Introducing Solids to Daughter, Digestion Is Tough

Graham crackers at 5 months is really early. I would stick with feeding fruits and veggies one at a time. It can be hard for babies to digest foods at this early age. I would try sticking to breast milk or formula and add fruits and veggies slowly until she's 7 or 8 months. -www.weelicious.com

Did you increase her water/juice intake too? The solids absorb more so she'll need more liquid until her system adjusts.

dear Parents,

I agree with the general...except I wouldn't give her grahams at all until after 3 years old. No honey for children under three. If grahams are without honey then, fine, but not until around 9 months old. Rice cereal w/fruit, preferably bananas, apples, pears (white foods) Introduce others later; one at a time. Give her a day or two to see how her system adjusts,then procede.

Be blessed

Try going back and starting with one food, then add one at a time waiting about a week between each addition. Also, 5 months is still quite young for such variety. Did you check with her pediatriian about this? Mine always provided me with lists of foods and appropriate times for introduction.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Well, first off, did you get guidelines from your doctor? The reason I'm asking is that most pediatricians recommend waiting until 6 mos. to begin adding solids. Also, when you do, you begin with just a small (1-2 teaspoons) amount on the first few days, and only one food for one entire week. After that, you gradually add in new and bland foods at the rate of one per week. The reason you're doing that is to look and watch for adverse reactions---food allergies, excessive gas, etc. Go easy on that little baby and her tummy!

With my first child I fed him rice cereals after he was 6 months but definitely before he was 9-11months. That is what we are told, but unfortunately I found out later that babies do not have the digestive enzymes to break down grains until after they are 11months! A natropath who I was working with said not give my second baby grains until he was closer to a year! Perhaps your little one is having issues with the grains! A book I really enjoyed with my first was Super Baby Food.

I did take my time introducing foods to both of my children and started with one food at a time for a period of a week to see how they did. I was never a big fan of introducing foods before 6 months as they are not digestively mature to handle that. Traditional doctors do not have the nutritional knowledge natropaths or holistic doctors do, so I never really paid much attention to their information. My second child di not take to food as well as my first and it wasn't until he was closer to 17 months before he was really eating solids. I breast-fed him FULL time!

I HIGHLY recommend organic, fresh and whole foods over anything processed. Dr. Fuhrmans book" Disease-proof You Children: Feeding kids Right" is fantastic! I have a store and a blog on my site, www.bellysprout.com, where we discuss all kinds of natural mothering topics and have fun food ideas for the whole family.

Good luck!
C. Funk
www.bellysprout.com

Forget the solids for awhile. Your child doesn't need it. My daughter was very small and the dr didn't let us give her solids until she was a year old because, the solids fill their tummies and then they don't get enough breastmilk/formula. Confirm with your doc.

Susan gave you great feedback regarding the SLOW and GRADUAL introduction of foods. In addition to her great advice, I also have been watching my son for different milestones. Gerber even lists them as things to watch for before each introduction. Look at their website or ask your pediatrician.
I hope your baby feels better soon!

It could be a reaction to something she's eating - or the volume you are feeding her. Generally when you start with solids you start with one food, stick with just that one food for 3-7 days and then introduce another one. That way if she reacts to something, you know what is causing the issue. Obviously adding solids can change bowel movements but if she's really straining, you've constipated her. If she's up every two hours crying, her stomach is most likely upset. I'd say slow down seriously on the solids. I didn't start my kids on solids until 6 months and they started with like a teaspoon a day and we went from there. You should definitely not be feeding her enough solids to decrease her breastmilk or formula intake. Breastmilk and formula have around 20 calories per ounce. You don't find that kind of condensed nutrition in solid foods. They have very little stomaches so you need to make sure they are still getting 99% of their nutrition and calorie intake from breastmilk or formula. You definitely don't go from an all liquid diet to a lot of solids in a matter of days.

It is tough not to get excited about solids especially with your first baby but it sounds like you are doing way too much way too soon.

T.

My only question is how long has she been on solids?

At 5 months old, my son had just started solids and I was warned against introducing too much too fast. Their little stomachs need time to adjust to the idea of more than just Breast Milk or Formula. I was advised to start with just cereal for the first two weeks and then, add one type of puree every three days to prevent constipation and test for allergic reaction. This as far as I know is pretty common practice for introducing new foods and of course he became a smidge constipated and that is normal...but, laboring over poo is not okay.

Many veggies and fruits and infant snacks can be binding and cause constipation, it is important to balance them out with each other. This is tough to get the hang of and I found my best aid was www.babycenter.com, it has sample feeding schedules and was an awesome reference tool. The infant digestive system is completely is brand new, just like your baby and needs time and care to adjust to the introduction of new and different foods.

I would do something ASAP about the constipation, that is not okay and cand be harmful to your little one. If she is crying over it, then please call her pediatrician and ask for advice on what steps to take. It can be as simple as, introducing apple sauce to help ease her tummy, but please don't delay and get in touch with your doctor.

Best of Luck.

Hello, I am sure you are almost overwhelmed with the responses so far but I just HAVE to toss my 2 cents in the ring.

My pediatrician said every child is different s far as age they are "ready" for food. He said to wait for her to start reaching for and seriously "eying" my plate. That happened at about 4 1/2 months with my lil piggy.

I started out with the Stage 1 organic fruits/veggies/cereal (yes moms - my ped said to do them all) by mixing a bit of the cereal in with the fruit/veggie puree I was able to be certain she was not "overloading" on cereal and binding herself up.

She had two days at the beginning of food that she did not poop, I simply used the 3 finger pull along her left side just above the hip bone pulling down and she went right away. This stimulates the bowels and helps their body do the do without chemicals.

My girl has been holding food between thumb and forefinger [what you should wait for to give them cheerios etc.] since 6 months so she has had the "toddler" snacks since then.

My ped said that since she has jumped into food like she has I could give her anything I want [she was 7 months] and see if she had allergy but that she was fine for "real" food with mommy.

She is now 9 1/2 months eating everything that gets near her [we had to move the cat food bowls hahaha] and doing great. I have chosen to hold off on milk but she is already eating meat [loves it by the way] and has not had any digestion problems/binding/gassiness etc. at all.

Anyhow just remember that each baby is different and look for the feed me clues.

ps - she is a breastfed baby as well so she gets the best of everything :)
O.

I recommend this book highly: "Super Baby Food." It was fantastic. It has a schedule of what foods to introduce when, EASY EASY EASY tips on how to make your own baby food, and recipes. It also talks about digestion.

my daughter is 4.5 mo old. i was told tp start with rice. my daughter hates rice no matter how i make it so we went straight to bananas then apples. we tried sweet potatoes and she hated them. we had our 4 mo appt, late, and the doc said rice again. i sneak a little rice into bananas and apples and last night we tried carrots but the jury is out on that.
at this point it is only for taste and texture and because my daughter loves to eat with us. she has boobie at 4 or 430 and dinner around 5 then bath and boobie. it has not affected her boobie at all and she sometimes eats a lot of food like almost two containers.

ok point here, we only use stage one organic foods. they are mashed and pureed (sp?) and then put through a ricer. there is a difference between stage one and stage two apples and bananas and such and I do not want to make a mistake making my own food so I buy it. are you ricing the food? maybe that along with the amount and variety are causing problems.

i know a lot of moms make their food and that's great but i think it is a lot more work than people want to do at this young age and most moms only do half the job of making the food easily digestible.

also, i know my daughter is eating good organic food because i taste everything to make sure it tastes good and like it should.

even gerber makes organic stage one foods so they are easy to find at target and the grocery. so far i have not seen them at walmart but one can hope.

good luck i am right there with you age wise so if you need to talk please feel free to contact me. i love to have moms in the same boat i am in to talk to.
T. and Jadzia

First I would cut out the graham crackers and cherrios. Then I would cut out the rice cereals. I didn't start my baby on solids until 6 months. I tried rice ceral at 4 months and she got constipated for 4 days. So I stopped the rice and she went to the bathroom.
Good luck!

cut out the rice and only use oatmeal..i think at 5 months she shouldn't be having the fruits and veggies yet..just oatmeal..
w/ breast milk mixed in or formula..u can use suppositories on her..u can find the kind for children at the pharmacy..they're totally safe and fine to use just don't over do it. really solids shouldn't be introduced til 6 months..unless she's having reflux and needs the oatmeal to stop that.
babies guts are open til they are 6 months or something like that and it's harder for them to digest.

Stick with breastmilk for now. Way too young and when you do start with solids, do just one thing at a time for at least a week to see how she responds with it.

Avoid dairy and eggs for now especially if you are doing the vaccination schedule according to the CDC and AAP. Here is some information on vaccines that you need to be informed about that you do have choices on which shots she gets and when she gets them.

The Vaccine Book, Dr. Robert Sears
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childrens Vaccinations, Dr. Stephanie Cave
Evidence of Harm, David Kirby (investigative reporter)

www.909shot.org
www.tacanow.org go to Vaccines listed on the right
www.generationrescue.com

WOW...she sure is eating a ton of different things, for just starting out! No wonder she is getting digestion problems...and crying at night.

Foods right now are an "introduction" only... not a "feast."
Slowly. At this age, and just starting out, they should only start with single grain cereal... or some use bananas.

Remember, breastfeeding/formula is the PRIMARY source of nutrition for a baby for their First Year of life. NOT solids. And NOT water or juice. NO CITRUS at this age until after 1 years old.

They do NOT have to eat from all 5 food groups at each sitting. Usually, they only have ONE type of food, and portion sizes are just in terms of "tablespoons", not "jars."

Too much, too soon, is my take on it.

For our Pediatrician... foods are introduced SLOWLY from 6 months old, until about 1 year old... for BABY food. Not table food.

First single grain cereal... then yellow veggies, then green veggies, then multi-grain cereal, THEN "meats" AFTER 1 year old. So the process is gradual. One month at a time.

take care,
Susan

Hello,
We didn't introduce solids to our daughter until 6 months, and we only started with rice cereals, not fruit or veggies, etc. Fruit and veggies are hard to digest, so that may be the problem w/ your daughter's bowels. You might try to go back to just the rice cereal, and very very slowly start introducing new foods, one at a time. Maybe one new food item every few weeks. That worked for us and we never had any problems. Good luck!!

Hello, R.,

As a nutrition coach and mom, aim for foods from your local farmers' markets. They are the freshest, least polluted of all of our choices.

Aim for a non-genetically modified, organically or sustainably grown product wherever possible. See www.truefood.org

Aim for living foods. Whole, raw foods ideally, if you would like to give the gift of a healthy life, an abundant life. Please email me and I'd be happy to send you a great recipe selection (and excellent start for real knowledge about food and our bodies) It is entitled, "88 Recipes That Heal".

Loving your daughter through how you nourish her (and yourselves) is an extraordinary gift to give.

My very best to you all!

T.

www.myliveearth.net/T.

Hi..It sounds to me like she is eating too many foods for such a young age. Did the dr. recommend startig her on so many foods so young? I have a 5 month old and the dr. told me to introduce rice cereal at 6 months and then one new food every 4 days... I did the same with my older son and he did not have any problems. I would try to do just oatmeal for a week or so and then try rice and then very slowly do the veggies and fruit. I think she may be a bit young for the cheerios and the graham crackers. Hope this helps...I know some babies just have very sensitive digestive systems and it takes them a while to handle all the variety...Best of luck to you

We too had issues with digestion the first few months. I ended up just doing rice cereal from 6-7 months and she did great on it. I don't think they need a whole lot more except for breastmilk/formula at this point. It is more for practice. I would hold off on all the other goodies for at least another month or so. My DD is now 11 months and eats EVERYTHING in sight with no issues. I think at 5 months, her system may just be too immature to process all that food. I know a lot of mom's said oatmeal...but the grains in it are really hard for a baby that young to digest. My DD wasn't able to tolerate it until 9 months.

She shouldn't have anything but rice cereal until 6 months, and then you should start introducing things little by little. Start with sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash, then go to green vegetables. She shouldn't have cherios and graham crackers until she is at least a year old. I'm sure she is having problems with digestion.

Hold off on solids altogether until she is at least 6 months old, and even then, slow down and only intoduce one thing at a time. There is a great book that I can't recommend enough to help you wade through this challenging time. It is called, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. It has a chapter for each month of life (from 6 months on) which explains in detail which foods to offer when, and how to prepare and store them. It also has a great overview chart to tell you at a glance what she can eat at each age. It is a FABULOUS book! Good luck!

Sounds like gas to me! You'll want to start with the fruits and veggies that are easy to digest. I found with my boys peas went down good as well as sweet potatoes. And for fruits, pears and prunes were good simulators. Avoid the gassy veggies and fruits.

I had the same issues with my son. He stopped having bowel movements on his own so we called his ped. and he told us to try laxatives. It worked but I found myself using it to help him go far to often than I would have liked. I did not want him getting used to it as a means to go so I asked his ped. again and he suggested 2 tbls. of Miralax in his juice bottle everyday. It really did the trick. He was on it for a few months then I took him off and he's been doing great on his ever since. He's now 12 months old and thriving!! Good luck, I know it can be scary and frustrating.

Usually when you introduce your little one to solids their digestion changes. They tend to be constipated. Your 5 month old should only be eating rice cereal. The next few months you introduce veggies and then fruit. When you intorduce a new food you only do that one for a few days. That way you will know what your little one is allegric too.

My little guy had a lot of trouble once we started introducing solids too and we had to change his diet a bit. He used to SCREAM when he'd poop and it was so hard to watch that we took him in to the doctors. By his suggestion I cut out the rice cereal and gave him mostly oatmeal (that seemed to help) and we had to give him watered down prune juice (like 4-6 oz a day; I think that it was 3 parts water 1 part juice) until he started eating fruits and veggies. When he started the veggies I started mixing in prunes with his oatmeal once a day and made sure that he got peaches or blueberries (those really worked too), and darker veggies seemed to help (or just the mixed veggies). He does a lot better now but still has a ton of trouble going to the bathroom if I'm not careful with what I feed him!! He still grunts a lot but now doesn't cry which is a plus! Good luck! Keep trying out things until you find out what works for her!

PLEASE STOP! You should not be feeding her solids yet! You are setting her up for food allergies. Breastmilk is the perfect food for her, up to age one-ish, designed by nature/God (whichever you prefer). If you offer her food and she shows signs of not being interested, pushing it back out, or the weird bowel movements, you are pushing food onto her. Let her lead you. She will tell you when she is ready for food. I would at least ease off of the grains which are very hard to digest and especially wheat which is a common food allergy.

I may have a slightly different take on this, but, for us, rice cereal was not a good first food. My daughter got terribly constipated. As soon as we got off of the rice cereal and moved slowly with only organic, home-made fruits and veggies, she's been fine. We still go easy on things like peas and bananas (which can constipate). Things like green beans (steamed and strained), sweet potato, plums and pears have all worked well.

Certain people believe that grains are difficult on digestion at this young age, but there are very different views on this. (My ped. GI, for example, suggested it until we had the problems.)

Also, the food now is only for texture and taste for your child, the nutrients and calories she needs still come solely from either your breastmilk (or formula is you aren't breast-feeding).

If you are breast-feeding, by the way, feeding her before and after her solids is helpful (before to keep up your milk -I had issues here- and after because your milk helps her digest).

And, yes, one at a time and watch for reactions/fussiness. She may not be ready for some things.

Just take it slowly..

all the best!

You might try not giving her rice. I know it can be constipating . Also be sure she drinks a lot of water. Apple juice is also good for constipation. Hope you get some good advice on this.

Sandy

You are giving her graham crackers? STOP PLEASE! There is honey in them and no child under the age of 2 should EVER have honey. If you feel you must give her solids, it would be better to give her rice cereal and one fruit a week first to check for allergies, etc. Then move on slowly to veggies. No honey, in anything please. You don't need to wait to talk to the doc, you can call the office. Being up every two hours is very hard on everyone and the doc will tell you what you can do for the poor little thing. Sorry to be so negative, but it was quite alarming to see that she was injesting honey. Check the labels darlin. :)
Merry Christmas,
V.

I know this question is from years ago, but I think I just stumbled upon wise advice. It is a FREE replay of an interview with Donna Gates, who wrote "The Body Ecology Diet."
http://www.theawareshow.com/connect/gates/