I can't give any more water/BM!

[Softlysoftly]

This might not be the right topic but I wasn't sure what was and know there are experienced posters on here. DD2 is 8 months, she's always had toilet issues, when EBF she only went every 7-10 days, very nearly got referred.

She's been on solids for about 2 months, eats 3 meals a day, sometimes snacks, has 2 bottles of formula a night and breastfeeds 4-5 times.

Ever since introducing solids she has struggled to poo every 2 days, she strains and crys and sometimes fails to produce. When it does come (with my help holding her legs) its rock solid.

I did everything I could think to improve the situation, so give her water at every meal, pears, apples, no banana etc. I have taken her to Drs and HV's as its been every single poo for 2 months :( but all I get is "give her more fluids". I've asked my friend with a DS the same age and he has 3 bottles a day, no water and no issues, I never remember giving DD1 much water. I make her take a drink of water every 3rd mouthful to get as much in as I can and she's still getting the watery BM so how exactly am I going to make her take more??

Sorry for the long post but i'm at a loss how to help her and i'm going back to work soon so she may lose her day BF's which might make the problem worse.

I've laid out a typical day below, can anyone see where I could be going wrong? Or have any knowledge that could help at all, I hate to see her in pain.

BTW the Dr has prescribed lactulose which I will start tomorrow but even if it works that doesn't fix the base issue surely?? All they will say is "GIVE MORE WATER"....

7/8am wake BF

9am weetabix/baby porridge with water

11am bf to nap

Wake and lunch of e.g. brown bread toast, egg/cheese and pear/mango slices with water

3pm bf to nap

5pm tea, whatever we eat e.g. roast dinner/spaghetti/curry (with broccoli/carrots/tomatoes) or a jar and a jar of fruit or mango slices/strawberries and a yoghurt with water

7pm bottle to bed

midnight bottle

2am (sometimes) bf

4am bf

Can it be the formula that's making her constipated? It's often fortified with iron which for some babies can be very constipating.

I'd definitely swap to white bread rather than brown, they can't handle too much fibre at that age and try not to give bread every day.
I think follow on milk is often fortified with a lot of iron so as poster above says, check your formula.

I would also look at the bread. My day was similar when he had baguette bread as a baby

Ds not day

Ok Thanks I'll swap/cut out some bread though she doesn't have it every day.

Not sure what I can do about formula feeds. It would be tough getting supply back for those 2 feeds plus won't help with work. She's still on aptamil stage 1.

I don't know anything about formula but if it is the stuff that newborns can have, it shouldn't have too much iron in it should it? Has she had that formula from birth?
Your milk supply should adjust as your baby needs it now, my DD sometimes feeds just 2 times in the day, sometimes 5 or 6 but as you say, won't help while you're at work. I wasn't a regular expresser and found that by the time my DD was around 9/10 months, I couldn't express anything I think because I'd only ever done it once every few weeks or when I was engorged.
I think I was also told to not give eggs to often as well as that binds them. I think it's eggs, bread, banana and there's something else that you should avoid but I can't remember what. HV also told me not too much wholegrain/fibre as that binds them. I think I may have said that already sleep deprived

Yes it's the newborn stuff as dd1 got constipated from follow ob so hate the stuff! She's had it occasionally from about 4 months when I've been out but only consistently since december so it does tally. I've never been able to expresseither.

I'll dump the bread and whole grain and eggs for a while and when you've had some sleep remember the other thing ;)

My ds was constipated from birth and he was ebf for 5 months. It of course got much worse when we started a bit of formula and then solids but hv and Gp would not listen to my pleas ( despite blood and everything). I was so distressed and had done so much research and diagnosed him myself. Dairy allergy - but it is more common to have loose stools so I kept being fobbed off. Then at nearly 8 months I gave him some egg and he blew up and was covered in hives so we got referred for allergy testing and guess what - dairy was one of them. He was put on movicol for the long haul. He is now 4 years old and no more constipation but long lasting affects! Please get her tested - my ds had no other symptoms. Sorry for long post.

Have you tried probiotics? I have some pre/probiotic powder that I can add to a bottle. Might be worth a try.

If it is a dairy allergy then removing formula will also help. What about trying to replace the two bottles at night with breastfeeding? Your supply should catch up quickly and even if she doesn't get very much, it doesn't matter. She probably only needs it for comfort also considering that she's eating quite a lot during the day.
Does she have to have a bottle when she's a nursery? If so, you could try with some soy based formula at nursery and bf at home.

It could be a dairy allergy, are there allergies in the family? How much water is she having? We try to get at least 200ml in.

I'd would:

• Reduce bread and drop the wholemeal completely *Stop cereal and instead have fruits (with skin), small rice cake/cracker, natural yog, maybe homemade fruit bar if you can be arsed. I'd keep cereal out until you have at least 1 BM every 2 days then try it again *Increase grains and beans *Do more veg with lunch *Switch and reduce formula. I don't know why but Hipp Organic seems to help constipation?
  *Offer fruit and veg snacks, raspberries, apples, pears, cucumbers are all good for roughage.

You'd have to make the changes slowly (like over 3-4 weeks) though because adding to much fibre too quickly can cause constipation and bloating IME.

Also what about some very diluted prune juice? Nappy free tummy time, massage etc or have you tried all that

I'm not medically trained so don't take what I say as Gospel! Hope you get it sorted.

Have you had her checked for a Anterior Anus? It's often overlooked but is a reasonably common cause of unexplained 'constipation'.

sorry, random 'a'.

Could try giving lentils, they are good for keeping poo soft

The thing with Anterior Anus is, however 'good' the poo is throughout the gut it has to dry out and become hard in the 'corner' that's caused by the anus being misplaced before the body can force it around the 'corner'.

Milk poo is so much softer than weaned/weaning poo that if the deviation is smallish the poo can get round the 'corner' without too much difficulty, as the poo naturally becomes more solid with weaning the problem begins to show it's self as 'constipation'. When left undiagnosed, the bowl distends and stretches at the 'corner' resulting in insensitivity to fullness and true constipation.

It's a really quite common and massively under diagnosed thing.

There's and Ella's kitchen pouch with prunes in. I give it to my DS when he gets a bit blocked up. Works a treat. Bloody messy though when it does come out - causes quite the explosion!

My daughter sounds very similar to you. The things I've found that help her are lots of tummy massages when I think she's trying to go and warm baths. when I'm changing her nappy I always give her a quick belly massage and it seems to help her. She is only 7 months though and I've found with solids she's starting to go more often, but sometimes there is a big struggle for her. I hope this might help your little one.

Sorry dd1 had come down with croup so been offline for a while.

I'm going to make the diet adjustments and start measuring her water Thankyou.

Then if no improvrment will cut our dairy and start kicking up a fuss at the Drs about the possibility mrslettuce gave.

Appreciate all the advice hope it helps mypoor monkey.

Wow that typing was bad.

How's she doing since you made the changes?

Is she on medication. My dd has daily antibiotic for a kidney problem and that led her to doing one every 4-5 days for first year or so