Constipation from Weaning - what do you do?

We started weaning our five month old baby a week ago. The first two days she was fine, then I started becoming slightly concerned as Amélie had not had a movement for nearly four days.

picture of baby being fed

The day after Amélie had her first bowl of solids (baby rice which she ate readily and then some fruit puree for desert which she yummed up), all seemed to be going well. She had had her first movement after being on solids the very next day. This stool was different to her stools when she was on just formula. It was a bit diarrhea and lumpy, and had a few white bits in it (sorry to be so descriptive). I was not concerned as I knew that her digestive system would take time to adjust.

Over the next few days we fed her two meals a day of solids and three bottle feeds. She was taking to the food pretty well but I had noticed that she had not had a poo at all. She also seemed to get tummy ache after she had eaten a bit of her food and then quite irritable. I kept the milk feeds up to make sure that she was not dehydrated and gave her some cooled boiled water with her solids.

On the fourth day of weaning and no sign of poo, I called the Health Visitor and asked her if this was normal. Her advice was for us to carry on as we were doing that is feeding her the baby rice and vegetable meals and to give her cool boiled water. She said that it was normal for the first few days for the baby to be constipated. She said that the vegetables would eventually make her go so she suspected that it would not be long before Amélies digestive system settled down.

The Health Visitor also said that if the baby was uncomfortable in any way we were to take her to the hospital or doctors so that she could be given something to help her with the constipation. She also mentioned if the stool was like rabbit droppings then the baby should go to the doctors for some treatment as this is a sign of bad constipation.

Well it's Murphy's Law, as soon as I put the phone down I went to pick Amélie up and guess what - she stank, yes she had finally had a movement. Not only was I blessed with one very smelly poo but she had several that day. I guess making up for lost time.