My poor little 9 month old ds has been battling with constipation ever since we started solids (at about 6 months). Every once in awhile he will have a few days of normal bm's but more often then not, he's all bunged up.
He's primarily bf with small amounts of: prunes, pears, peas, blueberries, or cherries daily. He gets about 30ml/day of pear or apricot juice. We also give him little bits of baby cookie (wheat based). On an average day, he will have about 4 tablespoons of solid food. We have been sprinkling bran on everything he eats. We do not feed him apples, bananas, rice cereal, carrots, or squash because these may be constipating for some babies. Although his iron levels have been tested and are borderline, I haven't been supplementing his diet at all (iron drops can be constipating).
Even with this "poop friendly" diet, he has little, dry, hard bm's every 4 days or so most of the time. He strains and sometimes cries while passing stool. When he's really constipated he spits up copiously after nursing. He has lots of really wet diapers so I don't think dehydration is a problem. We have had to resort to using glycerin suppositories on occasion.
What else can we be doing? Should I go back to exclusively bf him until his tummy settles? I'm worried about his low iron levels (he was 4 weeks premature). He has 6 teeth and loves chewing on bits of solid food. Could his past painful experiences with passing bm's make him afraid to poop? I think he might be in a perpetuating cycle of: being afraid to poop - holding it in - painful constipated bm's...
Many thanks for any suggestions.
He's primarily bf with small amounts of: prunes, pears, peas, blueberries, or cherries daily. He gets about 30ml/day of pear or apricot juice. We also give him little bits of baby cookie (wheat based). On an average day, he will have about 4 tablespoons of solid food. We have been sprinkling bran on everything he eats. We do not feed him apples, bananas, rice cereal, carrots, or squash because these may be constipating for some babies. Although his iron levels have been tested and are borderline, I haven't been supplementing his diet at all (iron drops can be constipating).
Even with this "poop friendly" diet, he has little, dry, hard bm's every 4 days or so most of the time. He strains and sometimes cries while passing stool. When he's really constipated he spits up copiously after nursing. He has lots of really wet diapers so I don't think dehydration is a problem. We have had to resort to using glycerin suppositories on occasion.
What else can we be doing? Should I go back to exclusively bf him until his tummy settles? I'm worried about his low iron levels (he was 4 weeks premature). He has 6 teeth and loves chewing on bits of solid food. Could his past painful experiences with passing bm's make him afraid to poop? I think he might be in a perpetuating cycle of: being afraid to poop - holding it in - painful constipated bm's...
Many thanks for any suggestions.
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