My 6 Month Old Strains And Cries When She Poops

by Melissa Tarte
(Windsor ON Canada)

I started my 6 month old on solids about 2 weeks ago and since then she has been straining and cries when she is going to have a bowel movement. Her poop comes out as a soft round ball.

I have been giving her vegetables and fruit that aren't constipating. I also mix her cereal with water instead of breast milk. I have also given her prunes at most of her meals to hopefully soften her bowel movements but it seems to cause her gassy pains.

Any suggestions?

Baby Help Line:

Straining And Pain When Introducing Solid Foods

It is very common that breastfed babies have a hard time coping with the introduction of solid foods. Breast milk is so easy to digest that it is a bit of a shock for their small tummies to start with solid foods.

Since your daughter is so uncomfortable, I suggest you take it a bit more slowly with the introduction of solid foods.

Take a way one of her solid meals for a couple of weeks and increase the amount of breast milk you give her instead.

If she is still in pain, you can even consider stopping completely for a week or two and then start all over again, but slowly. (I actually had to do that three times with my youngest baby, before I could carry on with the introduction of solid foods to him.)

I'm not quite sure why you use water instead of breast milk to mix with the cereal. If it works for you, mix with breast milk, since this is so easy for your daughter to digest, and it also contain a lot of the nutrition that is beneficial for her.

Last, if she becomes gassy from the prunes, you can try pears, apricot or kiwi instead; they have a similar effect. Pear juice works well too.

Rice cereal can cause constipation, so see if you can find cereal based on oat meal instead. Other great first foods for sensitive tummies are sweet potatoe and avocado. Here are more recipes for food introuction, if you want to cook some baby food.

I hope this helps a bit!

Paula

More Babies With Tummy Issues After Introducing Solids

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My 6 Month Old Strains And Cries When She Poops

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Sep 25, 2008

Constipation
by: Amy

Another thing you can try is apricots. Just a few spoonfuls helped my kids so much at that point.

Feb 25, 2009

painful poops
by: Anonymous

My 6 month old has a hard time pooping. Usually every 4 days but it's been really solid lately. I just stopped the rice cereal and started on oatmeal, he's been on fruit and veggies for over a month now , has tried them all but hates prunes, wont even swallow them.. I've stopped giving him apples, bananas and carrots which are more likely to cause constipation..he's on simlac advanced since birth.. going to 6 month appt next week, hope doc. gives some suggestions.

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