constipation..or is this normal?

[MrsBone]

Baby just turned 8 months old and has been eating solids for 2 months now. She is a very good eater, hardly eats anything processed, I make all her food, and the only time she eats not so healthy is when we go out to eat and I have forgotten to bring her her baby food. Here's a typical day:

B- eggs and fruit puree

L- chicken, liver or beef, and a green and yellow veg, or beans

D- Same, or she might eat dinner with us, rice, beans, meat, veg and potato, squash

We are gluten free and mostly grain free, and she can't have dairy, so she breastfeeds 5x day and I try and give her some water too. As far as I can see this diet is very condusive for normal bowel movements, but her stools are hard and infrequent. Sometimes she has a blowout, but mostly it's little pieces of stool once a day, or so, and never anything soft. SHe's also had a hard time getting to sleep at night, and she's teething, with 2 teeth about to come through, so I chalked the sleeplessness up to that. But when she falls asleep finally she sleeps a good 11-12 hours, without pain med or gas relief drops so obviously nothing is bothering her enough to wake her at night. Any thoughts? She was exclusively breastfed and has never had an ounce of formula. Do these sound like normal bowel movements?

[mamazee]

The "what" sounds good to me, but it sounds like a lot of solid food for a baby who has just turned 8 months. How much in volume is she eating in each meal? Breastmilk is a stool loosener, so more breastmilk would solve the problem. When my kids were starting on solids, I would nurse them and then feed solids after nursing, so they got the breastmilk first and the solids after. I think that would help her stools soften, and she does sound a bit constipated to me. Hopefully other moms will share their experiences too.

Anyway, it sounds like you're feeding her great stuff, I just wonder if it's a lot of solid food for an 8-month-old tummy. :)

[Megan73]

Does she still seem to be getting plenty of milk? Five times a day doesn't seem like a lot of times for an eight-month-old to be breastfeeding a day.
Does she have the pincer grip yet?
I might consider offering the breast more often and letting her self feed so she's not overloading on solids at the expense of breastmilk.

[MrsBone]

She's pretty much mastered the pincer grasp. I do sometimes sit down and nurse her if she's cranky and I don't know why. She just doesn't like to stay at the breast longer than needed. So the opposite of my son! Shes not overly dependent on the paci either. Like I said I do give her water to see if that will loosen things up a bit. Hasn't seemed to help yet. I spoon feed her about half the time and she picks up food the rest of the time. She doesn't even have a tooth yet so I run out of ideas for safe foods to give her. She loves food so much, it's hard for me to think I should try and nurse her more when she usually doesn't want to. I'll try it though.

[greenmulberry]

I would try and offer her even more water with her food, that seems to be the key with our DD and constipation. If she gets plenty of water, she has no trouble in the poop department.

Although, I will say my DD even at 11 months, will nurse more than 5 times a day. It may be that your baby is getting more out of each nursing session though. I think my DD is a snacker.

Pears are very good for keeping things moving.

[justrose13]

I second the suggestion for pears... I've heard to try feeding the p's: pears, plums, peas, peaches, prunes...

also, re no teeth and running out of ideas... those little gums are hard and strong! DS can chew up most things we give him, no problems! I mean, not raw carrots or anything but you get the idea.

[mamalovehm]

I often find increasing the water as well as high water content fruits helps. I will occasionally add a bit of ground flax seed (just a sprinkle) to a meal a day and that helps get things moving as they are transitioning to solids.

[HawaiianBlesing]

It could be all that protein.  Proteins are hard to digest even for adults.  Maybe (an not everyone is into this) pre chewing the meats for her.  Mastication is such a huge part of digestion and if she's not getting them broken down in her mouth first, that's a lot of work for the tummy and intestines to do.

I would also offer breast before food and let her self regulate the amount of solids she gets.  Primary nutrition comes from breast milk prior to their 1st birthday.  Although it sounds like you have a pretty good eater on your hands.

More fruit as well with the exception of bananas because they are binding.

[MrsBone]

I actually do prechew the meat for her, but, In the past 2 weeks her bowel movements have improved tremendously. I ended up giving her an enema to get things started and it cleaned her out and she slept for a good 2 hours. It seemed to just get better and better after that. Now she's having loose stool because of teething, so I guess it was just a phase. She's fine now :)