Just a quick question. We are totally into solids now and the boys are drinking less of their bottles and eating more solids. Stephens poop has stayed pretty much the same but Matthew is now like little rabbit's poos. I thought he may need a little more fluid but even though I offer the sippy cup all the time, 99% of it runs down his chin. I gather harder poos are a by-product of more solids but should they be that dry? Reminds of when he got constipated on the first formula we tried. :roll: He has plenty of fruit in his daily solids (2/ day). Any other suggestions or is he destined to have hard poos???

You're right about the rabbit turds not being quite right. Brandon (my non-refluxer) gets those quite often. When it happens, I just make sure that he gets a bit more watered down apple juice. It works wonders for him. You could maybe try giving a bit more fruit and vegies too.

Little rabbit turds are not so good. Recently, I have come across a load of information that no matter how much you increase fluids the intestines suck back the vast majority of it before it gets down for "passage" so really fluids are a moot point. The suggestion was of course fibre which can aid in retention of fluid through the intestines and fruit.

Does he have DGE at all? If he has a motiliy problem then the poop stays even longer in his intestines and the longer the poop is there the more fluid is absorbed back into the body and the harder the poop will be. Are they truly little turds?

Let me know if he has any diahrea in between as that could signal the start of "pockets" in his bowels.

Leigh

Yes, they are little turds... Ahem... what a topic!!! LOL
I suspect he has DGE- I have thought that for a long time due to the vomitting hours after a feed etc but GP wasn't so sure (he's not keen to do invasive tests on littlies). He is having fresh veges (I'm doing them myself) and fruit and custard. We are also having rice cereal with fruit and formula. My poor wee man... he was doing so good in the poop department once we found a formula he was tolerant of... even the follow-on formula (for 6 months on) has agreed with him. Ho hum......

Fruits and veggies good, custard may be binding him. One thing that our crazy "King of the mineral oil GI" told me that was true is that sugar is not so good for bowels and can cause constipation. Try to limit it or cut it out for about 4 or 5 days and see if there is a difference. Longer would be better, but I know you do not want to limit yourself on foods too much. Hopefully you would get a good idea in that short time frame.

If he has DGE it would make sense all those bunny turds. Based on what you said, I would tend to believe it, too.

LOL! Seems that I am talking a lot of "poopy talk" tonight. :shock:

Leigh

Have you tried oatmeal as a cereal yet? That may help him...the rice can be very constipating for some kids. What is his formula intake per day? My older daughter always had constipation problems as a baby, and it was hard tofigure out what helped at that age. Once he is old enough for blueberries...that helped here!

Kim

They don't recommend oatmeal cereal here until 9 months so that's not really an option. Leigh, what do you mean by sugars- like the natural ones found in the fruits you mean?? I don't add anything to what I make except the water they are cooked in. As it so happens, his poop was soft today! Maybe it's the change from tinned/jarred baby food to home made stuff. Kim, he still has 4 bottles a day of 7-8oz!

I meant more the custard for the sugar source. Natural sugars found in the fruits are fine, just the cane sugar can be a problem for binding.

Good news on the soft poops! Looks like we have had a lot of bowel action on the boards today... LOL

The homemade stuff is likely agreeing with him. :)

Leigh

Hi sarah!,

Silly question but have you introduced a new cereal to him? Maybe a mixed grain one? My ped told me that the mixed grains "can" cause some hardened stools. Strange that they dont recommend oatmeal until 9 mos. It is one of the first solids listed to try here at 4 months. Zac is currently on his oatmeal and we're going for barley tomorrow. I'm going to stay clear from the mixed grains for a while. ALthough I suppose you're feeding both the boys the same thing so the food probably wouldn't be the issue, huh?