My poor baby

[sosad89]

My baby is 8 months old. I started weaning him aged 7 months with a baby led approach, but he wasn’t eating anything so recently I switched back to purees, which he’s wolfing down and seems to be really enjoying.

However since he’s started swallowing his food about three days ago, he’s become really constipated, straining to poo and in obvious discomfort whilst doing so. His bum is also looking a bit red and sore.

I’ve just bought some prune pouches and am going to try him on fresh pear tomorrow too (I read it helps). I swore I wouldn’t use any pouches but I couldn’t buy actual prunes in the local shop so just got pouches instead.

But I just feel so so guilty as he was fine on milk and never constipated. And now I’m giving him proper food he’s in discomfort and I feel like it’s my fault for giving it to him. I know he has to start transitioning onto real food but I just feel so guilty for causing him pain

Has he been having bananas? They can cause constipation. Make sure he has some water occasionally too. 2-8 ounces of water is recommended.

Absolutely no reason to feel guilty. It's very normal for babies to take a little time to get used to digesting solid food.

Like the PP said, offer water with meals and cut back in bananas fir a few days.

No need to feel guilty about pouches either

And I'd also check out the weaning section on MN, it's very good

Pouches are a life saver

Don't feel guilty about them

Kiwi fruit is brilliant for getting things moving.

2-8 ounces of water is recommended.

I thought it was 1oz? 2-8 sounds like an awful lot! No bananas but he did have a big portion of broccoli. I’m worried I gave him far too much and that’s what has caused the constipation?

I’m worried I gave him far too much and that’s what has caused the constipation. Nothing that you have said suggests a problem other than normal baby getting used to solids.

How about you? Are you finding that you are very anxious about a lot of things?

Drop of fresh OJ in his water will do the trick

Drop of fresh OJ in his water will do the trick

When you say ‘fresh OJ’... is Tropicana ok? Or do you literally mean freshly squeezed oranges?

I ended up stopping the solids for a day and this seemed to help.

I still remember the utterly outraged expression on my daughter’s face when she passed her first solid poo... It took a while for her to stop looking indignant at the process! I puréed prunes and used prune pouches which seemed to help things a bit. Hopefully things are settling down for you.

@sosad89 grapes, blueberries. Definite effect (mind the nappy explosions after grapes!). Good luck :)

More water! And why are you feeling bad about pouches? We are so lucky now that we have lots of healthy, organic, no sugar or salt or additives pouches jars and packets. Our parents, not so much!
Prune pouch will help but use in moderation! It can be too effective...

Oddly enough broccoli also gave my DD terrible constipation, despite all websites saying it's supposedly good for pooing. This was what worked for us:

• Pear puree, preferably freshly made. Store-bought purees are often watered down so you get less fibre and sorbitol (the indigestible sugar inside pears that creates the laxative effect). If it's really bad, I'd soak 2 prunes in hot water for 10mins and then puree them along with a few spoonfuls of the prune soaking water. That almost always did the trick.

• Normal pears out of season can be quite sour and unpleasant. Ripe Williams pears (the aromatic yellow ones with soft skin) was the only one that really worked for purees. Asian pears also work well, and the puree is really sweet which makes it easy to feed.

• Equal parts sweet potato and courgette puree was a staple for lunch. The sweet potato has a mild, sweet flavour and the courgette adds water and fibre.

• Wholegrain baby porridge made with fennel tea instead of milk/formula. This was only on days where it was particularly bad since I normally want her getting more nutrients from milk. However that would bung her up even more so had to skip it at times

• Later on when she could do finger foods, I made a lot of wholegrain toast, cucumbers, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, sweetcorn.

• There are also baby/toddler dried fruit bars that look like dried fruit inside two white wafers. They taste awful (to an adult) but DD loved them and they worked great against constipation

Foods to avoid or cut down if baby is already constipated:

• Bananas, potatoes, broccoli (in our case), carrots, apple sauce
• All types of meat
• Formula, milk, yoghurt
• Rice, white bread, biscuits

This was tough as there are so many food groups there that babies need to get nutrients from. However she would get bunged up from a few bites of banana and be in misery for days. So I ended up on a routine where I'd feed her normal food right after she had a poo and the moment I noticed the constipation coming back I would switch to the high fibre, high water diet.

DD outgrew the constipation at 16-18 months, though she transitioned to solids very late due to gag reflex issues. I think most babies should be fine around 12-14 months!

@CoffeeDay such a helpful post, thank you!!

Just to add that wholewheat foods aren't recommended under 2 years of age.

@JiltedJohnsJulie does that include Weetabix?!