I think my baby is getting constipated.

My daughter just turned 7 months and has had slimy poop pretty much since birth. Her old pediatrician brushed it off, but after other issues we switched doctors. The new one found a tiny bit of blood in her stool and said the mucus was likely from a food intolerance. I’m breastfeeding and have been dairy, soy, and egg free for a little over a month now.

Her weight gain has also been slow, so the GI specialist we were referred to suggested giving her a bottle of breastmilk at night with 1 tsp of cereal in 2 oz of milk. I didn’t feel comfortable doing that since the CDC advises against cereal in bottles, so instead I give her iron-fortified oatmeal for lunch, about 1 oz breastmilk, 1 oz water, and cereal until it’s the texture she likes. She also takes 1 mL of Poly-Vi-Sol with iron and vitamin D. She’s started purées but only eats about 2 Tbsp a day, so she’s not getting all her iron from food yet.

Her poop looked great for about a week..thicker and less mucousy, but lately it’s gone the other way. It’s now forming soft clumps/balls instead of a creamy consistency. I can flatten it easily, but it’s solid enough to pick up with a wipe and leaves little to no residue.

I’ve been adding a bit more cereal lately to help with weight gain. She only eats it once a day, but I make it thicker now that she tolerates it. I usually add about 1 oz of water to it, but the pediatrician hasn’t mentioned giving her water separately. We have a weigh-in appointment on Thursday, and I’ll bring all this up, but I’d love to hear from other moms who’ve dealt with similar poop/feeding transitions.