Does baby food make babies constipated
Starting Baby on Solid Food | Nutrition | Patient Education | Longwood Pediatrics | Practices | Alliance
General information
You should generally start solid foods between 4-6 months of age. Starting solids earlier than this will not cause your baby to sleep longer at night and may cause digestive problems. For your baby’s first year, breastmilk or formula is the most important part of her diet. As you introduce solids, make sure that she is still drinking adequate amounts of formula or breast milk.
Feed your baby all solids from a spoon. Putting cereal in the bottle is not a good idea, and part of learning about solids is learning to eat with a spoon. You may want to start solids at a time when your baby is hungry but not starving, such as after he has had a little formula or breast milk, but not after a full milk feeding when he is not at all hungry.
Try to introduce new foods with enthusiasm, but do not force your child to eat something. If your child is not interested in a new food, put it away and try introducing it again later. When introducing new foods, there should be an interval of 2-3 days between each new food so that you will know if your baby is having a reaction to a new food.
If your baby develops vomiting, rash, or diarrhea, please do not give that food again and discuss this reaction at your next visit. If your child develops hives or breathing problems, please call the office.
What foods to introduce
- Feeding suggestions for your baby (download)
Somewhere between 4 and 6 months old, you may begin to introduce first foods such as infant cereals, pureed fruits, pureed vegetables, and pureed meats. Start with about one or two tablespoons of food once or twice a day. It is important to make sure that some of your infant’s early foods contain iron, which is important for all babies’ health. Iron-rich foods include iron-fortified baby cereals, meats, and beans.
Once your child is about 8 months old and sitting up well, you may introduce finger foods such as biscuits, Cheerios, pasta, soft bread/toast, small pieces of soft vegetables or fruits, and shredded chicken or meat.
A note on constipation: Sometimes when a baby starts on solid foods, he will become constipated (hard stools). If your baby becomes constipated, use whole wheat or barley cereal instead of rice cereal and avoid bananas and sweet potatoes, which are constipating. All the fruits which begin with “P” (prunes, plums, pears, peaches) will help soften your baby’s stool, so give them often if your baby is having hard stools. If your baby is constipated, you may also give him 1 ounce of prune juice mixed with 1 ounce of water every day or two.
Beverages
For the whole first year, breast milk or formula should be your baby’s primary beverage. Typical amounts are listed in the table at the end of the sheet. Fruit juice tends to be high in sugar and fills up babies so they eat less nutritious food. We do NOT recommend giving juice to your baby in the first year.
Food sensitivities and allergies
While food allergies seem to be more common among children than they were in the past, no one knows the reason for this.
We do not recommend restricting any specific foods for babies because of concerns about allergies, but if you have food allergy questions or a family history of specific food allergies, please discuss this with your provider.
Citrus fruits and tomatoes may cause a rash around the mouth in young children, but this is not a true allergy and is not dangerous; if it happens, you may want to cut back on these types of foods and try them again at a later time.
Peanuts and peanut butter
Recent research suggests that early and continued eating of peanut products decreases the chance of developing a peanut allergy. Some children will still be allergic to peanuts, but introducing peanuts at 4-6 months can prevent peanut allergy for many children. If your child has other food allergies or severe eczema, (or if your family history causes you to be concerned), please discuss blood testing for peanut allergy before you introduce peanuts.
Other infants should begin eating peanut products at 4-6 months.
You can mix a small amount of smooth peanut butter into your infant’s baby cereal or pureed food. Bamba, a peanut puff product (available online and in the Israeli or Kosher food section of some grocery stores) can be crumbled into baby cereal. Give a small amount the first few times, and if it is tolerated without hives continue to feed peanut containing products 3 times a week. Older infants and toddlers should continue to eat Bamba or smooth peanut butter (spread thinly on bread or cracker) 3 times a week.
Caution!
- Nuts, whole grapes, spoonfuls of peanut butter, round slices of hot dog, hard raw vegetables, popcorn, hard candies, and ice are all choking hazards and should not be given to your child until at least 4 years old.
- All foods you give younger children should be soft and in small pieces.
- Do not give your baby honey until he is over 1 year old (honey can carry botulism spores that are dangerous for a young baby but not for older children or adults).
- Do not home prepare beets, turnips, carrots, spinach, and collard greens while your child is an infant. These can be high in nitrates when prepared at home, but are safe if given as store-bought baby food.
Are There Baby Foods that Help with Constipation?
While parenting brings many surprises, one of them is likely how much you’ll think about poop, or lack thereof, especially during that first year. But here you are worrying about your baby’s digestive tract and convinced that they’re constipated.
If you’ve recently introduced your baby to solid food, then your worries may be on target: solid foods can put a strain on your baby’s developing digestive tract and cause constipation. But there are things you can do to help!
Before you begin treating constipation you should determine if there is really an issue at all. So here’s the scoop on poop and how to tell if your worries are founded and your baby is constipated.
Breastfed babies
During the first few weeks, you’ll find yourself changing diapers with alarming regularity.
Figure in every feed or so.
But don’t despair, because by the time your baby reaches 6 weeks old, they may have a bowel movement only once or twice a day. On the other hand, they may have one only every 7–10 days. (Yep, the frequency really can vary that much.)
The poop is yellow, soft, runny and sometimes lumpy and the smell isn’t unpleasant.
Formula-fed babies
A newborn, formula-fed baby typically poops up to five times a day. At about 6 to 8 weeks, this may decrease to around once a day.
Formula-fed babies have poop that is a camel to brown color with a thicker consistency, more like paste. Most likely, the less-than-aromatic smell means you’ll hermetically seal soiled diapers before you toss them into the garbage.
Signs that your baby is constipated
You’ve noticed that your baby’s tummy isn’t following the schedule that you got used to. Could it be constipation? Here are the signs that could confirm your suspicions:
- You notice that they cry or fuss while they’re trying to have a hard bowel movement.
- The poop, when it does come, is like hard pellets.
- You notice streaks of red blood in the hard poop.
While it’s not easy for a baby on a liquid diet to become constipated, trouble can start when you start introducing your baby to solid foods at around 6 months. Here’s why:
New food types
Think of it as a learning curve: Your baby’s body is learning how to cope with a new kind of food to digest as they move away from their full liquid diet and you need to soften the learning curve. (Pardon the irresistible pun.)
Changes to fluid intake
Decreased fluids will make your baby’s poop harder and more difficult to push out. If they’ve started solids, they may need to up their fluid intake to offset the solid food. And if your baby is teething or feeling unwell, it can also lead to them taking in less fluid than usual.
Lack of fiber
Even though they’re just starting out, babies’ tummies work like ours. While initially the move to solids that have fiber (from breast milk or formula, which don’t) can cause temporary constipation, their tummies will adjust.
Make sure to monitor your baby’s fiber intake and pair it with plenty of hydration for a smooth ride the same way that you monitor yours.
OK, so you’ve confirmed that your baby is constipated. The next step is helping to alleviate the strain on their developing digestive system.
Remember that you can keep offering these foods as your baby develops into a toddler and beyond. In fact, there is little research or evidence to support specific foods (including high fiber ones) in treating or preventing constipation in infants. Most of these recommendations are based on evidence for older adults and children.
Keep in mind that good practice when introducing solids is to introduce foods as single ingredients. That way, if your baby is allergic to certain foods, you’ll be able to more easily trace the source.
If your little one hasn’t tried these foods before, don’t rush the process. Test out one at a time and then introduce combinations once you’re confident they’re well tolerated.
- Back to basics. Give your baby’s digestive tract a break by feeding them mashed avocado or sweet potato purée. These are easy to digest and may give your baby the kick start they need.
- B vegetables. Think broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and beans. Purée these for a meal filled with fiber.
- P fruits. Your grandmother was right — bring on the prunes for quick work. A purée that includes a mix of prunes plus pears, plums, or peaches should work magic. Try subbing the prunes with dates for a change.
- Bring on the fiber. If your baby is over 8 months, you can offer them whole grains like oatmeal, fiber-rich cereals, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice.
- Water intake. Until 6 months an exclusively breastfed or formula-fed baby doesn’t need to drink water. Above this age, you can introduce small amounts of water.
Plums and pears with cinnamon
Cut 2 or 3 pears and plums into small pieces.
Place in a saucepan with a small amount of water and simmer until soft. Add in a sprinkle of cinnamon. Blend thoroughly.
Sweet potato with apple and peach
Cut half a sweet potato, one apple, and half a peach into small pieces. Place in steamer basket and cook until tender. Blend until smooth.
Spinach and apple purée
Chop two apples into small chunks and cook in saucepan with about 1/2 cup of water. When they’re tender, add about 1 cup of spinach and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Purée until smooth. Can be seasoned with cinnamon and ginger.
Some sources suggest prune, pear, and apple juices help to increase the water content in poop and can ease constipation.
However, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends steering clear of fruit juice for children younger than 1 year old. You can stick with these fruits as purées for similar effects.
What is it about prune juice? The high levels of sorbitol and phenolic substances in prune juice and dried plums act as a laxative and diuretic properties.
So if your child is over 1 year old, you can use small amounts of prune juice to encourage their system to run.
Some studies show that constipation may affect as much as 30 percent of children. If your child is part of the unlucky statistic, here are some foods that you may want to give them smaller amounts of until it passes:
- bananas
- dairy products such as cheese and yogurt
- low fiber foods like white rice, white bread, and white pasta
If you’re like most parents, you’ll be up for whatever you can try to help your baby get comfortable fast. Here are a few tricks that you can use to ease your baby’s constipation:
- Warm baths. These can relax those abdominal muscles and get them working.
- Exercise. Lay your baby on their back and push their legs alternately as if they’re cycling a bike. Alternatively, hold their knees and feet together and push their feet towards their belly.
- Massage.
Use your fingertip to draw clockwise circles on your baby’s stomach.
If you see that despite your home remedies, your baby still is having hard stools or hasn’t pooped after 2 or 3 days from their last hard stool, then contact your pediatrician. Especially if you consistently notice blood in their poop or your baby is extremely irritable and appears to be in pain.
While dealing with your baby’s toilet issues may seem a tad unsavory, you’ll soon be so used to it, that you’ll find yourself sharing your insights over coffee with other parents. And don’t be shy about sharing the yummy food combinations you discover to keep things moving.
What to do if the baby has constipation after feeding vegetables.
- Anastasia Anatolyevna, is it true that after the start of complementary feeding, constipation is less common in a child with natural feeding than with artificial feeding?
- Constipation can occur in children receiving both breast milk and formula milk.
Therefore, there is no direct dependence of constipation on the type of feeding.
When introducing complementary foods, it is important to observe the diet. It is necessary to feed the baby at certain hours, and give new products for him in the morning in order to have time to track the body's reaction to the food being introduced.
- What features of the diet or diet increase the risk of stool retention?
- The rarest cause of constipation in children, not related to nutrition, is a congenital pathology of the intestine. Constipation with the introduction of solid food is more often due to a violation of the rules of feeding.
Constipation after first feeding: causes
- Failure to meet deadlines, eg starting complementary foods early.
- Initially large portions of food - although you need to start with microdoses in the amount of 1/3-1/2 teaspoon.
- First complementary food with multi-component products - according to the rules, first give mono-component complementary foods (white and green vegetables, such as zucchini, or gluten-free cereals from one cereal).
- The introduction of several new products at once - in fact, it is important to observe gradualness, in turn with a weekly or even slightly longer interval.
- The beginning of complementary foods with semolina or rice porridge - they strengthen.
- Water deficiency — stool contains a large percentage of water, and if it is not enough supplied to the body, the stool becomes hard, it is difficult to go to the toilet.
- Individual sensitivity, food allergy.
- Constipation from complementary foods - what to do to quickly alleviate the child's condition?
- If a child has constipation with the start of complementary foods, first of all, it is necessary to interrupt the introduction of food products and analyze the possible causes of stool retention in order to isolate and eliminate the real one.
If the delay in bowel movements does not cause discomfort to the child, he is gaining weight well, cheerful and cheerful, then this condition cannot be called constipation.
You can wait a bit, observe the behavior of the child. If the stool is restored, complementary foods can be continued.
Read also
- about digestive disorders in infants.
Constipation during the introduction of complementary foods: how to help a baby at home
— What are the most common mistakes parents make when trying to relieve constipation after introducing complementary foods?
“This is an emergency enema and laxative suppository. Parents try to alleviate the condition of the babies as quickly as possible by mechanical means, but they ignore the additional administration of fluid, massage, and regular laying on the stomach. Sometimes the anus is stimulated with a cotton swab, which is undesirable, since the reflex must be fixed on its own , without outside help. This delays the timing of self-defecation.
- With home-prepared complementary foods, constipation is less likely to occur in a child's life.
This is true?
- This is an absolute delusion, since the cause of constipation has nothing to do with the method of preparing complementary foods. It is important to identify the food that the child does not tolerate, add more fluids and reduce the amount of food eaten.
- Are MAMAKO 9 purees suitable?0076 ® with goat curd for the first feeding?
- This puree contains fruits and cottage cheese. Dietary fiber has a beneficial effect on intestinal motility, and it is easier for the child to go to the toilet. Goat curd is easily and comfortably digested in the baby's stomach, unlike a cow's milk product. In addition, the features of goat's milk increase the bioavailability of macro- and microelements, and cottage cheese itself is a source of calcium, phosphorus and essential amino acids. Therefore, children's fruit puree with goat's cottage cheese is a healthy complementary food and a delicious treat for kids.
Children's constipation is not an enemy, but parents need to understand what caused it, and then eliminate the cause correctly and in time.
A small increase in fluid intake and physical activity is often enough to prevent constipation in a child. Sometimes it makes sense to simply reduce the amount of food or remove complementary foods for a while. Depending on age, type of feeding and nature of complaints, relief for constipation may vary. Therefore, it is better to discuss the problem with the doctor in order to exclude constipation in the child and not return to it again.
* Breast milk is the best food for babies. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a child's life and continued breastfeeding after complementary foods are introduced until the age of 2 years. Before introducing new products into the baby's diet, you should consult with a specialist. The material is for informational purposes and cannot replace the advice of a healthcare professional. For nutrition of children from 6+ months. The product is certified.
Constipation in children. Diet and gymnastics of a child with constipation.
Constipation is a very common problem in children. Why?
With the start of complementary foods, stools in infants most often improve. This is due to the introduction of fiber into the child's diet, as well as an increase in the child's motor activity.
But after 1 year the number of children suffering from constipation starts to grow again. This is due to the refusal of breastfeeding, the transition to solid food, a decrease in the amount of water in the diet. Approximately every fifth child after a year suffers from constipation. How to deal with this problem?
For your health - the recommendations of the pediatrician of the clinic "Lor Plus", doctor of the highest category Anna Gennadievna Marakulina .
What are the most common causes of constipation in children?
- Insufficient fluid volume.
- Diet, poor in fiber.
- Insufficient physical activity.
How to avoid constipation in a child?
To prevent constipation, the child must drink enough fluids.
Be sure to teach your child to drink ordinary water. A child over 3 years of age is required to drink at least 2 glasses of water a day.
— Do not give your child sweet and carbonated drinks, strong tea and coffee. They have a diuretic effect, contribute to the development of dehydration and constipation.
- Cold water stimulates peristalsis. And warm water has a relaxing effect on the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract and is quickly absorbed. Therefore, in case of constipation, it is recommended to give a child up to 3 years old 1/2 cup, and over 3 years old - 1 glass of cool water in the morning on an empty stomach. Start with water at room temperature. If the effect is not achieved and the state of health permits, the water temperature is gradually lowered. It should be pleasantly cool. In this case, peristalsis is stimulated by rapid filling and irritation of the stomach, and then the intestines.
- There are drinks that have a laxative effect. Dairy products, plum and beet juice, dried fruit compote (prunes, dried apricots, raisins), chamomile decoction, children's teas with fennel and dill.
By including these drinks in your baby's diet, regular stools can be achieved. But this should be done gradually, starting with small amounts, so as not to cause a digestive breakdown in the child.
Does diet help with constipation?
Everyone knows that a diet for constipation should include a lot of fiber-rich foods, and these are vegetables and fruits. But not everyone knows how much and what kind of fruits and vegetables a child needs.
| 1-3 years old | 3-7 years old | Over 7 years old | |
| Vegetables, total (of which potatoes) | 350 grams (120) 5 0 gr (250) | 550 gr (250) | |
| Fruit | 100-150 gr | 250 gr | 250 gr |
| Fresh vegetables | 5-7025 5 9024150 gr | 200 gr | |
| Juices | 200 gr | 200 gr | 200 gr |
| Dried fruit | 10-15 grams | 200 gr | 200-300 gr | stool, it is enough just to establish a drinking regimen and regularly feed the child with fruits and vegetables in according to age. Some people need to supplement their diet with laxative foods. These include: plums, beets, prunes, raisins, figs, dates, dried apricots, legumes, nuts. They should be present in the diet of a child prone to constipation. Include them in the diet should be gradually. For some, it will be enough to consume one of the listed products daily, while others will need to include several in the diet. Cereal porridges with shells (buckwheat, oatmeal, pearl barley, wheat) and wholemeal bread are also useful. Fermented milk products (kefir, curdled milk, fermented baked milk, biolact) are best consumed before going to bed. 1 glass a day is enough. You can increase the daily intake of kefir to 2 glasses per day. Refined rice, blueberries, pears, sweets and pastries, flour products made from premium flour, strong tea, animal fats have a fixing effect. It is better for children prone to constipation to abstain or significantly limit their use. I recommend trying several recipes for constipation that I and my patients have tested: — Take equal amounts of dried fruits: figs, dates, dried apricots, prunes, wash well, pour over with boiling water, destone, turn through a meat grinder or chop in a blender . Take daily in the morning on an empty stomach (30 minutes before meals) 1-2 teaspoons with 1 glass of water with lemon. Children under 3 years old - 1/2 cup of water. This recipe can be used by children from 1 year old, but be sure to first test how the child tolerates each dried fruit separately, and then prepare the mixture. — Sour milk + prunes at night: wash 10-20 prunes well, brew with boiling water for 5-10 minutes, a small child can be mashed. Eat before going to bed with 1 glass of kefir, biolact, fermented baked milk, curdled milk. Wheat bran is a very useful product, because contain approximately 50% fiber, as well as many vitamins and minerals. You can buy them at a pharmacy. Exercises for constipation. Helps or not? In my experience, it helps a lot! Active and mobile children are less likely to suffer from constipation. For the prevention of constipation, sports are useful: running, swimming, gymnastics, squats, tilts, exercises to strengthen the abdominal press. A child suffering from constipation, in addition to following a diet and drinking regimen, is recommended to do a few simple things in the morning: - Get up early so that there is enough time for all morning activities, including going to the toilet, water (possible with a mixture of dried fruits), Is constipation so dangerous? The causes, and hence the consequences of constipation can be different: Let your baby be always healthy! Experienced paediatricians see children in our clinics: Make an appointment with the Pediatrician at a convenient time for you
Please note that:
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But not for everyone. 
