8 month old - constipation? Intolerance? Help pls!

[LittleLadysMama]

Hi all, my DD is 8 months old and for the last week or so has been constipated. She is still having a dirty nappy every day, sometimes 3 a day (today!) But things have definitely changed. She sometimes really struggles and strains but when I check, she's clean. When she does manage to poop, its usually quite small and hard with some little rabbit dropping type poops (tmi!)
I've been giving her oats and prunes or pears for breakfast, and topping up on the prunes and pears after lunch or dinner occasionally too based on some suggestions I've read online but nothing is really changing.
I'm wondering if it could be an intolerance to something? And if so, if I cut food groups out of her diet, for how long would i need to continue to monitor the impact?
Fluid wise, she still drinks around 4 seven ounce bottles in a day with sips (grudgingly!) of water at meals and occasionally in between.
Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? I think I'll call the HV this week but just wondered, incase I'm missing something?! Thanks

My little one was the same and she refused to drink water would take it in her mouth and then spit it back out again. We bottle fed her and when making up a bottle put in an extra ounce of water in each bottle along with this we use to fill a a medicine syringe with water she would drink it that way but not in a cup. We use used gripe water that was the real life saver rather than give her the full amount like it said on the bottle we use to dab her dummy through out the day and it use to take the pressure off. Hope this helps x

Is she drinking a lot of cows milk? Mine really struggled to poop with It was awful.

I think more water. It's been warm so probably she just needs more fluids. Both mine became constipated with weaning - I think it's quite normal. You could also cut back on solids for a couple of days to give her tummy a break. I don't know about intolerances but I assume there would be other symptoms?

Thank you @Puddingmum - some great suggestions. Will give them a try. Hadn't considered putting extra water in her bottles as figured it would make the formula too weak, but suppose it's no different to her drinking an ounce of water after a bottle - will give that and the gripe water a try!

Not yet @Spillinteas.
she only has formula milk to drink but I've tried to stop giving meals with whole milk, yoghurt etc. to see if it helps. Just not sure how long it should take to know if that's a possible cause 🤷‍♀️

Thanks @KatnissK she is definitely taking more water for me now than when this started and I guess that is down to the heat.
I had thought about cutting back but then worried I'd be leaving her hungry? FTM so I worry about everything 🤦‍♀️

It’s probably too much fibre in her diet - babies can’t really handle it. If she is pooing everyday then she isn’t constipated - try and reduce her fibre intake slightly and combined with more water it should help.