Unplugging the Plug

Noëlle loving her food

All you mums and dads who have dealt with--or are dealing with--baby constipation after introducing solid foods, my sympathies to you. It is no fun! Noëlle suffered from it for the first couple of months after we introduced food. We didn't feed her grains or dairy, we made our own organic fruit and veggie purees, and she was still nursing a lot and drinking water, so we were dumbfounded. Her doctor (an N.D., by the way--see my earlier post, "Who's your N.D.?") helped reassure us by reporting that some babies just take longer to acclimate, and that it should straighten out in time. And it has! Thank goodness, everything is moving along perfectly now. But while she was constipated, it was rough. She wouldn't have a bowel movement for days, and when she did it was clearly very, very uncomfortable. Poor babe! So I did my research and I found some things that I knew I would NOT do (mineral oil!?), but I also found some natural things that I did want to try, which really worked! So now here is my "Unplug the Plug Constipation Remedy" to help your constipated baby poop (yes, I wrote "poop" on my my Crunchy Chic blog). Of course, if your baby's constipation becomes alarming to you, seek advice from your doctor. But this may also help. It's a blend of advice I got from our pediatrician as well as my own research....

1. Cut back on solid foods a little bit, and keep nursing often. My pediatrician assured me that as a young baby, she was still getting most of her nutrition from breast milk so not to worry if we had to ease into it a little bit slower. And so we did.  Even though Noëlle loved bananas we knew we had to cut back on these, as they are naturally constipating. But bananas are not alone, watch out for apples, rice (even rice cereal!), and dairy in particular. My advice to you mamas is to actually skip the rice cereal altogether as it's low in fiber as well as the essential vitamins and minerals you want your baby to get, so essentially it's a "filler food" without much nutritional value. Instead, I recommend, if possible, going straight to pureed fruits and veggies! Be careful with dairy too as it's a very common allergen and causes inflammation very easily. If you want to give your baby milk that is not your own, you might try goat's milk instead, which is easier to digest.

2. When your baby is showing signs of discomfort, massage her belly in a clockwise motion, the direction that food moves through the digestive tract. To make this "poop massage" extra effective, use peppermint oil, which is stimulating and known for relieving belly aches, nausea (it was my best friend during early pregnancy) and constipation. I use Young Living's Peppermint Oil on Noëlle. I add a few drops of peppermint to a few drops of a carrier oil to dilute it (olive or grapeseed oil works fine) and massage into her belly, rub on the bottoms of her feet (reflexology) and let her inhale off your hands. Even the vapors help. Noëlle has often pooped within minutes of using the oil. It's amazing. This is a must-have for mamas!!

3. Along with the massage, do "bicycles" with your baby's legs. This seems to help relieve gas too.

4. Dilute some really good quality (organic, no sugar added, no nonsense!) unfiltered apple juice and put it in her bottle or sippy cup. For some reason, while apples are constipating because of the pectin, apple juice has the opposite effect. Prune juice also works well. Remember to dilute. 2:1 water to juice.

I am telling you, even on the hardest days, if I did these 4 things, Noëlle would have a bowel movement. Sometimes it would take a couple of massages/bicycle kick sessions and a bit of diluted juice, but it worked. The next step would have been glycerin suppositories, but we never needed them! Within probably 2.5 months, constipation was gone. She is 11 months now (sniff..sigh) and feeding herself all kinds of things (still no dairy, but we are about to start a few grains--oats, amaranth, quinoa--and maybe meat soon! will report back), and she is pooping like it's her favorite thing to do. And maybe it is.

Is this a happily unconstipated baby or what?

That's all for today ladies and gentlemen. I hope you derive as much enjoyment from seeing your baby start pooping again as I have gotten typing "poop" on my chic blog (actual times typed: 7). Best of luck as you take each of those wonderful steps toward becoming the best parent ever! You're on your way...