OT: drinking

mrshudson618

Sorry, not the fun drinking!

DS is 10 1/2 months old, and is a great eater. I think some days he eats as much food as I do lol. I have always nursed on demand, and over the past couple weeks his demand has dropped to morning, night, and naps most days. I am totally fine with this, as I was hoping not to tandem nurse, but I didn't want to force him if he wasn't ready.

The problem is that he has been really constipated, and I am afraid it is at least partly because he isn't getting enough fluids. I have cut out the foods i know to be problematic, and increased the helpful ones, but it hasnt made a big difference.

He will take a sip of water when offered, but will almost never seek out or pick up his sippy on his own. Is there a good way to get him more Interetested in his sippy, or should I just start offering the boob more often? Are there foods I can offer that are really hydrating that are suitable for someone his age? (All I can think of at the moment are fruits like watermelon). We have tried both straw cups and regular sippy cups, with no luck.

I know since he isn't a year yet that boob is probably the best option, but I can't help feeling like that is taking a step backwards.

CLLDLL

When you say constipated, are we talking real constipation or just less frequent slightly harder stools?

True constipation is going multiple days (I forget exactly how many but we''re talking more than three) without pooping and when he does poop it'll be hard/pebbly and tough to pass.

If he's just pooping less often and/or with a thicker consistency that's normal. BM is a natural diuretic. Decreasing nursing will naturally slow things down a bit. If he truely is constipated I think I'd start offering the boon more often for a while. After a year you can try things like offering prune juice, trying a regular cup instead of a sippy, even carrying around your own straw cup of water and letting him see you drink from that often, even letting him drink from your straw cup.

mrshudson618

The frequency hasn't really changed, and he has always had really firm stools since starting solids. The change has been that it has become difficult and painful for him to go.

haileyq

I would try offering him water from a regular cup with meals.

YellowLily2013

We do fruit / veggie smoothies that ds loves! I'd stay away from breads and crackers while and focus on fruits, veggies and meats since those all have juices.

My ds is the same age as your ds and we actually limit his water because he'd drink it ALL. We did an open cup first but have also introduced a sippy and straw cup. He loved the straw! That's how I do smoothies too.

unaveragejane

Plums and pears help get things going when DS is backed up. He had a tough time when we transitioned to solid foods, so our pedi suggested giving pear or prune juice (diluted 1:1 with water) in small amounts, as well.

joyfultrex

DS is about the same age (1/2ish month younger) and recently we are running into the same issues. He still nurses 8 times a day though. He has recently really been upping what he eats at meals, and I think that is what is causing the hard poops. We are doing a regular cup. He gets more out of that than he does from a sippy.

mrshudson618

Chickypoo2468 said:

You should be offering more. 3 sessions a day isn't enough bc they need all those calories and fat til they are 1, so 10 months is too early to drop feedings like that. They don't demand more bc they are busy exploring and worrying about the world and all the fun new stuff they can do.

I get this, but his birthday is in 6 weeks. Its not like there is a switch that is magically flipped on his birthday to make it okay, so I don't see 6 weeks as a huge deal on this issue.

Maybe I am just selfishly trying to make it okay, because I HATE nursing pregnant. I do have an open can of formula, maybe I will just offer him that instead since it will go to waste if I don't anyway.

Kelly11235

Our son wouldn't drink from a sippy cup.  But he loves his Reflo cup.  It's basically an open cup with a doohickey in it that slows the flow so he doesn't pour it all down his front.

I think the doidy cup looks like a similar concept and may be the next one we try.

(Both links are to amazon.com, but they're available elsewhere too.)

CLLDLL

mrshudson618 said:

You should be offering more. 3 sessions a day isn't enough bc they need all those calories and fat til they are 1, so 10 months is too early to drop feedings like that. They don't demand more bc they are busy exploring and worrying about the world and all the fun new stuff they can do.

I get this, but his birthday is in 6 weeks. Its not like there is a switch that is magically flipped on his birthday to make it okay, so I don't see 6 weeks as a huge deal on this issue. Maybe I am just selfishly trying to make it okay, because I HATE nursing pregnant. I do have an open can of formula, maybe I will just offer him that instead since it will go to waste if I don't anyway.

I totally understand just being done with nursing.  I'm sure it's even worse when you're KU.  So no judgement here, if formula is what you decide to do.  

I did want to give you a heads up that formula can actually make constipation worse though.  There's a lot of iron in it.  DS1 was FF, and we constantly had to give him diluted prune juice to keep things moving.  

Do you ever pump or hand express?  What about giving him BM slushies?  I also really like Jane's suggestion of pears and plums.  You could offer those fresh or in a smoothie or even make a puree, add some juice and freeze it to make a popsicle for him.  

unaveragejane

CLLDLL said:

mrshudson618 said:

You should be offering more. 3 sessions a day isn't enough bc they need all those calories and fat til they are 1, so 10 months is too early to drop feedings like that. They don't demand more bc they are busy exploring and worrying about the world and all the fun new stuff they can do.

I get this, but his birthday is in 6 weeks. Its not like there is a switch that is magically flipped on his birthday to make it okay, so I don't see 6 weeks as a huge deal on this issue. Maybe I am just selfishly trying to make it okay, because I HATE nursing pregnant. I do have an open can of formula, maybe I will just offer him that instead since it will go to waste if I don't anyway.

I totally understand just being done with nursing.  I'm sure it's even worse when you're KU.  So no judgement here, if formula is what you decide to do.  

I did want to give you a heads up that formula can actually make constipation worse though.  There's a lot of iron in it.  DS1 was FF, and we constantly had to give him diluted prune juice to keep things moving.  

Do you ever pump or hand express?  What about giving him BM slushies?  I also really like Jane's suggestion of pears and plums.  You could offer those fresh or in a smoothie or even make a puree, add some juice and freeze it to make a popsicle for him.  

Yeah, I should have added that DS1 was formula fed AND he was on the kind for reflux that has some rice starch in it, so the poor guy had some really hard poops. This may be why the dr okayed some juice for him.

Into+the+Kitty

One year is the bare minimum to have their caloric consumption be made up of a majority of BM or formula, and all recommendations are to continue on for longer as a supplement to a toddler's diet.

When the recommendation is to start solids from four to six months (which the WHO recommends only after 6 months) would you start the at two or three months because it's basically the same difference?

You absolutely should be supplementing with formula if you are not willing to increase the amount you are BFing. His body needs it for proper development.

flummadiddle85

CLLDLL said:

mrshudson618 said:

You should be offering more. 3 sessions a day isn't enough bc they need all those calories and fat til they are 1, so 10 months is too early to drop feedings like that. They don't demand more bc they are busy exploring and worrying about the world and all the fun new stuff they can do.

I get this, but his birthday is in 6 weeks. Its not like there is a switch that is magically flipped on his birthday to make it okay, so I don't see 6 weeks as a huge deal on this issue. Maybe I am just selfishly trying to make it okay, because I HATE nursing pregnant. I do have an open can of formula, maybe I will just offer him that instead since it will go to waste if I don't anyway.

I totally understand just being done with nursing.  I'm sure it's even worse when you're KU.  So no judgement here, if formula is what you decide to do.  

I did want to give you a heads up that formula can actually make constipation worse though.  There's a lot of iron in it.  DS1 was FF, and we constantly had to give him diluted prune juice to keep things moving.  

Do you ever pump or hand express?  What about giving him BM slushies?  I also really like Jane's suggestion of pears and plums.  You could offer those fresh or in a smoothie or even make a puree, add some juice and freeze it to make a popsicle for him.  

I was gonna say, isn't there a chance the formula could make his constipation worse. But I haven't formula fed, so I thought maybe I just didn't know anything. 

I get being done with nursing. Even with DS, who has always been great, there are times I consider weaning before #2 is born. Especially if his latch isn't just right, or teething, or who knows, there have been times it has hurt. But I'm not always sure it's from being PG, or just from all of that other stuff. 

Personally, I would probably be paranoid about the formula making it worse if he wasn't regularly taking formula to begin with just because I wouldn't be sure if it would be a formula that would agree with him. 

What does he do with the straw/sippy cups? For a while, DS knew how they worked, but he would just spit everything back out and be a wet mess. I feel like the Munchkin straw and sippies have a little more resistance than something like the Take n Toss straw cup. He seemed to do better with those than the soft spout sippies, and the take n toss. Maybe since he was EBF? Who knows. 

Shot glasses (we have a couple metal ones) also worked pretty well. At least, when he wasn't dumping them out.