Mom Asks:
How do you make prunes for a Super Baby who has constipation issues?
Ruth says:
You don’t tell me your Super Baby’s age, so I’ll assume he’s about 6 months. It’s fabulous that you make almost all of his food! Constipation is common but he should grow out it within a few days.
Two things keep poop moving smoothly–fiber and water. So be sure to give him a few tablespoons of plain, pure water in a cup with each meal of solid foods. This will help the constipation and teach him drinking, swallowing, and hand skills. It will also get him used to plain water instead of sweet drinks or juice. Nix the juice!
Prunes have the fiber needed for poop “building.” It will make his poop softer, but not watery. The fiber (pectin-a soluble fiber) in pears and apples will also help. Try these fruits instead of the prunes and see if things get moving. There is no fiber, NONE, in animal products – meat, dairy, fish. It’s whole plant foods that have the healthy fiber we all need. Fiber is found in whole grains, as in brown rice and Super Porridge, legumes (beans,peas, lentils), nuts, and seeds like pumpkin seeds and flax seeds – freshly ground.
Prunes are dried plums, just as raisins are dried grapes. If you have a good food dehydrator (I recommend the Excalibur brand), you can buy fresh plums and dehydrate into prunes. I LOVE my Excalibur and it has paid for itself several times over by just making fruit roll-ups (see instructions in book).
You can also make your own prune purees by buying dried prunes, soaking them in water in the fridge overnight to plump them, and pureeing with water and freeze using food cube method. Depending on where you buy the dried prunes, you may save a lot of money. Buy organic, of course!
Hope this helps. Thanks so much for writing!!
🙂
Ruth