I promised you a poo post, so here goes!
When B started solids, we had great fun spotting what she'd eaten the day before appearing in her nappies. A bit of broccoli here, a mushroom there, and I even watched her poo a green bean once, which was totally hilarious. So we were very much expecting this to happen with M too. However, within a day or two of starting her journey with solids, M's poos had become more formed, solid, unlike the breastmilky poos she'd been having since we'd sourced a regular milk donor for her supplements. I don't know whether she's digesting her food properly or doing a fantastic job of mashing the food up with her gums. I'm still waiting on a whole slice of courgette that I watched her swallow though! And now that she has 1 tooth, and a second about to emerge, it will be interesting to see how her poos change.
From her birth until she started solids, M has been an irregular and infrequent pooer - once to twice a week at most, but not constipated or struggling. They were formed whilst she was on formula supplements, with the odd runny, seedy, breastmilky poo here and there, and then all breastmilky when she was solely having breastmilk. Once M began solids, she began doing 3-4 poos a day, which was exciting and annoying in equal parts - I'm not a fan of poo!
In the past week though, she has started to struggle when pooing - her little face going bright red and having a little cry whilst straining. We never had this trouble with B, so I had to resort to Google and various friends for advice. I didn't feel comfortable trying brown sugar in water, or with giving her orange juice to drink, but the advice to avoid bananas for a bit and to introduce some more fruit and some dried fruits seemed fine. Accordingly, I steamed slices of a not very ripe pear, which M sucked on happily, and simmered some dates and prunes in a bit of freshly squeezed orange juice, which she really enjoyed. She was also happy to suck on some orange wedges - I left the skin on. You'll be pleased to know that her poos very quickly became softer and much bigger, so the fruit did the job.
I also introduced a bit of water at meal times. She has been cutting down a little on the amount of supplement she's been taking from the SNS, and so while I'm confident she's been meeting the calorie needs with solid foods, I felt she might be feeling a little thirsty. Well, she's now obsessed with water! If she sees my drink she holds her arms out and pants loudly until I allow her a sip.
So, that's the story of how we avoided constipation whilst baby led weaning.
And here's an obligatory photo of a baby covered in spaghetti bolognese:
Do you have any tips for avoiding constipation in babies as they transition to solid foods?
Need to catch up?
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