The poop, the whole poop and nothing but the poop

[scorpioscuba]

Yeah, so if you couldn't tell this thread is about poop. 

Now that our little ones are well into their solids (of varying variety) what's going on with their poop? 

DD is doing BLW with some fruit and/or veggie purees mixed in for convenience. And LOTS of breastmilk still. She is having super hard little nugget poops. Now, she has ALWAYS been a drama queen about pooping (read: very vocal and expressive when it's happening) but these actually seem to be a bit uncomfortable at times... She is pooping regularly (~1-3 times per day). Should I be concerned? What is making them so hard? On one hand, I don't want to complain because these are SUPER easy to just plop in the toilet and flush since we do cloth diapers. On the other hand, I don't want pooping to hurt her and want to make sure things are A-Ok in there. 

What say you?

Feel free to add your own LO's pooping woes for us to weigh in on! 

[crimsonandclover]

DD3 is also doing lots of table food, a bit of purees, and lots of formula. Today for the first time (that I've seen - maybe DH or the nanny have seen it before) she had a "regular" piece of poop this am, then about 2 hours later one of her normal squishy baby poops (how much detail do we want here? her normal ones are oatmeal consistency). DD3 is also fairly vocal, but she never seems to be in distress, just grunts and sighs a lot. I think if your DD is doing that, then all is good.

If she seems distressed, though, then you might need to check with your pedi.

[NellieOleson]

I think if they are hard, dry nuggets you should call the pediatrician. Are they like shiny pebbles?

Constipation is more about the consistency of the poop (hard and dry) rather than the frequency of pooping.

After dd2 went eight days (!) without pooping it was still pasty and somewhat liquid. The ped said if it was hard they wanted us to call back and they would start her on prune or pear juice daily until they softened up.

[scorpioscuba]

Thank you both! It sounds like we might have a constipation problem, then. I haven't actually seen them the last couple of days, just received reports from H and my sister who have had her when she has pooped. They are definitely hard and dry, not sure about shiny though. I'll probably pick up some prunes or something first to see if that will get things moving and then call the pedi if not. She is otherwise happy and doesn't seem uncomfortable.

[NellieOleson]

scorpioscuba - dd1 has had many episodes of constipation, so we have had to deal with this stuff a lot.

In addition to the prunes, I'd also make sure to stop giving her any constipating foods - bananas, cooked carrots, white rice, white bread, etc.

Also, juices work better than fruits in this situation (because the sugars in them are what help the poops, and the sugar content is higher in juice), so you might see if she will take a couple ounces of prune or pear juice in a bottle twice a day if the prunes don't work.

Good luck!

[scorpioscuba]

NellieOleson This is super helpful! DS has never been constipated so this is new territory for me. Just picked her up from my sisters and on our way to Target. I'll definitely pick up the juice instead of the fruit. She has had bananas a few times mixed in with her yogurt but she hasn't had any white bread white rice or cooked carrots.

[silverspoon]

J's can be different from day to day. He every once in awhile will miss a day. If it starts getting really hard or he misses a day we avoid bananas, carrots, and rice. He does get yogurt and that seems to help if he has a day with a lot of loose poops. I just try to adjust his diet based on his output

Apples (not applesauce!), sweet potatoes, and peas also seem to help if it's getting really hard. I haven't given him any juice.

[pinktartan9]

We have had a few constipation issues here too. I do the pears/pear juice and avoid bananas. I have also given tummy massages to help with discomfort. She has always passed the poops without needing to go to the Dr. But we have been close!
I find as soon as she is sitting in her high chair she starts grunting and passing gas but actually pushes poops out best when she is on all fours😁

scorpioscuba good luck to you and your DD! Hopefully she gets it outta there soon!

[kcrkcs]

L goes a few days between poops sometimes but they are always quite squishy (like oatmeal). She has a stomach bug now and the only difference I am noticing is that instead of pooping daily it's been non stop all day. I think she pooped 6 times 😳😳😳
Anyway good luck!

[scorpioscuba]

Giving DD juice - in a bottle(!) - goes against all my sensibilities. But it's totally worth it if it helps her out!! She drank a little over an ounce of pear juice this afternoon and then flat out refused the rest. I'll have H try to give her more tomorrow. I did buy some pureed prunes as well just in case. Hopefully things start resolving themselves. Though I'm a little scared. H is supposed to take DD to their preview class of Kindermusik tomorrow. Please Dear God I hope she doesn't "clear up" while they are out of the house. I think H would be scarred for life! **Knocks on wood**

[14joa31]

I don't think DD has ever had a hard poop - they are always mushy. Good luck!!

[sjames2015]

Since starting solids most are small pasty (smooth peanut butter texture) and they smell horrible. After 2-3 of those then we have a huge more runny one. She goes everyday and if she misses one day she'll go the next day.

[NellieOleson]

scorpioscuba - good luck! And yeah - juice in a bottle is weird. In this case it is for a medical reason, so it's not like you're handing her some kool-aid or something!

I couldn't get dd2 to drink it, either, she didn't even take down a whole ounce. Hopefully your H has better luck.