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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Small Child, Breastfed, Hard Stools, Loss Of Appetite. Suggestions?

Hi Dr. I have a 7 month old girl who started solids when she was 5 months. She used to love all sorts of food, and could have a good portion of that in each meal. Over the past few weeks though, she s refusing everything... She s still been breastfeed though... What could be that?? Thank you very much. I m very concern about her nutrition...
Sat, 10 Nov 2012
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Pediatric Hemato-Oncologist 's  Response
hello, in these cases the first and foremost thing you should see if your child is gaining weight normally and whether her activities are as normal as they were earlier. if the answers to these questions are yes, then probably you should stop worrying about the feeding behavior of your child and may be you are trying to feed her over enthusiastically. moreover you can build up her nutrition by decreasing the amount of any liquid diet you may be giving and by giving her energy dense food. this can be made by adding a little amount of butter in meals. it also serves to enhance the taste and make food more palatable. meanwhile you can continue breastfeeding your child as long as she wishes. thanks
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Pediatrician, Neonatology Dr. Arunava Biswas's  Response
Hi
It seems your child is having constipation. It is very common in this age.
Please do the following -

1. Let her drink more water / juice / soup. Maintaining hydration is necessary as dehydration is the cause of constipation in many cases.
2. Let her spend more time in toilet and maintain a good bowel habit. Hard stool is difficult to pass and causes pain. Child try to retain it. It get dry and more hard. Cycle goes on resulting in stool impaction.
3. Give more dietary fiber rich foods (green leafy vegetables, whole cereals, grains, unpeeled vegetables) and less fiber poor foods ( refined cereals, white bread, banana, milk, dairy products, meat).
Severe constipation needs purgative medicines if not relieved by above measures.
If still the constipation problem persists, visit your pediatrician. Your child needs to be examined for other causes of constipation. Treatment will be done accordingly.

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Small Child, Breastfed, Hard Stools, Loss Of Appetite. Suggestions?

hello, in these cases the first and foremost thing you should see if your child is gaining weight normally and whether her activities are as normal as they were earlier. if the answers to these questions are yes, then probably you should stop worrying about the feeding behavior of your child and may be you are trying to feed her over enthusiastically. moreover you can build up her nutrition by decreasing the amount of any liquid diet you may be giving and by giving her energy dense food. this can be made by adding a little amount of butter in meals. it also serves to enhance the taste and make food more palatable. meanwhile you can continue breastfeeding your child as long as she wishes. thanks