Constantly constipated 1 y/o...wwyd?

[ACsMom]

It's obviously the food, because this started for her at age 6-7 months, as soon as we introduced food other than breastmilk.  We started with pureed carrots (I wasn't thinking) and she became stopped up immediately, so away went the carrots and I tried pears, prunes, stuff like that next.  She LOVED eating food from the get-go, but it seemed like anything I gave her caused constipation, even prunes (!)  Over the months she's gotten better, and as long as she's getting nothing but plain fruits and veggies, either fresh cut up or pureed, she does reasonably well.  Firm poop, but she can pass it herself and has a good poop every day.  If she gets even a smidge of any grain, everything locks up and she can't pass her stool unless I help her, either with warm bath, leg bicycling for a long time, tummy rubs, etc. or as a last resort liquid glycerin.  Giving her extra water to drink throughout the day hasn't really seemed to help much.  And she still nurses quite a bit, and that doesn't offset the constipating effect of the grains, either.  Should I be thinking food intolerance?  Or is this just a tiny body having trouble adjusting to food, and the grains soak up too much water in her little system?  Our whole family has food intolerances - my husband has trouble with gluten and dairy, my older daughter and I are lactose intolerant.  So in other words it wouldn't be surprising if she had a gluten intolerance.  It's just that normally with food intolerances it's diarrhea, not constipation.  Her pediatrician has no idea. 

I have no problem keeping her off gluten, but it doesn't help us solve the mystery, because the constipation clearing up without the gluten in her diet doesn't tell us whether it's a gluten intolerance or just not enough water in her intestines.

Any thoughts?  Anyone else having this issue or dealt with it in the past?  Thanks....:)

[mum5]

nak

this happened to ds, who is now 11 months old.

His first food was avo's, but he did not seem to tolerate nor like them that much.

They also did make him constipated, at 6 months old. We then kind of let the food alone for a while, as even a tiny taste would seem to make him constipated and unable to go for about a week.

When he was a little older put him on a diet of totally fruit and veg, a lot of pears, no carbs, and some goats milk yoghurt, as the regular plain yoghurt was making him spit up for some reason ( he never spits up, and eats cheese )

That did seem to clear up the problem, but we have no food intolerances / allergies at all.

i would really try to stay away from all the triggers for both you and the rest of your fam. and see if that helps at all. I would say that you have to do it for a good couple of weeks to see much change, but I am only going by what i have read here on the MDC boards, I am sure more knowledgable mothers will give you their take on it. Hope that you find a solution.