Constipation
It doesn't make sense to me that my 14 month old daughter would be constipated, but she is (I can't recall a time in my life that I have ever been constipated).
Her diet is still 80% breastmilk. The remainder is just food off of our table - generally a well-balanced vegan diet.
I'm thinking she got a little dehydrated about a month ago - we live in a very hot climate, are outdoors a lot playing, and she was just starting to eat a significant amount of solid foods - before that solid foods had just been a nominal part of her diet. I was just so used to nursing being the best method to hydrate her that I didn't offer her as much water as I should have with the increase in temperatures and change in her diet, I think. So for the past month or so, she's been withholding for days (usually 4), followed by a tearful elimination. Otherwise, she acts very normally and is a very happy kid - I don't think it is causing her distress except during the elimination.
I'm trying to keep her extremely well hydrated, nursing her frequently, eating lots of fruits that are supposed to be good for this issue (peaches, plums, apricots....) I've tried giving her some prune juice, but she won't take more than a few sips of it.
There was a period of about a week this past month where she was eliminating normally (daily with good looking poop), but then she went back to being constipated, so I'm not sure what happened there and what (if anything) I was doing that was helpful.
I'm going to give the dietary methods another week or so, and if there is no improvement I'm taking her to the doctor. I was wondering if anyone had experience with this - I know it is rare for vegans, and rarer still for a baby/toddler eating so much breastmilk which makes me worry that something else is going on....but I really think she's just in a cycle now where she remembers a very difficult poop, withholds, then an even more difficult poop, withholds, even more difficult.....and on and on. Any advice?
I have been researching food sensitivities and allergies to try to help a child that I work with. These can definitly cause problems with digestion, and elimination, gluten being the most common. I think this can still be a problem when you breastfeed if you eat the foods. It is worth exploring anyway. Best of luck to you.
I have been researching food sensitivities and allergies to try to help a child that I work with. These can definitly cause problems with digestion, and elimination, gluten being the most common. I think this can still be a problem when you breastfeed if you eat the foods. It is worth exploring anyway. Best of luck to you.
Thanks for your thoughts. I really hope now it is just a pattern of behavior, because that can eventually be broken. I've always thought that it is pretty easy to be vegan - but to be gluten free? I know lots of people do it and I soooo admire them, but it would be hard for us. I think I could do soy free because we don't eat much as it is (our diet has very little processed foods in it) - mostly in the form of tamari and occasionally tofu. I don't think anything else would be terrible either, but I like our diet the way it is, so I'd miss things.
The good news is that today she had two medium-sized eliminations and didn't act like they were too painful as she passed them - they looked softer to me than they have been too. Now she's gone at least a little bit everyday for the last three days. What WAS bad was wiping her afterwards - she even said "ow, ow, ow, ow!" while she cried and I had to nurse her to calm her down. I think she is really sore down there after all this. But hopefully the last few days are indication that things are getting better and that she will heal.
TACO BELL ALWAYS DOES THE TRICK FOR ME
TACO BELL ALWAYS DOES THE TRICK FOR ME
LOL. Thanks for your input.
You're welcome. I'm just here to help.