Rice cereal blocking almost 6MO up

[Hutchy4]

Hello,

We started trying solids a few weeks ago with our DD. She is a big girl, 98th percentile for height and weight and was showing all the signs of readiness. Initially, we started with a teaspoon of pear which seemed to block her up for 4 days (normally she has a daily BM). This was worrying as it reduced her BFing significantly. However once she had a BM, her feeds went back to normal. We have since introduced a couple of teaspoons a day of other vegetables/fruits and have had no issues.

Last week I introduced the rice cereal for iron content. I mixed it with pear and a little stewed prune as I heard it can block them up. She loved it but after a few days, she again became very constipated and it reduced her BF volumes  for a few days. I stopped the rice cereal and just gave her fruit/veg and steamed prunes which eventually worked (but not immediately).

My questions:
1) My maternal health nurse says it’s the iron in the rice cereal that blocks them up. Is this true?
2) I’ve bought some baby oats with added iron- has anyone had experience with these? Will it have the same impact?
3) Apart from the pear and prunes, any other ideas for relieving constipation when just starting solids?

Thanks in advance!

[deb]

We had to try a number of different grains with ours, and in the end I wish we'd just skipped grains entirely and gone to, well, FOOD food. :-) For DD1, millet was the one that she did best with, while DD2 did better with oats. You may have to keep tweaking, or just remove the grains entirely, maybe try a little yogurt, which also mixes quite well with different fruits and veg, or puree soup or stew. Iron is indeed constipating, so if that's the issue you will need to cut back on iron entirely; if she's getting enough to back her up, then she's either not metabolizing it or she's getting more than she needs. At 6MO she's likely ready for a bigger variety of foods anyway, as long as she's still getting plenty of breastmilk/formula too.

[Hutchy4]

Thanks for the reply!
The iron fortified oatmeal has also blocked her up so might steer clear of that altogether. You’re right, she can now start eating a wider range so I will skip those and try her with other things!

[Buntybear]

It can be trial and error when introducing new foods - it is good that you are able to identify the culprits easily - as her system matures she will be able to tolerate those foods probably!