Got a Poopie question. EWWWWWWWWW i know....

Jeannie00 wrote: My little DS has been having some very hard stools here lately. Its not normal for him, his us usually real runny. Well i breastfeed by the way, but ive also started him on solids a few months ago, and its like adult stools. Its reall hard, and he strains really hard to go to the bathroom. Im wondering if the babyfood is constipating him, well hes not actually constipated cause he goes all the time, i mean every diaper change its poopie, but not alot, just a few turds (hehe lol i know thats grose, but i dont know how else to explain it) Could this be from the babyfood, or is it normally supposed to be like that now? I thought breastfed babies poop is real soft and runny???? Any help or advice is needed pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......

Warbride replied: When you start a baby on solids, his poop changes. If it's really hard and seems to cause him some pain, he may be constipated. I mean, hard little pellets like rocks is not normal, and is probably constipation. As your baby's diet becomes more like your diet, the more his poop will become like yours. But if you notice any blood in the stool at all, call the ped. right away. And if you have an appointment coming up soon, maybe you could call before you go and see if you should save a dirty diaper(gross, yes, but sometimes necessary.) Definately bring this up at his next appointment.

CantWait replied: The extra iron he's getting may also be causing the harder stools. My friend's baby has really hard stools and gets constipated easily when she gets extra iron.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I do remember Wil's stool being really hard when he first started cereal. It has a lot of iron in it. But I think it went away after maybe a few days. A friend of mine said this happened to her baby too. Should pass when your baby's system gets more used to the solids. If not, call the ped.

NummyMommy replied: I had this problem and what I did was cut back a lil on the cereal and push the fruits a lil more....not changing the amount of food per se just giving more fruits then cereal (of course I'm assuming youre giving fruits) If you cant do that and it really looks painful to him, karo syrup (give just a bit) has been known to help plus theres baby fleet but I wouldnt give him that unless checking with your Ped first.

coasterqueen replied: I agree with nummymommy. When we did give Kylie solids I had the most awful time with her and poops and still do to this day as far as keeping them the right 'consistency'. I know, TMI. Try pushing more 'P' fruits. They are the ones that help push things along. That cereal can be pretty binding. Try mixing the cereal with a 'P' fruit and you should be fine .

The poop is gonna look somewhat different when they start solids. It all depends on how much solids they are getting. If they are getting mainly breastmilk the poop won't be as bad.

Warbride replied: Just a thought, are you giving him prunes or apples? How about juice? He may not be getting enough fiber, if he doesn't get much of those. I have to give Joe one or the other almost every day to keep him regular. Hope some of this helps, it's tough having a constipated baby. Joe got prunes as his second food mainly because of this. He became a much happier baby afterward

Jeannie00 replied:
Yeah his poop has changed alot, it used to be real runny when i was JUST bf'ing, and now that i added solids, its real hard just one solid size, or a few rabbit turds, ewww, i know TMI... But thats how it is. Its usually one big turd, or a few little ones, and when he does try to poop he strains really hard, and hes pooping every diaper change, so does that mean hes constipated if he is pooping, or does hard stools mean hes constipated as well????? Yeah hes got his 6 months appt coming up next will ill speak to the doc as well... Ummm, i have suppositories, lots of them, could i give one of them to him daily to make it easier for him to go???? Or should i not do that?????

Jeannie00 replied:
He doesnt get alot of cereal, he only gets it twice a day, for breakfast with one 4oz jar of fruit, (two formula scoops of cereal is all thats put in it) plus i nurse him, and he gets the same at bedtime, but i put a veggie in with the cereal at bedtime. And then for lunch he gets a 4 oz jar of fruit plus i nurse him, and for dinner he gets a 4 oz jar of veggies, and a 4 oz jar of fruit, plus i nurse him as well for dinner. So he gets a totla of 20 oz of baby food daily. Is that too much for him???? I nurse him between meals as well even after he eats solids, so hes getting his breastmilk. He also gets juice too, like a 4 oz bottle of juice a day, should i increase the juice????

Jeannie00 replied:
What is 'P' Fruits?????

Jeannie00 replied:
Like i said previously, hes getting a total of 20oz of babyfood a day, is that too much? and hes getting 4 oz of juice daily, and im nursing him before the solids and between meals.

Jeannie00 replied:
No im not giving him prunes, he gets 4 oz of juice daily, should i increase the juice???? and yes he gets apples, well applesauce and stuff in babyfood. Is that what ur talking bout????

NummyMommy replied: Ok got some questions.....when did you start him on solids?....like how long has he been on solids?....do you kinda finish every bottle completely? or do you let him eat until he looks away and seems disinterested?...its hard to tell if you are giving him too much because every baby is different....some can handle solids earlier and much more, others can't. A BF baby usually poops a lot at first then tapers off to not pooping as much BUT when you introduce solids that changes. After solids are introduced BF/Bottle fed pretty much have the same type of poop....large bulky poops the consistency of paste that smell bad. A little hardness is fine but "rabbit pellets" is a sign of constipation. I really wouldn't give him anything other then a lil bit of karo (a baby spoon should be right) Theres no way of telling how much of a suppository to give unless you talk to your Ped (they will usually suggest baby fleet or Karo anyways I believe) I would suggest cutting back on the cereal and just feeding him fruits for a day (to clean him out) and then slowly reintroduce cereal into his diet. The "P" fruits are the fruits that start with "P"....pears, prunes, peaches......I've been told applesauce itself can be constipating (dont know why).

3_call_me_mama replied: Yes apples adn c\apple juice can be constipating Body doesn't break that down as well as other fruits. They are part of the BRAT Diet (Bananas, Rice, Apples (applesauce, appplejuice) toast)to stop DIARREAH, and can bind babies up. Try the karo syrup (1 tbsp in a 6-8 ounce bottle) Don't increase the juice, that could be making it worse. Add more peaches, plums, prunes, pears, etc and water in a bottle or sippy cup. Not sure but it seems liek hes; EATING a lot of baby food for his age but that sepends on when you started solids. I wuld definately cut back and try to nurse more, casue that will help with the poop too:) Hope that helps.

coasterqueen replied:
P fruits are pears, prunes, peaches, plums. Those were always recommended to me when Kylie had poo problems and always helped.

Jeannie00 replied:
I started him on cereal at like one month old, and i started him on babyfood at 3.5 months old (hes now 6 months) He eats a total of 20oz of babyfood a day, and 8 oz of cereal a day, he eats 4 oz of babyfood mixed with two scoops of cereal for breakfast, 8 oz of babyfood for dinner, 4 oz of babyfood for lunch, and 4 oz of babyfood and two scoops of cereal for betime.

Jeannie00 replied:
Well i nurse him before each solid feeding, and then between solid meals, well ive noticed hes only nursing like 4-5 times a day, is that cause of the babyfood now??? I wanna keep nursing him, and u really think i should cut back on teh babyfood, thats prolly why hes not nursing so much??????

NummyMommy replied: OK....from what I can gather from reading several internet articles (which I admit isnt the best source of information sometimes) the general consensus is that at 6 months he should be nursing 5-6 times a day and eatting 3 semi solid meals a day. The definition of "meal" seems to be 2-3 tablespoons. The 4oz of baby food with 2 scoops of cereal would probably be a little more solid then semi solid. It sounds like maybe you just need to "fiddle" with his diet a tad.....nurse 1-2 more times a day and cut out one of his mealtimes and see if that doesnt help his constipation. Maybe even put a little less cereal in each meal to make it less "solid". If you are nursing you really don't need to give juice or water since BM is pretty fluid and is "designed" to meet your baby's hydration needs. If you decide to cut out juice/water be prepared for him to start "snaking" during the day (like a toddler would run and get a sip of water then go back to playing). If you decide to stick with juice try switching to a non apple type. Most doctors dont like to give a set amount of food to give (which made it hard to find this info ) because its better to "read" the signs your baby is givng you about how much he wants and can handle....the constipation may be telling you he is getting a bit too much solid food. This article kinda goes over the general ideas without giving set guidelines. This article gives a blow by blow of how much/when but remember every baby is different and some can handle more and some less. I hope this information is helpful, it certainly seems theres a lot of confusion about this subject. If changing his diet doesnt help and he still has really hard poops then I'd say go to your Ped right away.... theres a few medical issues that can cause it (though highly unlikely) Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

Jeannie00 replied: Yeah i think i am gonna cut back on the babyfood, because i think that might have alot to do with his hard poop. Ive noticed he isnt nursing half as much as he used to, im getting more reliant on the babyfood then nursing, dont get me wrong he gets nursed at the most 4 times a day, and i dont think that is enough, he needs more then that. I wanna nurse him till hes at least a year old. My other two children werent as successful at bf'ing, and this is my last child, and i want it to work, so yes im gonna take ur advice, and cut back on the food and give more breastmilk, and see if that helps with the poop, yeah i thought that 20oz, of babyfood was a bit much, but he never threw it up or anything, and he seemed really satisfied, i was just worried bout the straneous pushing during a bowl movement and the hard poop. Its just soo much easier to offer babyfood. My baby does not get NO FORMULA, so i need to offer the breastmore and cut back on babyfood, ill try it for a few days and see how it goes, and ill get back with you to let u know how he does, thanks for the advice and info.