Bad eater... constipated with regular milk... | ExpatWoman.com
 

Bad eater... constipated with regular milk...

298
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 19 October 2012 - 01:06

Hello ladies...

Need some help. My 14 month old is a really poor eater. She's never been good with solids. We've been trying since she was about 5.5 months old but she was never really interested. Eats on and off but never consistently and never enough for nutrition. Now we just have her sit with us for meals and eat bits of what we're eating. Figure she'll atleast have a taste of foods for when she's ready. In the last 3 months she's had about 8 teeth come in and would imagine that doesn't make eating any fun for her either.

Further, a few months ago, we shifted her off her formula to cow's milk. It went horribly. She liked it and everything, but after 5 days had the worst constipation. Poo so hard and compact she coudn't get it out. Without getting into TMI, lets just say I had to help her get one bit out just for comfort. Switched her back to formula then (a different brand because we've moved from Dubai and there's no SMA here). She's on Similac stage 2 and doing well.

I suppose my questions really are:

1. Should I (and how should I) reintroduce cow's milk?
2. Could it be lactose intolerance (seems unlikely because she's on regular formula, but maybe the levels are higher in regular milk? Cant find any info on that out there.)?
3. If I do lactose free fresh milk, I've only been able to find 2%, (or lower - I'm in Toronto and have looked in a gazzillion stores and found no LF whole milk) that wouldn't work would it? Could I alternate with formula instead?
4. If we find a solution and she does do well on fresh milk, where would she stand nutritionally with her not eating? Am I better off just sticking to formula?

Any thoughts would be welcome.

You leave Dubai, but you never really leave EW do you?? :D

298
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 October 2012 - 20:35
Thanks ladies! Great tips. She's regular normally. It's just when I tried to take her off formula and put her on 'normal people milk'. The last time it was actually water I'd soaked prunes in overnight that I fed her a couple times till she finally got back on track. Prunes are great! Will bear these in mind for when I do finally make the full switch.
297
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2012 - 11:20
My DD had issues with constipation. What always helped was to have an eye on her fibre intake. Soaked, pureed prunes worked wonders as did prune juice. Mine didn't drink cows milk until much older, but ate plenty of yogurt. I am not sure if at this age they can already eat/drink dairy products with live cultures (actimel, activia), but I know that a daily portion of one of these helped my dd to stay regular from when she was about 2 and a half. But the most important thing I was told by the doctor was to have them drink plenty of water or roomtemperature unsweetened tea like redbush or rosehip or any other tea suitable for small kids.
194
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 23 October 2012 - 08:39
I used to give my kids warm water with honey every morning, as soon they wake up. It has to be a geniune pure honey (most counter honey are from sugar fed bees). Keep it as everyday habit. It helps with lots if things, even cough & cold. Spoon of honey everyday in the morning for any adult suffering with constipation will do wonders. Tried & tested :)
298
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 22 October 2012 - 22:40
Thanks a ton kiwi... Read about the lactase drops but thought they were only for age 2 onwards. Will check again. Also excellent point about the reflux. She had infant reflux and had to go on medication from about 4 weeks to 4 months. Hasn't seemed to bother her since but then it wast the silent type and maybe its back. She does seem quite uncomfortable at night and cries a fair bit. Still doesn't sleep through. I just always thought it was the teeth. Will have her doctor take a look at her next appointment next week. Thank you again!
2782
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 19 October 2012 - 10:09
My son gets constipated from too much cows milk and dairy products, he was never on formula so not sure how he would have reacted to that, I'd leave her on the formula, probably not lactose intolerance but maybe she is reacting to the higher levels of protein in the cows milk vs formula? Anyway with her not eating much, better she has formula than cows milk. Sounds like you are doing the right thing re the solids, having her be part of the meal and trying thing in a low pressure way will help avoid negative associations forming. If you can't find lactose free milk, you could buy some lactase drops, which are an enzyme that digests lactose, you add these to the milk and let it sit for a while, and they break down all the lactose before your child drinks it. You might want to consider a multivitamin. I'm sure you've tried everything, but there are lots of ways to sneak nutrition into foods for poor eaters, eg pureeing vegies into pasta sauce, making meat purees to spread on sandwiches etc. make sure she doesn't have undiagnosed reflux too, this can affect willingness to eat. Teething definitely affects my son though, you might just have to ride it out. Sorry not to be much help.
 
 

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