Come give me advice on constipation

[Cocobear]

DD 9 months just began eating purees. The usual: apple, sweet potato, pumpkin, zucchini, banana, bit of pureed oatmeal with cow's milk. Then the poor little thing became terribly constipated and is having tearful, difficult times with the more solid poo. She's in a state. I took her off all solids for a few days and just BFed her until she pooed. But after 2 days back on small amounts of puree, she is still having trouble (straining terribly and crying while pooing).

Is this normal as her digestive system adjusts? Can't remember DS having this problem. Should I stop feeding her solids, when she's now so keep to have them? She was a bit cross having her sweet potato supply cut off for 4 days.

Nine months is rather too old for puree? I was under the impression that if you delay weaning until 6+ months you can bypass the puree business all together?

Perhaps chopped food would be less constipating?

Extra fluids alongside food?

Weetabix always worked with mine - plus ice cream....prob not a first weaning food though!

Are you providing water with the food? Otherwise she will get constipated. I found soft fruit - apricots/peaches/grapes to be prodigious laxatives when DD was that age.

Yes, I've been giving her water with the food, and trying prunes! She has JUST started food, and I reckoned she'd be over purees in a couple weeks. But now I've been reluctant to move on to anything more 'solid' until she's digesting puree well.

Maybe I'll try some ice cream with Weetabix for myself. Might make ME feel better, anyway.

Can't get hold of apricots or peaches here, but maybe grapes. That's a good idea.

My Ds had awful constipation as a baby. I used to give him plenty of water and friut. Pears worked well for him, weetabix and cut back on dairy a bit. I found youghurt and cheese really constipated him.
He is 3 now and i still have to be very careful with his diet or he will get constipated.
I used glycerine supposiories as a baby occassionally if he was very bad and very upset, they worked well.

Same happened to my little one. I found that although he was geeting loads of fruit what he really needed was bulky fibre. So weetabix or organix baby porridge worked a treat. For immediate results - prune juice - from Sainsburys worked the next day.

Found bananas really constipated him.

Yep, bananas had the same terrible effect on all of mine too.

Boil up some dried fruit, anything you can get, but prunes always work, in a little water. Blitz it and you have a sweet compote. You can give this 'neat' or put a spoonful in porridge or yogurt.

Also try a drink of warm water if she will take a bottle or cup.

Stop with apples and bananas.

Give fruit such as dried apricots stewed in orange juice. Prunes miuxed with natural yoghurt. Fruit with skins like plums, nectarines, grapes. Citrus fruit.

Massage her tummy. Lay her down of bed, use organic olive oil to grease hands. You are looking at her - start at your right, top by belly button, gently push/ryb down toward groin. Then go just above navel from left to right. Then on left go up from groin, up towards navel, repeat, repeat.

Massage her anus with a bit of organic oli.

Hold her with her back to your tummy, hold her legs under her knees and bring knees up as much as you can, no nappy, maybe a towel or een potty under her.

Lay her on back, nappy off, bring her knees up to her tummy and hold there for a coupld of seconds. Make her legs go round,like she's riding a bike.

Warm baths.

Same happened to my ds2 while I was weaning him. He wasn't fully weaned until 10-11 months as a consequence and even then it was only because by then milk wasn't filling him up enough. Milk alone would sort him out again (but he got to the stage where he was massively hungry). I was still giving him lots of feeds whenever he wanted (bfed him until recently) and experimented with all sorts of things but he was always quite uncomfortable and screaming the house down come "poo-time'. No particular foods or drinks seemed to do the trick for him.
In the end I took him to the osteopath who had sorted out my ds1's constipation when he was 18 months. On the third session she worked on the same areas she had with my ds1 (since the first 2 sessions hadn't achieved anything) and that was it - bingo. He's been fine for a couple of months now.
With ds1 withdrawing dairy helped alleviate the situation.
You could also try lactulose / senna / movicol, but they did nothing for my ds1 and imo taste horrible (so take some persuasion to get them to swallow).

Babies sometimes get constipated when they have fruit and veg purees. Gill Rapley mentioned it when talking about her baby led weaning research. Purees are easier to swallow than mashed or finger foods so the baby may eat more than their system can cope with. If extra fluids aren't given (more breast feeds, or extra water for bottle fed babies) the poo may end up as a hard dry fibrous mass. Which hurts.