The girl that wouldn't poop.

Prune juice, suppositories and enemas, oh my!

7 8 days.  That's the current record between Lulu's BMs.  (tmi?)  This girl has got some serious poop issues...  And it is heartbreaking.

Pretty much since we started solid food we've had this problem.  Everything was going just fine while we utilized the 4 day wait rule, but all hell broke loose when we started including more than one food at each meal.  So then I tried giving her only oatmeal for 9 days; I thought, "Hey, it's bland, it's fiber, she loves it and has been eating it without any problems."  Makes sense, right?  Wrong.

I've gone back and forth with our pediatrician a million times.  They've been less than helpful...  Over the past two weeks this kid has pooped 3 times.

We've tried:

Tummy Massage
Bicycling her legs
Warm Baths
Prune Juice
Suppositories
Q-tip and Vaseline

...the next step is an enema, and I do NOT want it to come to that.  

Last night I had a dream that she finally pooped...  I'm dreaming about poop.  WHAT.THE.EFF.

Success with Solids!

Please excuse the absurdly long and unedited video, my chief editor is watching House and I am utterly useless in that department.  Really, just the first 27 seconds will do the job. 

I have said several times that my Momma is a genius, and that was no exaggeration.  Last week, before jet setting back east for a long weekend, she discovered that Lulu liked oatmeal!  As in, no crying, spitting, or fighting - she actually liked it!!!  Up until this point, our journey with solid food had been quite frustrating.  It upset me that Lulu didn't enjoy eating "real" food, food that I made just for her.  So you can imagine the relief and excitement I felt when she ate a whole (baby-size) bowl of oatmeal and pears for me on Saturday night!

My mom always questioned why we didn't introduce cereal first.  Babies are used to one texture and a relatively bland, monotonous flavor prior to the introduction of solids, so it only makes sense that a fruit or vegetable might seem gross at first.  Maybe Lulu just needed some time to adjust to solids?  Or maybe cereal really is the best first food for babies?  I don't know the answer to that.  What I do know, is that Baby #2 will be starting out with oatmeal, fo sho.

Homemade Baby Food

I make Lulu's food.  The end.

Kidding!

I had planned to make homemade baby food since before Lulu was even conceived. ::dusts imaginary dirt off shoulders::  I had read on a few different parenting forums and blogs that it was a fun and easy way to serve the best quality food to your baby, so I figured why not?

Turns out, it really is fun and easy.  (I'm just assuming all of my readers find mindless food prep enjoyable...)  I like to pretend I'm a sous chef and a head chef in a five star restaurant, serving a panel of baby judges that include Lulu, Baby Robert Irvine and Baby Gordon Ramsay. 

Last Tuesday I spent a few hours in the kitchen and prepared over a month's worth of solid food for Lulu.  Bringing a whole new meaning to the concept of Freezer Meals.

I peeled and diced and steamed and pureed until my heart was content, and my freezer was packed.  I made acorn squash, white sweet po, carrots, apples, and pears (all "recipes" can be found here). 

When I finished my last batch of sweet potato, I felt very...accomplished.  It was a great feeling to know that my girl would be eating (mostly) organic food, free of any additives/preservatives/fillers/salt/sugar/etc.

To make things a little easier, we froze the purees in ice cube trays, which makes it easy to pull out one or two cubes at each meal.  It's also nice because the ice cube trays make perfect one ounce portions.  They should last up to six weeks in the freezer, but I'm hoping Lulu's appetite will kick in soon and she'll start to go through our stash quicker than that.  Any excuse to use my Mother's Day present.  ;-)


Do you make your baby's food?  What are your favorite recipes?

Introducing Solids

We rolled in Lulu's Half Birthday with the introduction of solid food.

Whoa, they're finally giving me "real" food.  

Oh God.  I hate it, I HATE IT!!!  Never again, please!

As you can see, it was not well received by Goosey Girl, and her attitude hasn't changed much over the last week... 

Lulu has been interested in food for months; but, Casey and I agreed to wait until she was at least 6 months old before introducing solids, because we read that introducing them too soon could cause problems (digestive system development, childhood obesity, rapid and unhealthy weight gain - and so on).  

Fun fact:  Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life increases protection against disease and improves the chances of continuing breastfeeding throughout the first 12 months of life.   

We gauged a lot of our decisions on the Wholesome Baby Food website - I highly recommend all mommas check that site out, if you haven't already!  They provide SO much information: from deciding if your baby is ready for solids, to baby food recipes, to allergies, and so much more.  We chose to introduce pears first, after reading the list of appropriate Stage 1 Foods.  To date, she has had pears, sweet po, and acorn squash.

I thought we were being progressive by skipping over cereal, and plunging into the fruits and vegetables; but, in retrospect, I think Lucy would have enjoyed solids more if we started with something that was mixed with breast milk.  I'm sure she'll eventually get over this aversion to all things solid, maybe once we introduce some bananas.

Fun fact #2:  Bananas are the solid food that taste closest to breast milk. (Thanks for that, Meg!)

For now we're abiding by the 3 day wait rule.  (Some people do 2 days, some do 4 days.)  Meaning we introduce one food at a time, for a period of 3 days; which gives us a chance to evaluate Lulu's reaction to the food and make sure there's no allergy or constipation.  Eventually, once we've gone through all the foods, we'll be able to serve multiple foods at one time.  Lulu hasn't had any constipation problems ::knocks on wood:: and that's something I hope to avoid completely.  

Fun fact #3:  Exclusively breastfed babies are more prone to constipation because their digestive systems are so used to processing breast milk, which is easily digested.  

I originally planned to combine two posts into one: telling you all about introducing solids and making homemade baby food; but, having typed it all out, I realize now that that would make for one verrry long post.  I'll leave you with a few more priceless photos from dinner - just look at her expression!