed. However, several times it is downright hard. Is it still OK for them to go 2-3 days without a BM though?

[wildnewmamma]

we are having this same issue with my almost 12 month old. She has been mostly EBF until recently, then she started having the issue. Didn't know about the binding foods until doing some research when she started having the issue, and had been curious about when she could start fruit juices.

[texmati]

we have the same problem and I just have two words:


Prune Power!