P00P

If any one ever would have told me that I'd be so concerned with the bowel movements of another human being, I wouldn't have believed them.  Who knew that a lot of things baby are measured by poop?  How often, what color, what consistency/texture, are there little seeds in it (if breast feeding), etc. - all of these things are important to keep track of.  When baby is brand spanking new from the womb, the hospital will keep track of it for you.  When you take baby home, it's super important to keep a journal, because the pediatrician will ask you about it to determine whether baby's organs are functioning properly.  I know the hospital gave us a sheet to use, and we made copies and used those for the first several weeks.


After the first month, the pediatrician told me that I didn't have to keep a journal anymore.  I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out that I still keep one anyway.  Not only is it perfectly in compliance with my OCD tendencies, but honestly I have so much going on in a day that a lot of times I truly can't remember everything that I should.  For example, from one feeding to the next, three hours later, I normally can't remember which breast Lilly nursed on first at the last feeding (important because she should start on the other breast for the next feeding).  So, I journal.  I write down diaper changes, sleeping (naps and bed time), nursing, bottle feeding, and I even keep track of how much I pump and when.  A little overboard, maybe, but it is good not only in helping me remember things, but it's also a good tool to communicate with the nanny - I drop it off with her every day to fill out so that I can see how the day went when I pick L up.  If your child is enrolled in daycare, I think they normally give you daily report cards anyway, so this is the best of both worlds.  I also write Carney notes so that she can see whether we had a rough night, or if Lilly seems gassy or fussy, or if she's on any medicine when I gave it to her last, etc. etc.  Any old journal will do - even a plain notebook - but I've used a few already and my favorite so far is called Baby's Eat, Sleep and Poop Journal:

The main thing I like about this journal is the page layout.  It's set up in a way so that you don't go through it as quickly because you fill in your own dates and times, they aren't pre-determined.  I went through two journals that were divided up by hours of the day and was annoyed at how quickly I went through them before I discovered this one:

Anyway, I digress.  I didn't mean to get on the subject of journaling, but my nerdy side loves stuff like that.  So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we started L on solids recently.  She hated rice cereal, so after a week we went ahead and started her on bananas, which she loved.  We did that for about a week and then decided to introduce her to avocados.  She wasn't too sure about them at first...

...but in the end she decided that she loved them and we couldn't get the spoon to her mouth fast enough for her satisfaction!

Lilly is loving trying new things and has really gotten the hang of solids.  She opens her mouth when she sees the spoon coming, but we will have to work on her smacking for sure.  ;-)  The only problem we're having is - you guessed it - poo-related.  Homegirl is constipated.


Before we started solids, she mostly went #2 every day.  Since we started them, she will go like 6 days (no joke) without going.  It doesn't really seem to bother her until the day that she does have to go, and then she's a little fussy, extra gassy, and super uncomfortable (think red-faced and lots of pushing/straining).  In the meantime, during the 5 days leading up to poo-day, she has terrible gas.  I find myself wondering how something so foul can come out of something so small.  Most of the time I'm POSITIVE she has had yet another of her world-famous epic blowouts all over my clothes, but then I check her diaper and am shocked to find that there's nothing there.


I called the doctor the first time this happened, and they assured me that this is normal, and that babies will sometimes go a week without going.  I keep thinking to myself that this can't be normal, although I guess it makes sense since Lilly's system is trying to get used to something new.  The doctor said that they are more concerned with the consistency - at this point, since she is only eating solids once/day to learn how to eat, Lilly's bowel movements should still be runny (TMI alert!).  If her bowel movements are the consistency of adult poops (harder, not runny), then that's cause for concern and we should bring her in immediately because it means something isn't working right.  I know that rice cereal can cause constipation for sure.  I read that bananas are used for both - they can both help go #2 and not go #2.  So far, in our case, they have only done the latter.  Today was day 3 of avocados, so we have one more day before we will introduce anything new.


The doctor suggested that we give Lilly one ounce of water 2x/day in between feedings to help move things along, but that isn't working at all.  Through talking to girlfriends (although none of mine have had the problem to the extent that Lilly has - their children have only gone 2-3 days max) and research, I found out that switching up fruits/veggies (read: moving onto something new) also helps ease constipation.  However, you're only supposed to feed them one item for four days before trying something new to make sure they don't have any food allergies to whatever you've been feeding them (one more day for us with avocados).  I am not comfortable giving Lilly juice yet unless the doctor gives me the OK, and prunes aren't on the list of foods her doctor gave us for her to start out with.  I think we are going to try pears next, because I read that those might help.  The only other thing I've read is to help her exercise her legs and massage her tummy, both of which I've been doing - along with using a lot of gas drops.  Mommy friends, do you have any other advice that I haven't thought of or tried?  Like I said, it doesn't seem to bother L until the day she's going to use the bathroom, but then I feel so terrible for her because I know it can't be comfortable.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Happy hump day - one day closer to the weekend!


Sarah