Advice and Ideas!

[FirstTimeMom91]

Hi, my baby is nearly 7 months and we started the weaning journey when he turned 6 months as advised. So far he has porridge of a morning and of an evening they will have some form of Puree, whether it be veggie or fruit. He has been struggling with constipation since we started, we manage to help get things moving eventually but it seems to be an ongoing thing. I have been advised by other parents to stop the porridge everyday as this could be what's causing it. Can anyone advise if this is the case and offer an alternative food I could offer him of a morning meal and maybe offer some guidance as to what your babies eat on a daily basis to give me some more ideas and I feel pretty clueless at the minute! Thank you in advance.

Weetabix. Also prunes, easiest way is using an Ella's prune pouch (or Aldi knockoff version).

Is he getting enough fluids? You can give sips of water now as well as his regular milk.

I've got a 6.5 month old, same constipation problem when we started. We do same as above, Weetabix (half a biscuit) plus whole milk and prune purée. Or buttered toast as finger food and spoon feed prune purée. Stewed pears work too. Lactulose on GP advice if obviously uncomfortable while trying to poo.

I've been smuggling in lumpy fruit or vegetables in full fat yoghurt. Also tried potato mashed very smooth with milk and a bit of tuna. Getting protein in is difficult when they have no teeth 😅

I've also started steaming a bit of whatever vegetable we're having, for baby to try as finger food. It seems at this age they will try anything, parsnip, cauliflower, broccoli... Most of it ends up round her mouth rather than in it, but she's having fun.

Things you could try instead of porridge:

White toast with smooth nut butter and some peeled pear on the side as a finger food.

Blueberry Pancakes make a nice family breakfast. They're freezable too.

Ready Brek with mashed banana, berries or stewed fruit added.

Banana-Cado

Cheese on toast cut into strips with halved cherry tomatoes on the side

Omelette Strips

Breakfast Eggs and Tomatoes

Pineapple Slices with plain yoghurt

Greek yoghurt and banana as a finger food. You can split a banana from the top onto 3 sections lengthways which makes them easier for the baby to hold.

And mine often liked just some fruit to explore and try at this age.

If you want some dinner ideas, just ask

Sorry forgot to add, if baby is constipated have you recently swapped to Follow On milk?

How have you hot on today @FirstTimeMom91?

@TinyMouseTheatre thank you so much for your advice!
I gave him the prune Ella's kitchen pouch yesterday and he absolutely loved in and went to the toilet within the hour.
Today we've tried mashed up banana but he wasn't a fan.
How did you introduce egg to your little one? I'm frightened too as his dad had a bad reaction when he was a baby to it and ended up in hospital! It's put me off but I know I need to try it soon!

The website Solid Starts is brilliant.
I'd just offer baby little bits of everything you are having. Obviously with allergies in the family you want to be careful and introduce slowly- there's plans online you can follow to introduce all the common allergens one by one.
In terms of amount be led by your baby- sometimes DS2 was swiping toast off my plate, sometimes turning his head away from food and preferring milk.

Is DH allergic now or was it a one off?

If you're worried about introducing eggs I'd try cooked egg, maybe a small but of pancake for breakfast when the GP is open on Monday morning so you can get him seen if need be.

Cooking will help to break down the protein which is usually the bit that causes trouble.

If it was a one off and there's no other allergies in the family then baby is best having a very varied diet from 6 months. So it's fine to introduce nuts, fish, gluten etc

We did strips of eggy bread for introducing egg last week. Baby not quite as keen as she is on regular buttered toast, but she did have a go. We're also doing peanut butter in small amounts in whatever purée she has, as another way to do allergens in small but regular doses.