Most of this is normal. Here is what actually helps, and the signs that mean calling her doctor.
Checked againstICMR-NINAAPNHS. See how we checkFive days with no potty while she is still mostly on milk, and everyone at home has a different remedy. Nobody tells you what is actually normal. Most of this is her tummy getting used to real food, not an emergency.
Once solids start, her potty changes. It gets firmer, the colour and the smell are different, and it comes less often than before. On its own, that is not constipation. Breast milk has a natural laxative effect of its own (ICMR-NIN). As solid food becomes a bigger part of what she eats, her stool firms up and comes less often.
Constipation is about how her potty looks and feels, not the number of days. It means stools that are hard, dry, and difficult or painful to pass. How often babies go varies a lot. A day or two between motions is common, and a breastfed baby still mostly on milk can go several days, even up to a week (AAP), as long as what comes is soft and comfortable.
What helps is fluid and fibre together. People at home often call this the 'P fruit' idea, and it is broadly right. Prunes are the first thing doctors suggest, and pears and apples come up alongside them. Keep prunes to a soft spoonful rather than a whole one, and keep pear and apple cooked soft or well mashed, not a raw chunk. Her prunes, pear and apple pages carry the exact ages, and each one shows you that food's choking risk. A fibre supplement taken without enough water can make constipation worse (AAP).
When to call her doctor: Call her doctor right away for blood in her stool, or for loose motions with a fever or fewer than six wet nappies in a day. The other signs are in the question further down.
Never give her poppy-seed paste. It can be dangerous, even fatal. Isabgol, gripe water, janam ghutti and oral castor oil are not recommended, and honey is unsafe before one.
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Send it on WhatsAppWritten by Anu · a mom of one.
Sources: AAP, NHS and ICMR-NIN ›