pooping problems - any advice?

Lily recently started cereal - we did rice for awhile, then switched to oatmeal on Friday. She is now completely on formula. In the past couple of days she's been straining/pushing to poop. Yesterday it was kinda hard (tmi - sorry) and today she was crying and when I changed her there was a tiny bit of blood along with a small amount of poop. We're going to the pediatrician on Friday anyway for her 6 month visit, but i called. The nurse kinda blew it off, said it happens and just give her more water with her formula. I was going to start veggies today or tomorrow, but now I'm thinking I should wait until we see the dr. Any suggestions? I'll see if the water helps, but I thought you moms may have some other suggestions too. I think she may be teething too. She had been sleeping though the night, but woke up a couple of times the past few nights. I'm not sure if this could be related. I feel so bad for her. She is normally so happy.

TIA

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

I think the cereal could be binding her. You can try adding apples to it. Or if you want to give her veggies, try giving her carrotts. Or, you can go back to just giving her the rice cereal.

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Posted by SuzyQ

Posted by pmpkn087

I think the cereal could be binding her. You can try adding apples to it. Or if you want to give her veggies, try giving her carrotts. Or, you can go back to just giving her the rice cereal.

Thanks! I thought the rice would have been more binding than the oatmeal. But she seemed fine when she was eating that. Maybe I should go back to that. But she seems to like the taste of the oatmeal better. Thanks for the suggestions.

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Posted by pmpkn087

Posted by SuzyQ

Posted by pmpkn087

I think the cereal could be binding her. You can try adding apples to it. Or if you want to give her veggies, try giving her carrotts. Or, you can go back to just giving her the rice cereal.

Thanks! I thought the rice would have been more binding than the oatmeal. But she seemed fine when she was eating that. Maybe I should go back to that. But she seems to like the taste of the oatmeal better. Thanks for the suggestions.

Nope, the rice is more gentle on the belly. I suggest you stick to that and maybe try the oatmeal again in a few weeks.

Good luck!

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Posted by SuzyQ

Posted by pmpkn087

I think the cereal could be binding her. You can try adding apples to it. Or if you want to give her veggies, try giving her carrotts. Or, you can go back to just giving her the rice cereal.

Thanks! I thought the rice would have been more binding than the oatmeal. But she seemed fine when she was eating that. Maybe I should go back to that. But she seems to like the taste of the oatmeal better. Thanks for the suggestions.

Message edited 5/15/2007 4:25:21 PM.

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Posted by jinglemommy

Posted by SuzyQ

Posted by pmpkn087

I think the cereal could be binding her. You can try adding apples to it. Or if you want to give her veggies, try giving her carrotts. Or, you can go back to just giving her the rice cereal.

Thanks! I thought the rice would have been more binding than the oatmeal. But she seemed fine when she was eating that. Maybe I should go back to that. But she seems to like the taste of the oatmeal better. Thanks for the suggestions.

why is oatmeal more binding? my dr had my son start off on oatmeal? i guess just difference of opinion. tia for answering the question

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

mine use to give me 8 poopy diapers a day, right up until 3 weeks ago when we started rice cereal. Now he will go once a day, or every other day. I mixed in squash, but did not help. I started peas this week and he gave me one huge poop.

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

my DD looooooooved oatmeal better than rice after i introduced oatmeal, there was no going back....haha...what i did with that was first making it with breastmilk (or formula, whichever u are doing), and i would use gerber bananas/applesauce/peaches/pears and mix it all....i think the fruit helps with the flow out of the butt and the same with gerber veggies (carrots, squash, peas, sweet pots...)....in the beginning i always mixed all the stuff with the cereal bc the cereal has a lot of iron and stuff that they need...so she didnt really get the fruits of veggies by themselves until a little over 6 months....

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

You could always try prunes. They definitely help keep the pooping pipes clean. Pear or apples should help too. My DD strains sometimes too. When she first started cereal, her poop was only once a day or every other day. But now, almost 2 months later, she goes about 4X a day. She doesn't go a lot each time though... I swear as soon as she feels something in her bowels...she's pushing it out! Things should get better when you start fruits & veggies. Maybe stay away from bananas for a while. They can be binding.

Message edited 5/15/2007 6:52:04 PM.

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

We just started cereal also, and the oatmeal did a number on DS. He didn't have a BM for 4 days - we talked to our nurse and she said to give him some watered down pear juice (Gerber has a 1st foods juice), 1 oz for every month - so 6. She did suggest doing 3 ozs juice, 3 of water though... so we didn't have rapid progress!!! It worked!

Re: pooping problems - any advice?

Thank you all. I decided to skip the cereal entirely today, gave her more water in her bottle as the nurse suggested. She's happier now. We'll see how the pooping goes... I may still try some of your suggestions. Definitely no more oatmeal for awhile. Back to rice cereal tomorrow.