Busy all day trying to poop..

[Tuty]

DD seems to be trying to poop all day long, sometime she can and sometimes not (she poops daily, usually in the bath tab.., so I assume she's not constipated). She's not a happy camper anymore and this is also ruining her night sleep (she wakes up at 5AM squeezing). Right now I'm giving her oatmeal and we just started with a little bit of sweet potatos in the morning.

Do you recommend giving her more fruits and prunes to help her get it out easily or, since she is pooping quite a lot, perhaps I should give her less 'fiberic' foods (carrots, bananas)?

Thanks,
Tuty

[First Time Mom]

It depends on the texture but if she's trying all day and nothing comes out then it sounds like it could be too hard for her. My dd goes 1x a day and every now and then she strains and tries 5x before anything comes. I will then give her 2 tbsps of prunes and it helps (it's softer and she doesn't try repeatedly)

I've read that bananas can constipate, didn't know about carrots though. I would make sure she's getting fibre and perhaps lay off the starchy foods. Do you offer her water to drink at her meals? It's important to make sure they're getting enough liquids in. But if she's bf and only just starting solids then I wouldn't give water yet.

[MrsKirky]

I found that home-made prunes worked better than the canned.  Stew (cover with water) in the microwave until water boiling and puree well with the water.   Pears worked best for my LO, though.  When we got really desperate, I put a couple of drops of flax-seed oil in with food.  Made it soft but not runny.  Pediatrician was OK with the flax-seed, but check with yours.  Sometimes DS wouldn't go when he was too "busy", so I would slow his day down and calm him down so he would go.  HTH.

[*Kimberly*]

I am the master of the constipated baby, okay maybe not but I should be by now.  My little one has been constipated pretty much all his little life.  We have tried just about everything.  The first thing I would suggest is to cut the bananas and the grains.  Those tend to be the most constipating.  Then I would add prunes.  My son hates prunes so we add some apple-prune juice to his bottle instead of water with his formula.  I have jsut reciently found that yogurt really seems to help.  I use the Yo-Baby.  If all else fails you can use a baby supository or a baby laxitive.  I would talk to your doctor if it gets to this point.  If she still hasn't pooped by wed, I would probably call the doc to get an okay on using the suppository or laxitive.  My poor son gets the laxitive everyday and we still aren't regular yet.  I hope your little one is back to normal by tomorrow.

Kimberly
Brendan's Mom

[Tuty]

Thanks all for your responses!

She is pooping almost daily. But she's trying a lot more than what comes out. She's very active all day, I guess that's why she poops at night or during the bath. I'll try to give her pears.