Weaning my 5 month old. What am I doing wrong???

[Ironmaiden]

My dd (5months old) loves her food, has always had her bottles without trouble and has accepted every solid I have introduced so far without any fuss. My big problem is I can't seem to get the balance right between constipation and diohrea (spell?). Since introducing solids she has been only producing one dirty nappy every 2 days and it's often an effort for her, I see her straining and when I go to change her there is nothing there and then what she eventually manages to produce is like clay/mud, not normal anyway. I cannot get her to drink water and have tried everything to get extra fluids into her, I spoonfed her fruit juice the other day but more of it ended up on her clothes than in her mouth! I've been giving her a butternut squash puree to loosen her up when this happens because it gives her diohrrea but I don't like doing this. She is fluctuating from one extreme to the other every day and I am so stressed out, don't know what I am doing wrong.

if your lo was constipated it would come out as little hard round balls like rabbit droppings. If her poo is still soft, if of a strange consistency!, then she is not constipated. My dd sometimes goes 2 or 3 days without pooing but as it is not hard and dry when she does poo I am not worried that she is constipated. I would leave off giving the butternut squash puree and just continue with what you usually give.

Re: water/fluids - just keep offering the cup when you give meals and then leave it close to her so that if she wants she can pick it up, examine it, etc She may then surprise you by trying to use it herself. She will still be getting lots of fluids from her milk and there is also water contained in her food. She will drink when she is thirsty so stop worrying so much. take care x

Do you have a weaning book? I found my invaluable as I was clueless and it was nice to know what foods I should be giving and when.

They also give tips on bowel probs and how to sort them.

Gina Ford is a good one and Lorraine Kelly.

x

I think it's easier on the gut if you wait until 6 months. The gut is more developped as she gets older, and will cope better with solids.

As others have said, if she is constipated, the poo will be little balls. Otherwise, she's ok, just struggling with solids.

Solids should be introduced slowly, as well, a small amount to start with, to reduce the risk of this sort of problem.

Is it cake mixture colour?

Victoria sponge? Chocolate chip? Fruit cake? It's kind of browny green, and not so plesant on the nose!

Sounds like normal "weaning" poo to me Ironmaiden.

More Marble cake if anything, but a bit on the heavy side

Erm... and yes, not so good on the nose anymore is it? But after all, it is poo!!!

Victoria Sponge poo is a sign that fats aren't being digested properly. That's a concern because obviously babies need lots of fat to grow.

No victoria sponge mixture here, just muddy and sticky mank one minute and a few hours later it's Aptamil vindaloo!!!

ironmaiden i know that pooh! we have lots of it in this house!
sometimes too much fruit and veg can cause constipation... so make sure that she is having other things like lentils, potato etc... once she is 6 months she can also have egg/meat for protein
i think the key is a balanced diet

to get fluids into ds when he was constipated i resorted to baby juices as it was the only way i could get him to drink anything other than milk

instead of letting her get bunged up and then giving her squash perhaps you could make sure she gets a little bit every day to keep her flowing but not flowing TOO much!