argh constipated baby

All you wise souls...

My almost 12 month old boy is still breastfeeding well, around 4 times
a day and 3 or so times a night. He drinks about 200ml of water a day
with food, too. He's not ever been a big eater, but lately he's been a
really cr@ppy eater. A teaspoon or two of breakfast (porridge with
fruit puree mixed in, or a bit of EBM or cows milk if I have none out;
or some toast - usually less than 1/4 of a piece). Lunch might be
whatever I'm having or left over veges from the night before, and
dinner is usually what we're having again, which is usually
meat/chicken/fish and veges. I notice his food intake is much worse
when he hasn't pood for a few days, but when he goes it isn't usually
*that* solid, it's still a bit nice and squishy. He eats less than 1/4
of what the other babies eat in my mother's group.

Lately he's been eating a bit more cheese, but not even a full slice a
day, and not every day; and a bit more pasta. Are these foods
constipating? The last 3 poos have been more like adult solid poos,
and todays was small, smelly and hard.

I seem to remember a special anagram for the diet that you give to
babies/kids to stop diarrhoea (which includes cheese and banana?) -
but is there one to do the opposite? Should I just try prunes and stop
the cheese? Anything else that is constipating?

Thankyou

Jo
--
Woman, Wife, Mother, Midwife

he doesn't sound constipated to me, even a small amount of solid food starts
the transition to adult looking poo, it's a time thing, in terms of the
variation of bacteria in the gut, as well as a what goes in thing.

I definitely would do anything to counteract what is going on, though if you
are still concerned, stopping the cheese for a few days won't do any harm.

Anne

On 2006-05-07 22:02:33 +0800, "Anne Rogers" said:

he doesn't sound constipated to me, even a small amount of solid food
starts the transition to adult looking poo, it's a time thing, in terms
of the variation of bacteria in the gut, as well as a what goes in
thing.

I definitely would do anything to counteract what is going on, though
if you are still concerned, stopping the cheese for a few days won't do
any harm.

Anne

Thanks, Anne. It's just that it is so different than it has been for
the last 5 months on solid foods. He hasn't been straining (that I've
seen) or in pain, it's just hard dark and small. Might just try a sip
of prune juice and no cheese

Ta

Jo
--
Woman, Wife, Mother, Midwife

Pasta is constipating for my little ones. Ramen is the worst. Whole
grain pasta with no oil is the best. Cheese is constipating. Are
there berries in your fruit puree? Berries are extremely constipating
for my children. I made the mistake of serving oatmeal with dried
currents. Only my oldest who has never been prone to constipation
could handle it.

--Betsy

Things that seem to help us:
Goat yogurt
Oatmeal with ground flax added after cooking
Teeny tiny bit of chlorophyll (be careful with this...it really only
takes a tiny amount to have a Significant Effect...and the Significant
Effect will be quite alarmingly green)
Extra fluids
Pears
Probiotics

Shiny gets constipated pretty easily--she's not as active as most
babies her age and none of her muscles are as coordinated as one might
wish, so it takes some conscious effort on her part to poo, even if
she's not constipated. The biggest effect I've seen is from the goat
yogurt and probiotics.

She was never constipated until she had antibiotics for a bad chronic
sinus infection/ear infection... never thought I'd miss that freakish
movie-theater-popcorn smell of her poos before, but after the abx, they
smelled like grown up bad breath. Seriously out of whack. Now that she
eats some seasonings (garlic, onion, herbs, etc) and meat and some
dairy, I don't expect her poos to smell the same as they used to, but
sheesh, they don't have to smell like bad breath. The probiotics and
chlorophyll were the most helpful in setting her right after the
antibiotics. The yogurt also helped a lot.

Jenrose

On 2006-05-15 19:15:39 +0800, said:

Things that seem to help us:
Goat yogurt
Oatmeal with ground flax added after cooking
Teeny tiny bit of chlorophyll (be careful with this...it really only
takes a tiny amount to have a Significant Effect...and the Significant
Effect will be quite alarmingly green)
Extra fluids
Pears
Probiotics

/snip/

Jenrose

Thanks heaps, Jenrose We have just recently upped Will's yoghurt
intake, and downed the cheese intake, both of which were at the same
time as the return to normal poos. I'd never heard of the chlorophyll
and probiotics before though! Will have to remember them.

Thanks again,

Jo
--
Woman, Wife, Mother, Midwife