Constipation HELP :-(

[PaulaP]

Hi

I am hoping someone can give me some ideas on what I can do for my DS who has been pretty constipated lately.

He is nearly six months and has been on solid foods since he was 4 months old (very hungry baby), but lately he has been pretty constipated.

We have been overseas for 3 weeks and it started to affect him more while we were out there although I did not change his diet.  I started him on Jars of food (since we started weaning) as I knew that being on holiday it would be more difficult for us to cook food etc for him - so his food has not changed much at all with me sticking to the jars which were typically protein with a veggie in it.

A typical day would look like this.

7:30 - 8oz bottle of formula, 4 tsp of cereal mixed with yoghurt and 2 spoons of fruit (since the constipation I switched the fruit to Prunes)

11:30 - Lunch - 4oz bottle of formula with half a jar of food (small jar)

2:30 - 6oz bottle of formula

5:00 - Dinner - the other half a jar of food with half a yoghurt mixed with prunes

6:30 - 8oz bottle of formula.

While we were on holiday his eating habbits did not change at all and he slept really well too, but did have a couple of bad days where he was crying with a bad tummy.  Can Yoghurt cause constipation?  We use the Pettie Flour in the UK (I think that is how you spell it), although I did use another one whilst overseas in SA.

We arrived back yesterday and he had another really bad night (I have been awake since 2am this morning) with constant crying, would fall asleep for 5 -15 minutes and then wake up screaming.  Now I am not sure if this part is just due to the change of being back at home now with his body getting used to the time difference etc and everything catching up with him, of if he really did have a tummy ache - Can a plane journey unsettle a baby that much? - Anyway that is another story.

I was hoping that someone could give me some good remedies for constipation - I have tried the fresh orange juice and that has not been really sucessful.  I have also tried giving DS some WeetBix for breakfast but he did not really like them. 

Are there any drops or over the counter remedies that are sold in the UK that people have tried that you could suggest to me?

Thanking you in advance for your replies.

Thanks again.

Paula - Mum to Thomas - 12  July 2005

[janelle]

(((HUGS)))  I feel your pain.  My dd battled with really bad constipation for a while when she first started solids and even now at 2 has problems every now and then. 
With our dd dairy products where her trigger so to speak if she had too much yoghurt she would get constipate.  So in answer to your question - yes it can cause it!

Remedies we tried were prunes and prune juice, limiting bananas, dairy, rice cereal.  We also got and over the counter remedy called coloxyl.  Don't know if you have this in the U.K. but you are bound to have something similar.  they are basically flavoured drops of oil that we mixed with milk to help her pass everything.  Flax seed oil was also a great life saver for us.

Good luck
HTH

[Schae]

I think pear is a 'loosening' food.
It sounds like your ds is really suffering, shame man.

I've been told about the following remedy, but have never used it myself as my LO is not on formula.
Apparently you can mix a spoon of olive oil in your lo's bottle (one bottle) and that should help with the constipation.

As I've said, I haven't used it but friends of mine have with great success. I hope you find a solution soon.

[ambersmum]

Sounds like you're having a hard time of it! Give you and your baby plenty of time to get back on track after the overseas trip, everything will be out of sorts for a while.

On the constipation front, prunes are great for us! I got the idea from this web site. You boil them in water for a few mins, mix in blender to puree then sieve to remove stones. I bought ready to eat, no need to soak, stoneless ones ,but they did have a few bits of stones so very important to sieve. DD likes them with oats, apple or pear, yoghurt(sounds like you should give that a miss) or even on thier own. They freeze well in icecube trays.

She has a bit of prune every other day to keep things moving :oops: IYKWIM Even if you need medication to help this time prunes might help keep a balance on a daily basis.

Just a thought, would homemade veg and protien be less constipating than jars due to the fillers and stuff in them? I don't know if this is the case, just a thought. I wasn't too confident in making food for dd, didn't know what to make! but I got the Annabel Karmel book form library and it is so easy I asked for it as a christmas gift. I really reccommend it.


HTH
let us know how you get on.

[JennŠ]

Oatmeal mixed with prunes or pears cleans dd out very well.

[PaulaP]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I think I will definitely give the Yogurt a miss then - he does have quite a bit of it a day, and come to think of it, since we increased the amount he has that is where the problems started.

He has been ok on his cereals, so will give him some cereal for brekkie in the morning and plenty of fruit.  I will also add an extra bit of prunes just to make sure.

For his pudding in the evening, I will give him just fruit and see how that goes.

As for the oatmeal cereal are you able to give it to your lo at 6 months?

Thank you all so much for your replies, I really do appreciate it.

As you can imagine, I am stressing big time, He is not a happy bunny and I go back to work tomorrow (first day back since having him).  I feel like I am going to burst into tears as I really do not want to leave him - especially since he is so uncomfortable.

I will keep you posted on his progress.

Thanks again.

Paula - Mum to Thomas - 12 July 2005

[ryan's mum]

pear and apricots worked well for us. we have had constipation problems since ds went on solids.it got that bad that he is on a sugar based medicine called "lactulose". we got it prescribed but you can get it over the counter.i would ask you're dr about it as you do have to find the dose that works for you're lo .
   also we use yoghurts to help him go!!so they have never made his constipation worse.we get the activia danone prune ones and sieve it to get the big lumps out. ds does go regular every day now but that's with the extra help of the medicine. also try giving extra water during the day.
     ryan use to spend most of his day straining and crying. we knew we had to help him out

[ambersmum]

good luck for tommorrow at work Paula.

 oats are fine at 6 months, we used a baby oat cereal as it has no lumps in. I didn't mean they especially help with constiption but just that they go well with the prune and don't cause constipation like I've heard rice can.

[PaulaP]

Thanks again for your replies.

Work was ok - I never thought going back to work would be so hard - I missed DS so much, I do not want to go back tomorrow.

I have cut the yoghurts out completely today, and DS has gone 3 times.  He is still straining but not as much as he has been lately.  The prunes and extra fruit I have given him seems to be working ok.  think I will keep off the yoghurts for a while.  When do you think would be the best time for me to try and introduce them again?

Thanks again for your help.

Paula - Mum to Thomas 12 July 2005

[janelle]

After we cut things out of dd's diet we kept off them until she had been going consistently for a bout a week and then added back 1 thing at a time and waited a few days each time.  That was how we worked out that yoghurt was not working four her.  Every time we cut back she was fine, then when we increased it she owuld be constipated again.  So maybe wait a few days and then just add back 1 of the things you have cut out and see how he goes.  Glad he is feeling better!!

[ambersmum]

Hi Paula, Glad things are a bit better.

It must be hard going back to work, especially when ds has been constipated. It will take time to get used to work again but I guess it will make days off with ds even more special.

I would agree to introduce yoghart very slowly and in small amounts. There's no worry if he doesn't eat yogharts as long as he's getting calcium from his milk /cheese intake. We give dd rice pudding with fruit for desert as an alternative to yoghart. But yoghart is such as quick easy pudding, isn't it?

all the best

[barbara romphf]

my little one is 4 1/2 mo old and yes I've started solids. 3 tablespoons a day of rice cereal(w/formula) or oatmeal (w/water) and introduced carrots couple day ago! One tablespoon per meal. Anyways, the oatmeal purees her poo, but before that the simple remedy of preboiled and cooled down water (3-4 tspn) after every feed (be it bottle or otherwise) seemed to have solve the problem.