Anyone tried flax seed?

[izzys mum]

Hi,
My lo suffers terribly from constipation and has done for months. I've been to the doctors about so many times I've lost count. They say the same thing over and over..........more water, more fruit, brown sugar in her bottles, weaker formula. Nothing works. She currently has 2 6oz bottles water a day, 3/4 pieces of fruit and one bottle of weak formula.
I went back to see the doc last week as my DD screams before she needs to go to the toilet as it's going to hurt. He prescribed her some lactulose. Well we tried it but it made her sick. She's lactose intolerant - which the doc knows and he still gave me it.
I've been told by someone to try flax seed sprinkled on her food as it's a natural laxative.
Has anyone tried it? Did it work? I'm getting desperate now as it's causing her so much pain that she holds it in which of course makes it worse.
Sorry for the rambling post

Sarah

[Gareth - Harvey & Theo's Dad]

We use flaxseed regularly for Harvey as it's a good source of omega 3+6, we don't use it for constipation though.  What we used to keep Harvey regular when he was about your lo's age was homemade prune porridge.  We boiled some prunes in water, pureed them and froze them in icecube trays.  We used to use one a day mixed in with ReadyBrek, and that used to do the job for us.  Glycerine is also good for constipation, when we used the sugared water for Harvey, it only worked when we used staysoft brown sugar that had glycerine added to it.

Let us know how you get on.  Flaxseed is not a bad choice in any case.

 

[Samuel's Mom]

I have used flax seed oil for my ds's constipation.  I went and got capsules from the pharmacy and I put about half a capsule in his cereal every morning.  He had a period of really bad constipation when I gave it to him...and it seemed to take a few days to work and it did help.   Then he got really loose (diarhea)....but I don't know if it was due to the oil or teething.  I haven't given it to him again as he has been okay since.  I don't know what the potency of straight flax seeds...ie if they are easily digested or not.  Or if they are better than the oil?

If you check the message boards, there was some discussion (I think last month) about a soap trick that seemed to work well.

Good luck
Nicole

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Nathan gets flax seed oil for the omega's rather than constipation - but he is definitely regular as well.  He takes it straight off a spoon, but also likes it mixed into his yoghurt.  It's a really good diet addition either way.

[janelle]

We used flax seed oil when dd was really constipated and it was a life saver.  I bought capsules and would squeeze 1 onto a teaspoon and dd would suck it straight off :shock:     I think the reason it works is that one of the side effects can be a laxative effect.  We love it!!!!!

[Deb_in_oz]

from what age can you give the flax seed to them?  dd2 has suffere from constipation a lot and i finally tried prune juice yesterday.  would prefer something besides this in the long run.

any ideas?

[janelle]

I think I started my dd on flax seed oil at about 7 months :?   Not sure how young you could start though. sorry

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

I started Nathan about 8-9mths I think - so I gave a smaller than the recommended dose to that on the back of the bottle, I started with 1 teaspoon.  I treated it like any "new" food, so did it in isolation from any other food.

[izzys mum]

Well we managed to get some powdered seed and I gave her a teaspoon sprinkled on her food yesterday. It's made her very gassy but not so much that she's uncomfortable. It'll probably take a few days to have any real effect but I'll keep you posted.
Fingers crossed!!

[arclarc]

As an adult I take about a tablespoon of ground flax seed with my cereal everyday, for a baby it should be about a 1/2 teaspoon.  It is supposed to help with depression and keeping your mood stable, as well as helping with arthritis, inflammation, and lowering your cholesterol, etc..

You should wait until 8 months to introduce.  Because they are a seed and can be an allergen you should talk to your pediatrician first.  If you have any family history of nut or seed allergy he will probably tell you to wait until a year.

Could you dd be getting to much iron?  Iron is very important, but too much can cause constipation.  Just a thought.

other food that help with constipation (treat each as a new food and make sure they are age approprate):  apples, carrots, beets, barley, greens, brown rice, asparagus, aloe vera (ask your ped.)

good luck!

how old is you dd?  and how is she doing now?

[micah'smom]

kind of a tangent but just wanted to comment that i'm BF'ing and i eat flaxseed waffles in the morning, and ds's poops have been definitely more frequent    so i'm sure flaxseed coudln't hurt.