Constipated baby!

[beela]

DS (6.5mo) loves food.

We started weaning with a bit of baby rice / pureed pear etc at 24 weeks, and moved onto everything else once he hit 26 weeks. I have introduced meals gradually, and this week have added in a third meal so he has 3 per day.

He is happy to be spoon fed and also enjoys finger food, usually some of whatever we are having (homemade) possibly mushed up a bit. I have been making sure he gets a balanced diet.

Yesterday was fairly typical:
Breakfast: 1/2 wheetabix + milk + stewed rhubarb
Lunch: rice / peas / bean& tomato stew (approx 2 tbsp in total) + 2 stawberries
Tea: shepherds pie & peas (approx 2-3 tbsp), plus rhubarb crumble & custard (approx 1 tbsp).

He is EBF and having a feed approx 1 hour before meals in the daytime, plus a good feed before bed - more of the nighttime later. He has a beaker of water with his meals and has sips with his food.

So far so good. But he is getting really constipated! His poos are very hard and dry (sorry if TMI) and he is straining to get them out, he sounds like a woman in labour! I sometimes have to hold his legs up so he can get them out (sorry, definitely TMI). His nighttime sleep is AWFUL, last night he woke up approx hourly and was writhing around as though his tummy hurt. I fed him once but it didn't seem to make much difference, he still woke an hour later.

What am I doing wrong? And / or what can I do to help?

Any suggestions gratefully received [csmile]

My DD had similar constipation at around the same stage. I dropped her back to 2 solid meals a day and she had stewed prunes or apricots every day until they were back to normal.

How long has he been on solids? They seem like quite adult meals IYKWIM, maybe something a bit more simple would be easier for him to digest...

About 6-7 weeks now, but have only just introduced the third meal.

I think you are right re the stuff he is eatings. He seems to enjoy it all so much but perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves so I will try going back to plain mushed up fruit / veg to see if that helps.

Thanks.

Good luck, it's horrible seeing them in pain.

My ds went through a similar phase at that age, which was horrible to watch. I think we also gave him everything all at once, which was too fast for his little tum. Stewed prunes, dried apricots, veg like spinach are all good for constipation. My Spanish MIL swears by plain boiled spinach dressed with olive oil to ease constipation.

Maybe do as GwennieF says and cut back the adult meals for a while, and up the water as well.

My DS 7mo has been going through exactly the same thing! It is horrible isn't it. We ended up having to go to the Dr's and they gave him some Lactulose which softens the stool, making it easier to pass. IT worked wonders within 24 hours. However, he just kept getting constipated again.

We have had to cut right back on spoon fed solids, to just fruit at breakfast. The other meals are now just finger foods, which means he is actually eating a lot less. His eyes are far bigger than his belly and this seems to be the best way for him to control portion sizes. Also we found that anything starchy was the worst for bunging him up. In particular cereals, and even veg like carrot and sweet potato.

A lot of people I have spoken to whose babies have had the same problems swear by a BLW approach as what they actually get to eat increases very slowly as their motor skills develop and it seems to more in line with their digestive development too

Prune juice or sucking at orange slices usually gets my LO going,

My dd was like this and prune purée worked wonders. However I found the cause was bananas. Once we stopped the bananas she has never been constipated since.

My DS was purée feed baby but had periods when he was very constipated ...Definitely prunes and apricots purée. Diluted orange juice also helps.
Like 1gglePiggle I used to avoid bananas... they were terrible. Even now I'm careful about the amount of banana he has. And as ellabella2 suggested anything starchy doesn't seem to help DS.
Good luck

Thanks ladies for the advice.

We cut back on the food a bit yesterday and he just had fruit & veg, including prunes, and a bit of yoghurt.

He only woke up once in the night, for a bit of a bf then back to sleep, and seems a much happier boy this morning :)

I think perhaps I was being over enthusiastic on the weaning front as he seemed to gobble up anything i gave him. I will take it more slowly - maybe more blw and less spoon feeding as you suggest ellabella2, I think our DS are similar - large eyes and small tummies

He did have some banana the day before yesterday too now you come to mention it, so will take that off the menu for now as well.

BTW - keep him upright. I find putting DS in the baby bouncer for a while after a meal ends with him having a poo. Gravity always helps!