8 month old really struggling to poo

[Loganberry14]

Apologies in advance for the poo detail 😳 my 8 month old has had terrible poo issues for a month now - she is basically straining and pooing all the time but very small amounts, like she's unable to completely empty her bowel. The poo is not hard but definitely firm - coming out in a small string, like an adult poo. She has savage nappy rash as a result. Seen various docs and noone seems to really know what the problem is. They have suggested it might be too much fibre in her weaning diet. Just curious to know if anyone else has experienced this and if the baby grew out of it?

Oh poor thing!

DS is prone to bouts of constipation. He’s now 16 months old. Changes in diet have done it for him sometimes - eg when we began weaning, when we moved from formula to whole milk (transpires he’s lactose intolerant).

My advise would be to push your GP for a dietician referral. And in the meantime, movicol has been recommended to me lots of times and we also used glycerin suppositories which got things moving within a day or two.

DD was like this at that age. It seemed to be caused by trying to poo while sitting on her bottom - nowhere for the poo to go! So it would back up and become hard and then she'd be constipated for real. Lying her on her back and bicycling her legs helped a lot - sometimes it would come out there and then and I'd be horrified at the size of it.

Once she was on two feet it stopped happening.

All 3 of mine were like that from 7mo for a while, just due to the change in what they were eating. Some of my friends babies were too. I thought it was pretty normal for this to happen to newly weaning babies. Has the doctor prescribed lactalose? Failing that try some prune juice.

Banana was the culprit for my eldest, it bound her up for years. Perhaps try cutting that out first, clear the constipation and then keep an eye to see if it happens again. A good amount of water can help too - now and on an ongoing basis.

Ellas Kitchen prune pouches really helped with my LO in similar circumstances.

Yeah, for mine it was the digestion of solids that caused it. Lots of prunes, pears, live yogurts, lentils help soften it up. GP prescribed a laxative, which we used for a week or so. And I don't care what the internet says, bananas definitely make you want to go.

After the initial change, teething nappies kicked in and he now flits between liquid and solid poops.

This is interesting. DS bumshuffles rather than crawling or walking - I wonder if that’s why he’s having so much trouble.