6 Month Old Not Pooping

Call the pediatrician on-call at the hospital or doctor's office. They are there to answer questions like this! Or call a pharmacist to ask them. My son went through this a few times, also exclusively breastfed, and I was so sleep deprived I don't remember now what the doctor told us to do, but I know that I was always calling them for help and they were always very nice and helpful.

My son had the same problem and I was told that breast milk can sometimes constipate. The doctor told me to use supositories. The infant size and if you can't find them you can cut an adult size one for the child. Also we were put on Oatmeal for the extra fiber.

Hi K.

This may sound funny but what my older sister told me to do when my baby couldnt poop was to do the bicycle. You lay the baby flat on the back, pick up the legs and move them in a bicycle motion. It seemed to work for my girl.

Good luck!
L.

I remember that I had a similar concern with my baby around that age. What I have learned is that babies can use every part of breastmilk, so if they need those calories (e.g. during a growth spurt), they won't need to pass any of it, hence the lack of poop for days and days. At this point, I wouldn't worry.

Baby could be dehydrated, so you may want to ask your doctor if they would recommend giving baby a few ounces of water each day, especially during the hot months. My doctor did recommend that.

Good luck!

My pediatrician says 4 days of no poop is okay..even 6 days. But if you're really concerned or something seems off, call your pediatrician.

Some other things you can do to help him out include giving him a small amount of diluted prune juice. At six months he could try to begin eating some purees, give him some fruit like apple and perhaps simple veggies like carrot. Avoid pears and bananas, they are binding. Broccoli and Cauliflower cause gas and bloating. He won't need much to get things moving. Avoid suppositories. They cause more trouble than good.

As for yourself, since you're breastfeeding, you probably already know what you eat can affect baby too. Take inventory of what you've been eating too. If you've eaten alot of dairy or other foods that are binding, too spicy or gaseous, your breastmilk will affect him too.

Last but not least, a warm wash cloth on the tummy or any sort of mildly warm compress on his tummy will give him some relief as well.

Dr. Sears has a great book titled "The Fussy Baby Book" and while your son isn't necessarily fussy, he may benefit from the chapter that highlights several "tummy soothing" massage techniques and positions that a parent can use when holding or trying to soothe baby. Sears says they're not only excellent for babies with GIRD, but for children who might be constipated or have mild tummy discomfort. You might find some of these online too...or try searching for words such as "the clutch hold" or "colic and hold positions".

UPDATE: HERE'S A SITE I JUST FOUND THAT EXPLAINS SOME OF THESE HOLDS.
http://www.thelaboroflove.com/forum/homeo/colic.html

He might be gassy too, so perhaps gas drops.

Hope some of these ideas help.

Very normal in a breastfed baby. They can go a week without pooping and have it be very normal. The hard thing is being ready for the blowout! Is he eating solids at all yet? If so, certain things could be slowing down his system. If not, try prune juice as suggested. No more than 4 ozs is just fine to give them. Gerber makes it in a nice 4oz container. My daughter is/was only breastfed and dealt with this while being just fine. Good luck and congrats on nursing.

I don't have time to read all the posts, so sorry if this is repititious!

-prune juice
-BRAT diet (bananas, rice cereal, applesauce, toast)
-warm bath (not sure why, but it helped my boys poop...albeit in the tub LOL)
--insert rectal thermometor (never tried, but many friends say it works)

If he still hasn't pooped by tomorrow I'd call your ped for advice.

Good luck!!!

Hi,
My second son always had problems pooping also.
We took him to the doctor and she told us to give him Miralax mixed into milk or water. I would take your baby to the dr. just to make sure that at your baby's age it's ok to do that.
Also, my husband and I would give our son liquid glycerin suppositories, it provides relieve very quickly. If that doesn't work we have also used enemas. It's NO FUN!!
I can empathize with your situation, you hate to see them so uncomfortable. Our second son it now 3 and his "trigger" foods that cause constipation are bananas and pizza, everything else is ok.
Good luck!

My son had similar problems when he was about 3 months. I used gas drops but was told thats not that odd because breast milk is more efficient for the baby. I was told call a doctor after 5 days.

Call your homeopath or md right away. There are toxins in poop and they will be reabsorbed into his body if they are excreted naturally. That is the cause of a lot of illness in children and adults today. Over the past 100 years that information has been forgotten.

you can try rectal stimulation with a thermo and gel for 10 sec which can give him the urge to push the poop out, warm bath above the belly helps baby relax and want to poop, 1 oz of juice per mo of age twice a day, or Karo Syrup 1/2 tsp twice a day.
Those are things to start with anyway.

Hope that helps

My mostly-still-just breastfed baby (who is now 10 months) did the same thing when he was 6 months. I called my peds nurse and she said prunes, prune juice, more prunes. I mixed some apple prune juice (halfed) with water in his sippy cup, and the next day we had a little BM.

My baby went through major bouts of "constipation" from 4 months until about 7 months. He was exclusively breastfed also, and once went 14 days without a BM! I was alarmed; my doctor (I called three of them!) were not so much. They suggested everything typical--juice (it finally took 8 oz of undiluted juice...making me wonder if he was in fact constipated), a rectal thermometer, massaging him bum, etc, etc. What my doctor finally suggested, after 2 months of very irregular poops, was putting him on food (he was 6 months). I thought, rice cereal, with iron, is gonna HELP? But it did. Not immediately, but in a week or two, we had much more regular BMs. Also, I have a number of friends who have sworn by yogurt with active cultures. Oh--and finally, doctors will tell you that a baby is not constipated simply because they don't go; a breastfed baby can go days-like up to 10, I think?-without a BM and it's still considered completely normal.

It is perfectly normal. Here is a ling on some info please read.

http://www.parentbytes.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&a...

My 3 month old has gassy issues and I take her in the shower with me. I have her father hold her while I shower then hand her off to me and she absolutely loves it. Relaxes her and she usually will fall asleep right after. You can even feed while you are in there. I just sit in the tub with the water running so the steam keeps her warm. Also work the legs in a bicycle motion. Pushes on the lower intestines and helps break it out.

Watered down pear juice will do the trick. I usually did 3 ounces of pear juice watered down with 2-3 ounces of water. It should take less than an hour for them to have a BM. Good luck!

Hi there, K.!

My daughter (who is now almost 8 months) went through this as well. What ended up helping me was a combination of a few things: visits to our chiropractor, feeding her prunes, eliminating rice cereal, and giving her pear juice mixed with water. It lasted about 3 weeks, and now she is pooping just fine. Good luck!

Our ds#2 (also breastfeed) is our contipated child - now at almost 5 yrs of age he can still have trouble & can clog the toilet, yikes. It started when he was about 7 mos old. He was trying to poop & it was (sorry) the size of a nickel & still not coming out, poor baby. My aunt a nurse was with us & told us to get him glycerin suppositories. When we got to the store they only had the 'babylax' liquid suppositories, I thought that is what she meant. We laid him on his side & carefully inserted one (in the back of the SUV right there in the parking lot). It worked like a charm. It wasn't until a year or more later when I couldn't find that kind that I bought the ones she meant - I think the liquid work faster. We started feeding him purnes in his cereal whenever he went more than a day w/o pooping - we didn't have to use the suppositories very often then, but only used them when he was trying but could NOT go. His Dr. recommended 'checking his temp' with a q-tip to get things moving, but that never worked. When he got older, we feed him cut up prunes, smaller than grapes. Now he takes a natural pill to help his intestines working as they should. Good Luck.

did he ever have hard stool? babies, especially breastfed, should have pretty soft stools. anytime a baby has a hard stool, they can get cuts or tears in their bottom, and then it hurts to poop, so they wont poop... it takes a while for their little bodies to heal down there, so it might be a while that it has to heal. any solids that you have fed, stop feeding for a while, or feed non-constipating foods like peaches, prunes, or feed smaller amounts. bananas are constipating foods, so try to avoid that for a while. rice cereal is also constipating... so avoid that too.

remember that until a year old, babies do not need solid foods, it is no replacement for breastmilk or formula, so dont worry about your child missing out on any nutrients, they get what they need from milk! :D

awesome job breastfeeding, it really does help with constipation, usually breastfed babies dont get constipated, but when starting solids they may start having some problems. you could just go back to breastmilk only for a few days and let baby clean out. :D

good luck!
www.askdrsears.com

I have been going through this with my LO too. The doctor said u can use a rectal thermometer to stimulate them to go. Usually just putting it in a little and then taking it out will work, BUT i refuse to do that. Im afraid to hurt him. I know prunes and prune juice works for my LO. I just put a few drops in a bottle with some breast milk and away he goes. He usually isnt constipated for that much longer and so much happier too!! Good Luck!

I just noticed that someone mentioned the BRAT diet. That's for the opposite problem so don't use that :o)
Definitely switch to oatmeal instead of rice cereal.
Hope this helps,
J.
Mom to 4, soon 5 through another adoption and hopefully more :o)

I had the same thing happen with a couple of my babies and they were breastfed too. It was explained to me that they go through growth spurts and since we breastfeed and it is all natural, it is totally absorbed so there is no waste left. Eventually he will go. I think the longest with no BM was 5 days. Good Luck!
R.

My son had the same problem. My doctor told me to mix about 1 ounce of prune juice in 4-6 ounces of milk/formula/whatever. After a few bottles he pooped. Once he started pooping, I had to do it 1-2 times a day to keep him pooping. He started to get blocked up again when I introduced iron fortified cereal, so I mixed some prune juice in his ceral with the milk. The doctor said I could also try apple juice-but due to all the sugar- I stuck with prune juice. Good luck-they get so miserable!

My third child had that problem. Around 6 days without pooping. Difference was that she did not seem to have any discomfort. Her doctor had us get over-the-counter infant suppositories (sp?). (The pharmacist knew what we needed.) That did the trick.

my now 11 month old son had issues with constipation. our pediatrition told us to just try some prune juice each day and so we did and it worked great. at 6 months it think i gave him about 4 oz a day mixed with a little water and i would do that every day till he was regualar again. it usually took about a week to make him regular but it worked great and now that he is older and drinking more water he dont seem to that the issue as much. Good luck.

Two remedies for this K.:

Flax oil or cod liver oil - dip your finger in the bottle and let him suck it off. It will soften his stools.

Acidophilus - same thing - dip your finger in the powder (don't get the capsules) and let him suck it off.

Not all babies are born with enough good bacteria to digest their food properly. And you may not be providing enough Essential Fatty Acids through your breast milk (Flax/fish oil). Taking these things yourself daily will also help him (and you).

I guarantee that these remedies will work. Give daily until he refuses them. Then, continue with a small amount of flax and acidophilus (available in children's chewable form) weekly throughout his childhood for continued colon health.

Watch what happens to you when you consumer Dairy - do you feel bloated or have flatulence? If so, you may be suffering lactose intolerance - and if you are, so is your Baby. Your child may even be suffering upper respiratory infections or ear infections - both signs of sensitivity to milk and milk byproducts (such as through your breastmilk). Just remember - don't replace with SOY - soy is poison (no kidding - my kid has suffered inflammation in his brain due to Soy infant formula ...) I hope this helps ... If you do have symptoms when you consume Dairy, start taking a good probiotic (from the refrigerated section of Health Food stores - don't eat yogurt as it is Dairy!!!)

Its normal for breastfed babies to go 4, 5 days... even 10 days without a poop. Breastmilk is made specifically for your baby, your body knows what your baby needs and it makes just that, so your babies body uses almost everything, therefore no poop.

He's only constipated if his poops are hard, round little nuggets like rabbit poop. If its soft and yellow/squishy, then hes not constipated.

Again its normal... no reason to pump him full of juice or stimulate his bottom or anything. Just relax, feed him as normal and he'll poop. If he's in a growth spurt he won't poop as much either, his body will be using even more of the breastmilk, so no waste will be coming out.

I would call your pediatrician first, or if you have a help line they will go through questions with you to determine what the cause could be for not pooping....

When I asked about this I was told that often babies use every drop of the breastmilk so there may not be much poo. Is he weeing ok?

When I put mine on solids that was when he was in discomfort and as I suffer from IBS I was not prepared to put him though that and so went back to fully bf until he started 'stealing' food :) ie goign up to our plates and taking it :)

My bf account on www.a-little-wish.co.uk (old site) good luck and enjoy - fully bf a magical time :)

Our son had similar issues and continues to have issues now that he is 2. We would put approx. 1 oz of prune juice in one bottle of milk (I would pump enough to have at least that much each day) he was breastfed until 1 year and we did start solids at 4.5 - 5 mo.

Linda

make sure he's getting enough water (make sure you are hydrated) if he's tried solids yet...you can give him pears for constipation...(i believe peaches and blueberries work too...but pears was what helped my daughter....massage his bummy right above his legs in a counterclockwise circular motion (my chiropractor told me about that)....try askdrsears.com too...i love that resource.....

My sons doctor told me to rub his stomach clock wisw but to make sure I'm putting a little pessure when doing it. So I put him on his back and just taked or played with him whie O did it and by doing that he didn'r really pay attention to what I was doing. Try it or my sister told me to buy baby apple juice put 1oz of that with 3oz of water that reallt worked for my nephew and sometimes for my sone. But my aunt told me to put a tablespoon of cyro syrup in his formula or breast milk and that reallty worked for my son. And my other sister gave my other nephew prune juice and he actually was on that daily to keep him regular and that seem to really work for him. We had to get man maid medicine for my son and that was the only thing that really worked for my son its called enulose syrup. Every baby is different with what works I feel for you and wish you the nest of luck. Hope your precious baby feels better soon.