I was reading a fellow blogger's post a couple of weeks ago and the topic of poop came up. I thought, geez, I could do an entire post about our poo adventures! I mean seriously now. Pre babies, poop was a topic that was not readily discussed. . .ever. But now, somehow poo has become a daily topic of discussion! How often are they going? How much are they going? What's the consistency (hard/soft/pasty)? Color? Smell? Blowout? No blowout? Clothes change needed? How many wipes did it take to clean her up (two wiper/three wiper/four wiper?!)? Funny how much things change when you have kids!
(But they are super cute and full of smiles, so you don't mind the changes one bit!)
So. . .my reason for bringing up the topic of poo is that I am sure some of you have some useful advice for me. Yup, I am soliciting advice again. Imagine that! BUT, you guys have a wealth of knowledge and experience, so I know that pretty much regardless of the topic (even poo), that you guys probably have some info that can help a momma out! So here goes!
I make all of the girls baby food. We do chicken breast (and now chicken thigh), pears, peaches, bananas, applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, then yogurt (which I obviously don't make), oatmeal cereal, and prunes (on occasion, which the girls really don't like).
In a normal day they have cereal and pears, chicken and pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, broccoli or california blend, and yogurt. Some days we add in mac and cheese or mashed potatoes, or add a snack of bananas and applesauce mixed, but for the most part, the first sentence is what we eat for solids in a day. We drink breast milk too - 15-20 oz per day, and have one formula bottle at night.
We have a daily issue. Constipation. The pediatrician suggested that we try giving the girls juice - no more than 4 oz a day (we give them 2 oz juice mixed with 2 oz water)- to see if that would help them "go". While it does some of the time, there are plenty of times that it doesn't.
I was trying to figure out what was causing our problems in the first place to see if there was a way that we could correct it before it got to the constipation phase. When the girls had their ER mishap about 2 weeks ago, we had to go to giving them breast milk only for 24 hours. No juice, no formula, no food. Only breastmilk or pedialyte. While they were doing this "diet", they had no problems "going", and it was a normal, happy, poo consistency, color, etc.. We slowly started to add foods back in after the 24 hour period. When we added the chicken in, we got our issues back. We've reduced the amount of chicken that we give them a day to about 1 oz each, and I mix it with pears (as pears are a "p" so they are an anti-constipator), so I wouldn't think that it would cause too many issues. . .but it somehow still does.
Chicken is the only meat the girls are getting right now. I asked the pediatrician if it would make sense to switch out the meat to a red meat like steak, but she said that we would see the same problems regardless. So. . .I'm curious. Am I the only one in babyland with these issues? If not, what do you guys do to help your little ones "go"? Does it work?
If they are haivng these pooing issues now, are they just going to continue to have issues or even get worse as they get older? How strict do I need to be with their diets and avoid certain foods?
The suggestions I have heard so far to assist in the "going" process include adding apricots to their diet, avoiding the apples and bananas (which would be okay, but, I don't want the girls to never have apples or bananas simply because they could constipate them - I think that's silly!), and now leaving the skins on the fruits when I bake and puree them to add fiber. I've also heard that some moms give their babies miralax by sprinkling it on top of their food, which we could do if we got desperate. All good suggestions really. But what is tried and true for my readers? Throw it at me ladies! My ears are open! =)
As always, your advice and guidance is appreciated!!!
Until next time -
Megan
Hi Megan! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree they are 2 sweet it let the poo bother you! Haha! :)
My little miss m had the same issues. Are best bet was to incorporate prunes in her daily diet. Whether it was as food or juice she got some daily.
Happy 4th of July! :)
Thanks for your input Andrea! Did Molly get used to the prune juice, or was it easier to hide prunes in other foods? Which ones worked the best for you? And are you still having to give her prunes, or did the problem resolve itself at some point as she got older?
ReplyDeleteSee, I knew there were mommies out there that had gone through similar issues! Thanks for responding! =)
I was very lucky that both of them ate prunes right out of the jar (I didn't make their food) :(! You are a rockstar mommy!! I would use the prune juice to mix their cereal.
ReplyDeleteShe outgrew the problem. She still occasional will skip a day, but usually does not need any help. She does still get crabby if she gets unregular! :)
I also noticed that I typed are instead of our in my comment above!! Sorry about that!
We don't currently have this problem but when the girls were just on formula, Amelia was always getting constipated. 1 oz of prune juice a day did the trick for her.
ReplyDeleteOne of mine was that way. She outgrew it. We used that gerber prune juice, and it worked. WELL. Like, don't wear a cute outfit that day well. :) We limited the banana intake and upped the other fruits and veggies. By a year, the constipation was far behind us. So, there is a light at the end of this tunnel.
ReplyDeleteO was going through this, and had issues at the other end of the spectrum due to being on antibiotics twice last month. I decided to back off the bananas, but they love eating them so, like you, I didn't totally remove them from the diet. We do have pears every morning with their cereal and I added probiotics to their diet (we use Odo's Choice Infant Probiotic - refrigerated - I got it at Sprouts and just mix it in with the cereal because they eat it cold). Also, it's really hot here, so the girls each drink a sippy cup of water throughout the day. That seems to help too.
ReplyDelete