Digestion of My 6 Month Old Baby

Updated on July 13, 2014
C.N. asks from West Palm Beach, FL
11 answers

My beautiful daughter is 6 months ols shes petite only 14.8 lbs but the dr says shes perfectly healthy shes on alimentem formula. It helps with gas and digestion which is a great formula all my kids were on this formula but my lil girl poops 5-8 times a day she eats rice cereal she likes juice wich I have to dilute to keep her from watery poopys or farts or what I would call a shart. Now I want to make sure all her nutrients and vitamins are being probably absorbed into her body before she poops it out, the nutriionist said this formula makes her poop more the dr says shes perfectly healthy but it causes diaper rash sometimes wich I am good at getting rid of but is all of her pooping going to keep her from getting the nutrients she needs in her diet is anyone else had experience with this? if so are you interested in any advice or if I should supplement with liquid vitamins?

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So What Happened?

My pediatrician had told me and her nutritionist said to start her on starter foods plus mix rice ceral Gerber single grain powder 1 scoop added to her allimentem formula by similac her dr wrote for just so wic would pay for it because its 39$ a can . My other kids were also on this formula and did starter foods little tastes like I do with the baby now shes just starting out on theese foods. At her daycare they provide her food while shes there I spoke to the director about the menu because she was beinv given alot of juice and baby food not starter like veggies snd fruig but the meal ones. They finally listed her stools got to be a nice consisty no gad things were good. I keep an in depth log of everything dated timed and signed of sny issue ive had with her daycare. Where I.live in this part of Florida theres 2 kinds of ppl. Wealthy and not even middle working class is looked down upon our rent is a grand a month . And in this area unless u know somebody u get minimum wage or less being its a righy to work state I want my husband to when its affordable to move back up north with me and the kids, hes never even been where im from where im from doinv the right thing is enough, people who dont speak english are not called " domestics" like they r where we live and honestly it costs everything that comes in for our family the babies care is the most important. When my lil angels sleeping I check on her all night even with a moniter I know babies feed off possitive energy so no matter if she wants to play at 3am I never get frustrated im grateful she gets met with love and smiles from us her mommy daddy her sisters, thats y even with what her pediatrician says and a nutrionist says I needed to reach out to other moms , my 2 older girls when they were little I was a working sinhle mom from an abusive baby father and going to college so I just did for them gave them love but I didnt worry like I do now about everything even lil things I love her do much I just want her to have the constant love attention affection her dad and I married hes a loving husband and the most smazing dad he accepts my other kids my family I used to be a realist plus I went to school for psychology so now I over analalize everything wanting the best developmentally in every way I think it kinda sucks retaining so much information because Iquestion things thats y iI reached out to moms . Plus use prior experience nature nuture maternsl instict I want to thank all of u BEFORE I picked up my phone I allready kicked the juice I got it following the nutritionist,s suggestion the rice cereal her and the dr. But I think apple huice is crapple juice wen it comes to babies and as of now her tasting things but her sticking to her formula worked so y mess eith it I allready before reading your responsed did some deductive reasoning and my lil one is sleeping so peaceful no liquid poopy no gas no rash so thank you im grateful for ur response s

Featured Answers

L.U.

answers from Seattle on

C. - It's not the formula that's giving her the "sharts" it's the juice. She does NOT need juice at all. It's empty calories and loosens her bowels.
L.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

Stop the juice. Your baby is getting her nutrition from the formula. Some pediatricians recommend vitamin drops. Others don't. When her stools become more firm her body will have the nutrition she needs.

Everything I've read and a couple of pediatricians said is that babies should only be drinking formula/breast milk until they're a year old. Water is ok if it doesn't substitute for milk. Even after a year juice should only be a treat. Fruit juice is high in calories with a limited amount of nutrients. When giving juice one also has to be careful about allergies.

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B..

answers from Dallas on

Stop the juice. Very little cereal. See what happens. That juice causes more problems than it provides nutrients.

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M.F.

answers from Phoenix on

No more juice! Formula or water only. A child who poops a lot or struggles with loose stools has ABSOLUTELY no need for juice, even watered down.
You can give her all the vitamins in the world, but if you keep giving her juice, she'll just keep pooping them out.

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L.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Total agreement with others that you need to drop all juice, period, 100 percent of it. No juice at this age or for a long time to come. It seems "healthy" but is concentrated sugar -- natural sugars, yes, but in a very concentrated form, and adding water to it is only contributing to her runny stools.

I also question the rice cereal at only six months. Some folks still want to do that, but did you ask your pediatrician about starting rice cereal or did you do that on your own, or at someone else's advice? She is very young and should be only on formula or breast milk at this age. Some old wives' tales say that "babies sleep better once they start eating rice cereal" but that's not really true and filling a baby up on cereal and juice may mean she's not getting the nutrients that her formula provides.If she's lacking nutrients it may be because of the juice and rice cereal filling her up so she doesn't take enough formula -- not because of the runny poop.

Please tell your pediatrician everything you are giving her and the exact amounts. I would drop all juice (watered or not) and taper off, then drop the rice cereal. She may just love juice, but all kids do -- it tastes good to them, but it also develops their "sweet tooth" very young and is bad for their gums and then for their developing teeth.

I notice that at the end you are asking about supplementing with liquid vitamins. But don't supplement. Focus instead on stopping the loose stools by eliminating all juice and possibly the cereal as well. Some folks do feed some solids this young but please ask your pediatrician what solids to use and in what amounts.

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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

Stop giving her juice. It is simply sugar water. Does your doctor know you are doing this? She really doesn't need anything but formula or BM.

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

Agreed - juice is sugar water, basically, and it causes very loose poops. Mix her cereal (if the doctor says to give it to her) with formula or breast milk. If you give her anything else to drink, make it water on hot days. Otherwise given her low weight, give her formula or breast milk which is better than water. I thin the poops will stop when you get rid of the juice. I watered it down for my 3 year old and it still gave him diarrhea, and the diaper rash which you have noticed. There's no point to it.

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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

Children this age do not need juice. My daughter is 7 and I still rarely give her juice. Juice has always made her have loose stool.

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H.W.

answers from Portland on

Poop doesn't deplete the body of nutrients unless there is something in the formula which keeps her from absorbing them.

Juice is a big no-no at this age. There is no reason a child needs juice at this point, period. Apple juice is also a culprit for gas; if my son eats apples or drinks apple juice, he's sure to be gassy.

Drop the juice. Give her more nutritious offerings; you can start her off with yellow baby foods (plums, squash) which are high in iron, which will help make her stool more firm and this is a time when babies are needing iron for their development. Rice cereal is fine, but you can thicken it up with some of the baby foods. Remember that she may need to 'try' a food several times before she decides not to spit it out, and to swallow it instead. So, put a small amount (one tablespoon at most) in a small dish first, put the rest of the jar in the fridge ( to prevent bacterial contamination) and feed her that small amount. Add more to the bowl if she accepts it, otherwise, just let her try small tastes of things until they become familiar enough to eat.

Also, you can serve her food before offering a bottle. Try to get her when she is actually hungry instead of offering solids after the bottle.

For what it's worth, my son is seven and we still don't buy juice. It's considered a treat, like soda pop. We have milk and bubbly water for daily drinking.

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P.K.

answers from New York on

Stop the juice now. Even watered down she does not need it. That is probably why the loose stools. Formula only.

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K.H.

answers from Odessa on

If you decide to use a vitamin, we used Poly-vi-sol made by enfamil. It smells (and probably tastes) bad, so we always tried to give it right before she'd nurse to get the taste out of her mouth. :) I agree with the other moms, and I'd stop the juice to stop the loose stools.

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