7 month old with blood in nappy - constipation - how to help.....?

[gladbag]

My sis has a gorgeous 7 month old dd. She is mainly breastfed with one bottle of formula in the evening (settled into that pattern from about 4 months, so not new). She started weaning a month ago, and has so far had baby rice and various fruit and veg. In the last couple of days she has suddenly started really crying when pooing, then yesterday had blood in her nappy. Sis saw the GP today who wasn't concerned and just prescribed Lactulose, but didn't ask about weaning/food/liquid intake at all.

So... my question is, what else can she do to help? My knowledge with a constipated toddler is useless as it involves fruit juice, lentils, dried apricots and more fibre in the diet, but that isn't really appropriate for a 7 month old. I've said I think she should lay off the bananas and baby rice for a bit (apparently her dd loves them and wolfs it down), and maybe introduce water to drink when eating, or an extra breastfeed to help increase fluid intake.
But is there anything else that's helpful for such a little tot?

Any advice very welcome.

bananas are notorious for causing constipation so definitely cut down on those.
my ds1 is prone to it and his is worse with weetabix too.

what she can try instead of the lactulose is plentry of water, or breastmilk even better. or puree some prunes for her.
she will literally only need about a teaspoon of pureed prune- can mix it with other fruit or yoghurt or whatever. worked a treat with ds

Something I did (which people have mixed views on) was when making up formula.. If you do a spoon of formula for every fl oz of water, either drop one of the spoons of formula or increase by one the fl oz of water. I did this with both dcs and it was fine (and recommended by HV). Otherwise, just cooled boiled water as often as poss.

Definately lots of cooled boiled water between feeds. Pure orange juice worked for me, (DILUTED OFCOURSE), lots of greens spinach, brocoli etc.... Dairy products i found makes them worse so try to steer away from them. Also think about what you might be eating too!! especially as you are breastfeeding, i really wouldn't mess the formula as it can make them poorly! If still struggling after couple of days i would go back to gp and check to make sure there is not a tear anywhere in the bottom. Is poo really hard!

I have let ds 7 months chew on bits of a ready-to-eat prune - that seemed to do the trick and he thought he was getting a treat!!

You seem to know about bananas but i always thought green bananas cause constipation but browner bananas can help. Anyone else think that?

Good idea to introduce water.

Thank you for all the comments. Will show her thread with all ideas. The odd thing is sis says that poos didn't seem that hard . Will see what next few days bring.

Siunds more like anal fissure, gladbag, not ongoing constipation, from what you say. Speak to the pharamcist. It clears up pretty quickly with the right treatment.

Thanks Tiktok. Do you think that because the poos aren't bullets? Sorry to go on about it, but what sort of thing would the pharmacist suggest to mend an anal fissure? Or anyone else with the knowledge..?

I'm not a medical person, best to speak to the pharmacist or doctor. Creams heal anal fissures.

Try putting some soothing cream on her bottom after each nappy change as this will help help any cracked skin. I find two esp good, Neals Yard baby balm, which is like vaseline but nicer and thicker, and Weleda calendula nappy change cream.
Give water with meals and lots of veg and ease up on bananas and wheat/dairy. Prunes and fruit juice help.
My DS is also 7 months and also suffers so I sympathise.

Boiled and strained prunes help in easing constipation. One teaspoon a day should be fine. Increase water intake for the baby plus you can include lots of vegetables in the baby's diet.

Incase your baby has a fissure, you can try applying an ointment called T-Bact. Its wonderful. My ten month old son had a fissure when he was seven months old and my doctor told me to apply this ointment thrice a day. It worked. Within two or three days, the fissure healed. There is a cream also called T bact but I used T Bact ointment and thats what I would recommend.

I would lay off the purees, they can cause constipation as they eat lots of them, more quantities of solids than their tummies can handle.

I agree with MrsJamin that reducing the amount of puree is a good idea. I know I'm no expert, but I fed my dd purees from 6-7 months and she was constipated the whole time. As soon as I started doing baby-led weaning the constipation disappeared, never to return. Maybe you could try just finger foods for a week or so and see how she gets on? Diluted apple juice definitely made her poo, but didn't obviously solve the real problem.