Poo issues

[Monikita]

Ach, where to start? DD is tongue tied and had poor weight gain. Managed to get it finally sorted and by 23 weeks she was ebf again, no supplements (yessss!).

Around that time she got diarrhoea and blood in her nappy. Saw the paed and dietitian and they suspected milk protein allergy. I cut out all dairy for three weeks but got gastroenteritis (along with half of Bedford!) soon after seeing the paed - I suspect DD had the same rather than an allergy.

Dietitian wanted us to wean as soon as 26 weeks - I really wanted to do BLW because of the TT but was told to spoonfeed to get her weight up. Her length is 25th-50th centile and weight on 2nd - lactation consultants are extremely happy with her steady weight gain and reckon this is her build as DH is tall and skinny.

So, I've been back on dairy for two weeks with no problems, and we were roughly mashing stuff like sweet potato, dal + rice, mango, avocado, pasta, banana and giving her fingers of pear, lamb and turkey for her to gum and suck on (she would only take 2-3 baby spoons though). All well until Thursday when it seemed she was constipated. She seemed to be in a lot of pain and wasn't pooing, so I stopped solids and just ebf'd again. Since last night she's had a sore bottom and green diarrhoea today (no blood though).

Did I do the wrong thing by taking her off the solids? I was going to reintroduce them again today for the evening meal and then build up again - is this right? DH and I did have a slight tummy ache last week - hopefully this is it and not an allergy. Any advice and experience helpful.

Sorry for the essay!

Are you offering water with meals. If she is eating then she needs to have liquids to help it go down. Also too much of bananas and avocados can lead to constipation. They tend to be foods that people feed allot of because they are easy to eat and are sweet so babies love them, but they should only really have about a third of a banana every other day.

Also weaning is not necessary only BLW or pureeing. You can do a mix of both if you want too. I understand the issue with BLW because at first she won't digest much (and she needs too), but you can give her food to play with as well.

We stopped giving Ds (7.5 months) banana because it gave him problems digesting it - he was really windy and unhappy, writhing in pain etc. Health visitor suggested trying banana again in a few months when his digestive system is a bit more mature. Apparently it's quite common. We've had no problems with avocado though.

Thanks for the advice - I had no idea about only a third of banana every other day. We had initially been offering it every morning for brekkie! .

Have cut down on the avocado and banana and now give a sip of water after she takes in every bite - this has all made a difference. We're currently on two meals a day and are just taking it very slowly. She's been breastfeeding loads through a growth spurt, put on 8oz in a week and is moving towards the 9th percentile, so the dietitian has given me a bit of breathing space .

Interestingly, today we tried 'proper' BLW and she ate waaay more than when I feed her mashed stuff so I think she enjoys being in control.