BLW And Poop Issues

MJM3108

Hey there mamas! Looking for a little advice on a pooping problem our little guy is having. We started with BLW when he was 6 months old, and now he practically eats everything, lol. He also drinks water out of his sippy throughout the day and sometimes we give a 50/50 juice/ water mix- a "P" juice. He doesn't really like juice, though, but that's a whole other thing. 

So, my issue is, he seems to alternate between the normal "looser" baby type poops and harder, formed, more grown up type poops, the latter really causing him distress, straining and pain while pooping. Is this a normal transition for his age (10 months, 1 week for those on mobile) or should I consider this constipation? We try and offer at least one "P" fruit a day- pears, peaches, prunes, etc to keep things moving, so to speak, and we (he) eats lots of veggies, too. His pedi didn't seem too concerned at his 9 month appt, but I hate to see my guy strain and cry to poop. He does poop every day- every other day. I'm at a loss, is this normal or a result of the BLW?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA ladies!

pixieprincss

That sounds like normal transitional poop in my world. But, I'd stop the juice. Since your guy is already a whole fruit eater, any nutritional value the juice it does has he can get from whole fruit plus benefit from the fiber instead. Juice can actually play toward constipation because of lacking the fiber.

=Lee=B

Pretty normal I think.  My daughter often has formed, adult like poops.  They are still smooshable.  I tend to squish them (in diaper) when changing her diaper to ensure they are not rock hard and dried out. 

Remember that baby may not be in pain, but rather is now aware of this bodily functions and notices these different poops so strains and complains a bit because something feels different.  I think my daughter was almost scared the first few times because they were so different than the previous breastmilk poops.

If he is straining a lot of trying to poop but can't poop, poops out tiny marbles of hard poop, or hard, dry poops then it would be considered constipation.

There is no need to give a baby juice.  It really shouldn't be given, at all, before age 2.  There just isn't the nutritional benefits that fruit provides, it is sugar water, even when diluted and eventually kids start to only want sugar water and refuse plain water.

 

MJM3108

Thanks, ladies! I really appreciate your advice.

We hardly ever give DS juice because he just doesn't drink it. Except prune juice. He loves anything prunes, lol! It was actually our pedi at his 9 month appt who recommended juice. I told her he eats fruit, so I felt no need to give him juice, for the same reasons mentioned above. 

I do the "squish test" in his diaper, too, just to make sure. For the most part, they are still squishable, but occasionally, he has the little marble poops. I make sure he eats prunes whenever that happens. This morning, though he strained/ cranked for like 5 minutes, and I thought for sure he had pooped, but there was nothing there. 

I'm going to have to have DH read this later, because whenever he sees DS straining to poop, he gets all up in arms and starts freaking out that he's in pain, and we need to call the pedi. It's kind of adorable, actually. Glad to know this is the transition to more grown up poops, and not a problem. 

=Lee=B

My daughter recently (2 weeks or so ago) discovered she can control her system.  She sits around attempting to burp, toot and poop.  Half the time I don't think she needs to but she wants to because she can.  So there she sits/stands straining to see what happens.  It's all experimental! Babies are weird.

MJM3108

@Regal Mama, I unfortunately was unable to breastfeed due to previous breast surgery. Most of my mammary glands were removed. We give DS Earth's Best Organic Soy formula.

nosoup4u

Normal. DS2 had a lot of trouble pooping when he transitioned to people food. I think things got easier around 18 months, at the latest.