I started my daughter on solids about three weeks ago. She's had avocado, banana, pear, and zucchini. She hated rice cereal, so we tried multigrain. She really likes it. I also introduced peas yesterday. She liked them too.
Poor thing is crying when she poops littlle pellets. I was afraid this would happen since she had peanut butter poop when just breastfed.
Anyone go through this? What do I feed her? Can changing my diet help too?
I was giving her a small amount once per day three weeks ago. Then last week I added another meal, and upped the serving as she was crying for more. Then this week I moved to three times a day because she is crying for it. She wants to eat with the rest of us....
I'm waiting for the nurse to call me.
I'm not really her much food, and I breastfeed before I give her anything. She showed all the signs that she was ready, including screaming until I shared banana with her. I am going to stop with the cereal and banana, though. I also make my own food.
peaches pears and prunes help you go.. bananas are constipating.
I would add a bit of pear juice to her diet once a day to get things moving.
maybe 1 oz of pear juice with 1 oz of water..
I'd add prunes, prune juice and flax seed oil. Worked with my kids.
More fluids, more warm baths to relax the abdomen, less banana and maybe even less pear - they can be binding, especially the banana. Try water-rich fruits and vegetables - I would think the zucchini would be good, and also watermelon and berries. The peas, being legumes, might be making her a little gassy. Try another vegetable that's not a legume or a gas-producer (no broccoli right now.) Just introduce one new thing every 3 or 4 days, then you will know better what's affecting her.
I had to go to your profile to find out how old your child is. In July, just a couple of weeks ago, you posted you have a child 20 weeks old. If this is the same child then the reason why shes having issues is she's too young. She shouldn't be starting on solids until she's at the very very least 6 months old.
She is a growing needy child. Every nutrient she needs is in her formula. She doesn't "need" baby food at all. It takes away from her getting her nutrients. She seems to want more to eat because she isn't getting any nutrients from the baby food. It's only flavored goo. Nothing else. It's a tool for teaching a baby to chew and swallow.
It does not have the needed nutrients for your child's brain to grow and develop, formula does. Baby food starts loosing it's nutrients the moment it is made, the lights from the factory, the exposure to air, all effect any nutrients it starts out with.
When it sits on the counter at the warehouse and then gets moved to a truck then go the store to sit in the store room then finally it gets set on the shelf for customers to buy it. By this time it has lost nearly every single nutrient and it has no vitamins left, no food value at all. It's simply flavored goo that is nothing more than slime that sits in your baby's tummy rotting because she isn't ready to digest it.
Please back off on the baby food, she needs her formula or breast milk now to help her grow and develop. It has what she needs in it. They make it super rich with those vitamins and nutrients that her body requires.
I can't stress enough how gross baby food actually is. If you think about it no one would even buy it and put it inside their child. Once a baby is older and needs to start eating to get ready to go off formula then they'd make some baby food out of their own food they eat themselves.
My daughter was breastfed and when I gave her solids, her poops started to harden, which is totally normal. A part of it has to do with the fact that cereal -- rice, multigrain, oatmeal -- are fortified with iron and iron is constipating. Make sure you give her lots of fluids and get her to move.
If you just started her on solids, I'm guessing she's around 6 months and isn't very mobile yet. Put her in the jumper or hold her under her arms and jump her on your bed. Movement helps the food go through the digestive system faster and pooping will be easier. The longer it sits in the digestive tract, the drier and harder the poop becomes. My daughter's 12 months and I still put her in the jumper sometimes.
If she's under 12 months slow down and try again in another month or so. Sure many babies take to solids just fine but human babies are built for breast milk (or formula) for the first year, and nutritionally speaking, why push it?
Giving my DD a few bites of prune or raisin purée with each meal helped. Rice cereal tends to cause constipation, so it's fine that she doesn't eat it. I used to mix the multigrain cereal with a bit of 100% apple juice, prune, or raisin purée.
How much is in her solid feelings? I would recommend only giving her half a serving of the solid foods per day, then gradually increase it as her body adjusts to the change.
Eta... Also, tummy massages helped my dd! One I was taught by my youngest brother's physical therapist (he was extremely premature, and had weekly therapy until he was two.) almost always loosened things up. After a nice warm bath, lay baby in from of you head out. Starting on your left side (baby's right), concentrating on the area between the belly button and pelvis, rub in small clockwise circles working your way to the right. Don't use any more pressure than you would pressing on your own eyeball. Then, use what is called the 'I love you' stroke, and using all four fingers draw an "L" shape on the left, an "O" in the middle' and a "U" on the right. Then repeat two or three more times.
OH! And check out wholesomebabyfoods.com ; it is an awesome resource for starting solids. It will also tell you when individual foods should be introduced, and has answers for several commonly asked questions... Constipation being one of them. :)
Add babyfood prunes to her cereal.
:( So sorry. Get her some Gerbers prune juice and dilute it with water. This will really help her. The same thing happened with my kiddos and this is what I did. They liked the prune juice because it tastes sweet, but cutting it with water helps it not be so strong in the back of the throat.
Bananas, peas, avocado... those are all binding foods. That's also a lot of different foods in such a short period of time. Her little body may not know how to digest all of those different foods yet. Introducing one new food per week so that you can better pinpoint any possible allergies is best. You also want to try to introduce foods like yellow squash, carrots, apple sauce, oatmeal. Blend foods that are not binding, such as the ones mentioned, into cereal that's been mixed with breastmilk.
She's going to need more fluids. I'd encourage her to drink as much breastmilk as possible. That's where her meals really need to come from, and her snacks.
I remember having those types of issues with my son. I would give him pureed prunes. I made all of his food, except for the prunes. I would just buy a couple of jars of baby food prunes, because I never gave him much. I would pour small servings out of the jar and put the rest in the refrigerator. It wouldn't take much, maybe a tablespoon, to help move things along.
binding foods - banana rice and single grains and apples, sweat potato and cheese (which you should not give till 12 mos old anyway cause they can't digest milk till then)
non binding foods are - pears, prunes, peaches, plums, spinach, oatmeal or whole grains, peas, beans,
plus give more water, not juice or formula
Give diluted pear juice with meals and give prunes baby's love them and help with going poo
