Possible Digestive Problems After Starting Solids?

Are you feeding her anything with wheat in it? Wheat is difficult to digest and my pediatritian says to stay away from introducing it until after a year old. Also, watch out for certain fruits.

My son had food allergies. What I learned at that early of an age, I would only feed one new food a week. See if any reaction. Then introduce a second new food. Sometimes it might be a combination of foods that can cause a reaction.

I had three kids and one of my kids wouldn't eat baby food and was breastfed for one year without any baby food. She went right into people food at a year. The doctor wasn't happy about no food, but after running a blood test, it showed she was very healthy living on just breast milk for a year without baby food being involved in her diet.

Good luck, B.

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My daughter has silent reflux. The back arching and waking up at night could be a sign of reflux. Sometimes they are uncomfortable lying flat because the stomach acid is coming up. Sometimes this can worsen after starting solids. Other possible signs are vomiting/spitting up (but not always, if it's silent reflux), frequent hiccups, cough/wet burps after feeding, taking only small amounts of food, feeding only when sleepy, poor weight gain. If this sounds like your daughter, try elevating the head of her crib mattress, and not feeding her immediately before she sleeps. You could talk to your pediatrician about whether she might need medication. The increased frequency of bowel movements is OK, as long as she isn't having diarrhea or bloody stools.

Hi L.-!

I would suggest an elimination diet - going back to introducing single food solids one at a time and watching for a reaction. Give the single food a good 3 or 4 days to see. Then add another food. This takes some time, but it helps identify allergies and intolerances. Some foods are commonly harder to digest - such as wheat and cow's milk. I would not give these to your baby until she is older. I would also make sure she is not eating sugars - either in refined foods or in juice. Refined sugars feed the wrong kind of intestinal flora. The right kind of intestinal flora keep the gut healthy and will help her be able to digest all kinds of foods. Plain goats milk yogurt is great to try for beneficial bacteria that will help her have healthy digestion.

Also - 2-3 poops a day is actually really great if your daughter is eating solid food 2-3 times a day and the poop is well formed (not diarrhea.) You want '3 trains in, 3 trains out'. If your daughter is only breastfed, no solids, of course this will be different - they don't need to poop nearly as much because breastmilk is very efficient - not a lot of waste :)

Gradually introducing solid foods shouldn't produce issues. It can be a painless and enjoyable process - if there are issues, I would get to the bottom of the problem and find out what it is.

Good luck-!!!

It is normal to poop alot after solids are started. Breast milk is almost completely absorbed by the digestive tract. Mine only pooped once every two or three days when she was only breastfeeding. You might be starting you daughter on solids too much at once. You should start with one tablespoon a day. after a month, maybe just two very small meals a day. Don't want to shock the system.

The arching of the back could easily be from stomach pain. It could be food sensitivities, but also, like I said, if you started feeding her alot of solids suddenly, it could be the overload. Also, you should only start with one food and add only one or two more per week. At one month she should be eating MAX 8 different foods. probably one of two cereals and a couple different veges and a couple different fruits.

I would go back to only feeding her very basic foods for a week and see how she does. maybe cereal and bananas and avos (but too many bananas cause constipation) and add one food at a time until you know the food is okay, like three days each.

Hope this helps.

Hi, L.,

My daughter is 8 months old and she also is exclusively breastfed until 6 months. She went from 1 poop a day (or one every 2 days) to 3 or four a day, also, after starting solids.

As for the sleeping, I can't tell you. She is still waking up 2X a night even after introducing solids.

Have you tried just introducing new foods in the morning? That way if there is a reaction, it doesn't disturb her nighttime rest? Or could she be getting teeth?

What a fun age, isn't it?

H.

Hi there, my name is Rosa and i have a 7 year old daughter and i am a full time nanny. From my experience it sounds like your little one may be experiencing acid stomach and it could be from a particular food you're giving her so keep tracking the solids you give her.

Hi L.,
Usually not digesting is a digestive system having a struggle. This may have become a bit of the norm because we have accepted this challenge for our children. The arching is a sign of pain... and it is best to get to the root of the issue while the symptoms are visable to you and have not moved deeper into the system, creating new challenges that 'seem' unrelated.

A few good places to start...
1. BodyEcology web site. Donna Gates is brilliant! She has great and up to date info for our chlldren nutritional nees. The best I've seen as it includes indepth info on pre- and probiotics and HOW they interact.
2. Consider emotional issues. Nursing is such a bonding experience as well as a stress-reliever and it also re-solves birth trauma (more about this if you are interested) and solids are a big transition. And some foods are just plain hard to digest for a baby (and adult!) as they are processed and have less 'life/energy/electricity' to aid and communicate with the digestive system. There may be some emotions and stress from any part of this that need to be addressed for both of you. Energy Psychology techniques are easy and fast to use for parents and child.

Many times on my posts I've suggested the Energy Psychology techniques but I am realizing that this may be a challenge for a new mom to learn on their own. If there are enough moms interested in learning this, I can do a tele-conference and explain this amazing resource and everyone can then easily give it a try. So if anyone is interested, just send a note.

Warmly
L.

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Hi L.,

My son is also 7 months old. We started him on solids when he was 5 1/2 months. Just this past week we had a lot of issues with constipation. It was horrible. We could tell he was in a lot of pain. One thing our pediatrician told us is to give him water. I hadn't been b/c my son is also breastfed. We try to give him a couple onces in the morning and in the evening. It is hard to get him to drink a lot at one time, so I try to offer it all day long. He sometimes gets a lot and sometimes doesn't. I think this has helped to get him back on track.

We also were told to give him lots of fruits (pears, apricots, applesauce, prunes, but no bananas). Once we did these things, he is feeling a lot better now.

I would also try Mylicon drops if your daughter seems to be in pain from gas. These work well.

Good luck with it!

Watching her food is a good idea...but I think she might be teething. I really interupted my two daughters sleep. My son slept through everything. OraGel (sp?) and motrin will help.

My son definitely pooped more after starting solids, he would be less constipated after eating sweet fruits because the sugars cause looser stools, and foods like bananas and rice cereal can be more constipating so recording what your daughter eats and watching her response is a good idea. I do think their digestive tracks are very sensitive and it does take time to get used to digesting people food. keep breastffeding as much as she wants to, it provides lots of enzymes and will help her digest people food better
take care

Hi- The only time I've ever seen my baby girl "arch" like you describe is when she had gas. Mylanta gas worked well to help allebiate that for her..I would sortof back track and slowly start re-introducing the solids...one-at-a-time and see allow time between them to help you see if any 'one' food is the culprit.
Good luck- horrible to see your little one hurting!
take care

I am sure that some of the issues have to do with eating solids. My son had trouble digesting solids for a long time, and was just eating rice cereal up to 8 months. any time we gave him anything else, he would have diarrhea. Also, double check your own eating, as my daughter screamed in the night every time I ate even a TINY peice of onion. Once I had a couple of sips of soup before I knew it had onion in it, and she cried all night! Good luck to you!

Her system may not be ready for solids. Try just one solid at a time to make sure that that particular food is going to digest well. If you introduce a variety of things, you won't know what's working and what's not.

Hi L.,
I am the mother of 3 boys...my middle son (who is now 8) went through this I went thru 3 doctors who thought I was a sleep deprived 2nd time mom, and 1 even wrote if off as "behavioral". Finally my great Pediatrician sent us to Stanford for an upper G.I. and my son's sphincter muscle under the esophogus was not closing, so long story short, he had acid reflux BUT he was not spitting up,it was just sitting there, needless to say we did not sleep for months- this started at about 4.5 months old, when we started solids, crying all night (every 1/2 hour) arching his back and pulling up his knees :( The muscle matured at about 18 months old, we did try some meds and they helped only a little bit!

good luck, and use your "mothers intuition"

S.

Hi L.,
My daughter is now 10 months old and when she first started solids she did the same thing in the way that she had so many poopy diapers. It lasted a little while and then it slowed down. Your probably giving her mostly fruits and veggies so that will increase her bowel movements anyway, but her little tummy is trying to get use to all the new stuff.

Also, it sounds like your daughter may be having some acid reflux. When they do that arching of the back acid reflux is one of the causes. My friend's did this and he had to be put on medicine but I would try other things like start back to giving your daughter only one food at a time and seeing which ones caused her to do this more. She may also be getting too much food which can cause acid reflux. Try cutting down on how much you give her and give a little more rice cereal or oatmeal cereal. You can also raise the head of her crib matress just a little to put her at a slight angle which may help the reflux! Hope this helps.
gabby

If your daughter is pooping 2 to 3 times a day, I doubt she is having constipation. Its more likely gas. Maybe before she goes to bed give her a little gas medicine see if that eases anything. I liked Little Tummies. Its cheaper than Mylecon.

And I am sure you know this (though I introduced solids much earlier to my kids) that you are supposed to try a food and feed it to her a few days to see if there was a reaction, then start with another and do the same. Once we knew the cereal was good to go then I started on apples mixed with it, I would do that for a few days, or longer, and started with something else. I was usually alternate between fruit and veggies, so my kids would just be accustomed to the different textures, until they actually started eating a good variety of food, and would eat breakfast,lunch and dinner.

hope that was helpful.

Are you sure he isn't teething? Just a suggestion as my son is 6 1/2 months old and he is waking at night lately in obvious pain in his mouth. He has also been on solids for a little more than a month and if anything has been constipated. I thought softer stools came along with teething?
Don't forget to mix all of his food with breastmilk and get it as mushy as possible if you are cooking from scratch.
BTW, I am 39 and our kids are around the same age...cheers to the older mom!

Yes - more frequent & much smellier!

The waking at night with the back arching sounds like gas. Keep close track of what she eats during the day and when she wakes up that way so you can figure it out.

Congratulations on your little girl!

C.

Keep it simple. Introduce no more that a food a week I would suggest less. So line up what you have already introduced and work backwards, eliminating till you back a a comfortable experiance for her. Rice cereal, diluted if that doesnt bother her and you are still breast feeding is fine. Slowly introduce those vegies one at a time.

My daughter is 7 months and she seemed to have problems with the rice cereal. I switched her to whole grain oatmeal cereal instead and try to give her pears every other day and she is doing much better. She was constipated and gassy with the rice cereal and the oatmeal seems to be easier for her to digest. Good luck!

To an extent, this is normal during the transition to solid foods, but it also depends on diet and what the kiddo's system is ready for. Some foods like bananas, while healthy, can cause or exacerbate constipation if given in excess or it the kiddo isn't totally ready for them. A bit of unfiltered apple or prune juice can help as well as re-evaluating her diet with the help of your pediatrician. Good luck! Hope that helps...

Hi. My son is three now, but I breastfed him for over a year and a half. Babies do poop more often and they are more solid once they go to solid foods. Did you introdice one kind of baby food at a time? Like only giving her pees for a few days, then something else? There might be a particular one upsetting her tummy. I think you have everything right! It is so good that she does go right back to sleep when she wakes up at night. Good luck.

I would look at stopping the solids or perhaps giving just one at a time in very small amounts. Like one small amt of the same food until you identify the one that is bothering her. Food allergies later on can be extremely inconvenient so don't be in too much of a hurry to give solids. What you eat effects her as well via your breast milk.

My girls are now 6YO so starting solids is a distant memory...but I *do* remember that one of my girls seemed to get uncomfortable gas pains after eating carrots (I wouldn't have suspected carrots would cause a problem but after posting on another parenting bulletin board I found out that this was not an uncommon phenomenon). The good news is that she *did* grow out of that issue just like both girls grew out of the constipation they got from bananas and tofu when they were first starting solids.

Also since your daughter gets all the nutrition she needs from breastfeeding (this is true for the whole first year of a baby's life if I remember correctly) feel free to back off on solids whenever you think it's best. Their little digestive systems are still maturing so something that constipates now might be no problem in a few months.