Got Some Questions

[Shelby]

I missed the LLL meeting again today and I really needed some advice, so I
am hoping all you experienced bf can help.

1. DS is 6 months and offered food twice a day: he eats advocado, bananas,
pears, carrots, apples, sweet potatoe - he hates peaches, and I just tried
him on squash and he has been really crampy so I am thinking maybe its too
hard for him to digest?
** I started him on solids at 5.5 months

- I make all my own baby food. Sweet potatoe and squash I steam and
everything else is raw ... its all liquified in my food processor.

-- Can I mix sweet potatoes and carrots? avocodo and banana? I have been
but wanted to make sure its okay.

2. He loves food, but is REALLY constipated. I don't give him rice cereal
because it makes it even worse. My poor little guy cries and breaks out in
a cold sweat trying to have a poop. The last two times I have had to give
him a supository....obviously that isn't good so I need to know what I am
doing wrong.

- are any of the foods I listed above constipating? Is not cooking
everything (fruit, ect.) making him constipated? Can I start giving him
prunes?

-- As mentioned in a post a few days ago, he doesn't want to nurse for more
than a few minutes. I am trying to nurse him, than give him food; however
he gets irritated after about five minutes on one side and that is that. Is
it possible he isn't getting enough fluids? I have been making sure that I
am taking naps with him during the day and he will nurse to sleep laying
down, and that is about it. I have also started giving him a sippy cup with
water. Obviously that isn't as good as bm though.

I have to return to work full time in about a month and I need to get this
sorted out first. I imagine I will be having a hard enough time working and
pumping. On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy cup
maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle issue
all together ???

Sorry for so many questions and thanks for any positive input.

Michelle (not perfect but really trying hard)
Mom to Aden 01/08/03

[HollyLewis]

>-- Can I mix sweet potatoes and carrots? avocodo and banana? I have been
>but wanted to make sure its okay.
>

It's fine to start mixing things once he has had each individual food
separately and you know he hasn't reacted badly. (We never bothered with
mixing the purees, though. DS had single ingredients until he was eating table
foods.)

>2. He loves food, but is REALLY constipated. I don't give him rice cereal
>because it makes it even worse. My poor little guy cries and breaks out in
>a cold sweat trying to have a poop. The last two times I have had to give
>him a supository....obviously that isn't good so I need to know what I am
>doing wrong.
>

As his system gets used to the new foods you can expect him to start pooping
less often and for the poop to be firmer, and it's not really constipation.
But if he is really uncomfortable when he *does* poop then he is constipated
and he probably needs more fluid. Yes, prunes would be a good thing to
introduce next, and you can start giving him a sippy cup of water at mealtimes.
Or mix more water into the food as you puree it. Avoid or limit apples and
and bananas as well as the rice cereal.

>-- As mentioned in a post a few days ago, he doesn't want to nurse for more
>than a few minutes. I am trying to nurse him, than give him food; however
>he gets irritated after about five minutes on one side and that is that.

If he seems to be nursing enough overall, try bf in between solid meals instead
of immediately before. IOW, nurse at 7 a.m., solid breakfast at 8 a.m., nurse
at 11 a.m., lunch at noon, etc. He may be more interested in nursing when it's
a separate event rather than a prequel to solid foods.

>pumping. On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy cup
>maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle issue
>all together ???
>

Yeah, you can try that, and it works well for some families. I preferred to
view the bottles as a breast substitute, so we put ebm only in bottles and only
bottles had ebm in them. Sippy cups were for water and water went in sippy
cups. (Plus, that way I could pump directly into the bottles and didn't have
to do very much pouring and transferring.) But then, I went back to work at 6
months and DS was barely started on solids at that point. He never refused the
bottle, and we got him off of them with no trouble at just-turned 13 months.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2 yrs

[Mary W.]

Shelby wrote:

> 2. He loves food, but is REALLY constipated. I don't give him rice cereal
> because it makes it even worse. My poor little guy cries and breaks out in
> a cold sweat trying to have a poop. The last two times I have had to give
> him a supository....obviously that isn't good so I need to know what I am
> doing wrong.
>
> - are any of the foods I listed above constipating? Is not cooking
> everything (fruit, ect.) making him constipated? Can I start giving him
> prunes?

My daughter was like this when we started her on solids. We introduced
prunes right away, and I gave her oatmeal made with prune juice. We
eventually gave her 2-3 ounces of watered down prune juice a day to
keep things moving. Apples and bananas can both be constipating.
FWIW, I don't know if DD was really constipated, but she really strained
to have a BM and went long periods between them once we started
solids. I think she didn't like the way they felt.

> -I have to return to work full time in about a month and I need to get this
> sorted out first. I imagine I will be having a hard enough time working and
> pumping. On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy cup
> maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle issue
> all together ???

I don't see a problem skipping the bottle. I went back to work when DD was
3 months old. She never liked the bottle and gave it up completely at 10 months
or so. Used a sippy cup then.

Mary

[Shelby]

Thank you

Quick question:
how do you make baby oatmeal - do you have to grind it up then cook it, or
just feed as is??


"Mary W." > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Shelby wrote:
>
> > 2. He loves food, but is REALLY constipated. I don't give him rice
cereal
> > because it makes it even worse. My poor little guy cries and breaks out
in
> > a cold sweat trying to have a poop. The last two times I have had to
give
> > him a supository....obviously that isn't good so I need to know what I
am
> > doing wrong.
> >
> > - are any of the foods I listed above constipating? Is not cooking
> > everything (fruit, ect.) making him constipated? Can I start giving him
> > prunes?
>
> My daughter was like this when we started her on solids. We introduced
> prunes right away, and I gave her oatmeal made with prune juice. We
> eventually gave her 2-3 ounces of watered down prune juice a day to
> keep things moving. Apples and bananas can both be constipating.
> FWIW, I don't know if DD was really constipated, but she really strained
> to have a BM and went long periods between them once we started
> solids. I think she didn't like the way they felt.
>
> > -I have to return to work full time in about a month and I need to get
this
> > sorted out first. I imagine I will be having a hard enough time working
and
> > pumping. On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy
cup
> > maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle
issue
> > all together ???
>
> I don't see a problem skipping the bottle. I went back to work when DD was
> 3 months old. She never liked the bottle and gave it up completely at 10
months
> or so. Used a sippy cup then.
>
> Mary
>
>

[Circe]

Shelby wrote:
> Thank you
>
> Quick question:
> how do you make baby oatmeal - do you have to grind it up then cook
> it, or just feed as is??
>
It comes as a powder in a box, just like rice cereal. You can then mix it
with breastmilk, juice, or water. Gerber and BeechNut both make baby
oatmeals. You'll find them right there in the baby food aisle of your
grocery.
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [7/22/97], Aurora [7/19/99], and Vernon's [3/2/02] mom)
See us at http://photos.yahoo.com/guavaln

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Loose weight, feel great!" -- fair booth sign

What does it all mean? I have *no* idea. But it's my life and I like it.

[Patty Reali]

"Shelby" > wrote in message
.. .
(snip)
> 1. DS is 6 months and offered food twice a day: he eats advocado,
bananas,
> pears, carrots, apples, sweet potatoe - he hates peaches, and I just tried
> him on squash and he has been really crampy so I am thinking maybe its too
> hard for him to digest?
(snip)

Squah may be the culprit, or something else - I'd stop the squash for a
while, wait until he seems okay again, and then try it again - if you get
the same cramping, I'd then assume it is the squash.


(snip)
> - are any of the foods I listed above constipating? Is not cooking
> everything (fruit, ect.) making him constipated? Can I start giving him
> prunes?

Bananas are constipating - others have already said that and added apples,
which I did not know about. I'd try the prunes just like you would
introduce anything else - slowly and a little at a time. If he doesn't like
them, we also found that pears and/or pear juice works well to get things
moving along. Just be sure to dilute the juice - it's pretty strong
otherwise, and lots of sugar. Our DS didn't even like any juice until I had
it down to 1 oz of juice to every 3 or 4 oz of water!


(snip) On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy cup
> maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle issue
> all together ???

Our DS rejected bottles starting at about 4 months, so we had to find
something else - he uses only sippy cups and sports bottles now (9 months)
for any liquids - bm, juice or otherwise.

Good luck!

Patty

[Ducky Lawyer]

Circe wrote:
> Shelby wrote:
>
>>Thank you
>>
>>Quick question:
>>how do you make baby oatmeal - do you have to grind it up then cook
>>it, or just feed as is??
>>
>
> It comes as a powder in a box, just like rice cereal. You can then mix it
> with breastmilk, juice, or water.

Yes, Circe's right, you *can* buy prepared oatmeal in a box. But, I
thought I'd throw in here that you can also just buy one minute oats,
grind those up, and make baby oatmeal. I haven't done a cost omparison,
but it's got to be lots cheaper than buying the prepared boxes, and it's
simpler for us -- we just buy one big bag of oatmeal for the whole
family, and cook accordingly (unground for us, ground with breastmilk
preferably for the babies).
(We grind the oatmeal in a coffee grinder, one that's never used for
coffee incidently.)
Hope this helps,
Barbara (following up Barbara's post <grin>)

[HollyLewis]

> But, I
>thought I'd throw in here that you can also just buy one minute oats,
>grind those up, and make baby oatmeal.

GRIND it? Why?

I guess if your baby will only eat near-liquid purees you'd have to, but I'd
expect most 7 month olds to be able to eat regular oatmeal. The proportion of
vitamins they add might be a little different, but if I ate oatmeal on anything
like a regular basis I certainly wouldn't have bothered with baby oat cereal.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2 yrs

[Circe]

Ducky Lawyer wrote:
> Circe wrote:
>> It comes as a powder in a box, just like rice cereal. You can then
>> mix it with breastmilk, juice, or water.
>
> Yes, Circe's right, you *can* buy prepared oatmeal in a box. But, I
> thought I'd throw in here that you can also just buy one minute oats,
> grind those up, and make baby oatmeal. I haven't done a cost
> omparison, but it's got to be lots cheaper than buying the prepared
> boxes, and it's simpler for us -- we just buy one big bag of oatmeal
> for the whole family, and cook accordingly (unground for us, ground
> with breastmilk preferably for the babies).
> (We grind the oatmeal in a coffee grinder, one that's never used for
> coffee incidently.)

First, let me say I'm no big fan of baby cereals of any sort and only ever
really fed them to my first baby. Buuuut, I think the main advantage to baby
oatmeal over regular oatmeal is that the baby oatmeal is more likely to be
iron fortified. (I wouldn't imagine there's much iron naturally occurring in
oats, though there may be some.) And since the primary nutritional rationale
for feeding solids to a breastfed 6mo is to add iron to the diet, baby
cereals can be an easy and effective way to accomplish that.
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [7/22/97], Aurora [7/19/99], and Vernon's [3/2/02] mom)
See us at http://photos.yahoo.com/guavaln

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"How a seller can improve their home's value" -- newspaper headline

What does it all mean? I have *no* idea. But it's my life and I like it.

[Mary W.]

Shelby wrote:

> Thank you
>
> Quick question:
> how do you make baby oatmeal - do you have to grind it up then cook it, or
> just feed as is??
>

As Barbara said, I just bought the baby stuff, right next to the rice cereal.
I warmed up the prune juice a little and mixed it in with the oatmeal. Add
a little more juice or water if its too thick. I found the whole concotion
a little unappetizing but DD loved it.

I don't eat oatmeal (yuck), so I have absolutely no experience with
anything other than the baby version.

Good luck!

Mary

[Chookie]

In article >,
"Shelby" > wrote:

> -- Can I mix sweet potatoes and carrots? avocodo and banana? I have been
> but wanted to make sure its okay.

If you kno he will eat them separately without problems, then it's fine to
combine them.

> 2. He loves food, but is REALLY constipated. I don't give him rice cereal
> because it makes it even worse.

Yes, rice cereal is notoriously constipating, even in very small amounts.

> - are any of the foods I listed above constipating? Is not cooking
> everything (fruit, ect.) making him constipated? Can I start giving him
> prunes?

Bananas are also constipating; I don't know about the others. Some people say
that cooked and raw apple have opposite effects, but I can't remember which is
the laxative. YOu should be OK to give prunes, I think, but you may want to
try "prune water" -- the water you cook them in. Works just as well as the
prunes, I'm told.

> -- As mentioned in a post a few days ago, he doesn't want to nurse for more
> than a few minutes. I am trying to nurse him, than give him food; however
> he gets irritated after about five minutes on one side and that is that. Is
> it possible he isn't getting enough fluids?

I suppose it is, but also, breast milk is laxative, so getting more bm in may
be a good thing if you can manage it. Incidenatlly, how much solid food would
he eat in a day? Perhaps if you cut down the amount a bit, he would bfeed
more?

> I have to return to work full time in about a month and I need to get this
> sorted out first. I imagine I will be having a hard enough time working and
> pumping. On a plus note - if I can get him to take water out of a sippy cup
> maybe he can drink bm from a sippy cup too and skip the whole bottle issue
> all together ???

I wasn't returning to work at that time, but started DS off on an ordinary
plastic cup. He was pretty messy with it at 6mo, but at 12mo was a very neat
drinker. I should think a sippy cup would be a good plan, but some babies
have preferences about bm coming in the original container!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990

[H Schinske]

>In article ogers.com>,
> Ducky Lawyer > wrote:
>
>> Sigh, I know - the problem is that DH makes our oatmeal with salt and
>> the bvabes presuasmbly don't need/shouldn't have salt.

I went ahead and added dashes of salt to the babies' hot cereal after a certain
point. I never put much at all (nothing *close* to what the instant oatmeal
packets for adults have), but it was enough to make it palatable for everyone.

--Helen

[Karen Askey]

In article >, "Shelby"
> writes:

>I missed the LLL meeting again today and I really needed some advice, so I
>am hoping all you experienced bf can help.

In case folks don't know, there are online LLL meetings Sunday thru Thursday at
various times. They are great! You can find the link on the LLL website at
lalecheleague.org. You don't have to be a member, you don't have to
permanently sign up, you won't receive spam from visiting the chat, and you get
leader and mother-to-mother support.



koa
Still nursing James, 02/06/01
EP'ing for Joey 04/02/03 (BCP)

[Dawn Lawson]

Shelby wrote:

> Thank you
>
> Quick question:
> how do you make baby oatmeal - do you have to grind it up then cook it, or
> just feed as is??

I'd skip the stuff in a box.
Try finding scotch oats, which are finely cut, or whir a bit in a coffee grinder
or cook it with more water than usual, on a lower heat for longer, and it gets
quite mushy.

Dawn