Constipation - Orlando, FL

Hi, my daughter used to be constipated all the time also. Her pediatrician suggested Miralax. You give it to them everyday with a glass of water, it is a stool softener. It is sold over the counter and if she gets "too loose" you can adjust to a little less so she is just going normally. She told me that she will probably have to take it for the rest of her life, I am glad it works without any side effects, gas, bloating, etc. Hope this helps.

Hi A.,

Went thru the same with our second child. Karo syrup and prune juice did not work at all. As an immediate remedy, you could try a tiny sprinkle of "Emer'gen-C" mineral complex drink mix powder in a half cup of water in her bottle, shake well to dissolve completely. The Tropical flavor is the best bet for a little one, it's very mild tasting. Some of the other flavors aren't as palatable for a baby or child. Use just a tiny bit, a full packet containt 1,000 mg. of Vitamin C, which is far too much at one time for a baby. Whole Foods Market sells it, possibly regular drugstores, or their website is: alacercorp.com.

If your baby is on formula, you may want to switch brands to one that claims to be the easiest to digest. She might be intolerant to cow milk protein, so maybe a soy based formula would help. She may be intolerant to soy protein. Only way to find out what doesn't agree with her tummy is to try her on a formula for a week or so and see how it goes. If she seems uncomfortable and still constipated, maybe you would consider trying a natural formula instead of the usual commercial formulas. My firstborn had breast and formula, and later I figured out that he is severly intolerant to corn syrup, which is in every commercial formula. I have friends whose babies were intolerant to cow milk formulas and some who were intolerant to soy-based. Some babies need goat milk based formula. If you don't have a Whole Foods Market near you, you can go online and order their natural baby formula. Their baby brand is called "Whole Baby". Being a major chain dedicated to health and well-being, you can rest assured that their formula is proven safe.

I so much empathisize with you, having been there twice, and hope your baby feels much better very soon~

C. N.

any chance it's reflux?
are you breastfeeding? if so try cutting out all milk ('hidden' even, as ingredients in things) and soy for 2 weeks & see if things improve

if it's formula, then give a new formula a chance, and again give it a full 2wks to see if it helps- I would say alimentum or nutrimigen

if this doesn't help, get to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist just in case- it can't hurt

I'm assuming your child is the 7 year old. Anyways, my child is 20 months and I have had constipation issues with my child for most of his young life. The only thing that seemed to fix it was to make sure he gets lots of fluids. I give him juice/water mixture first thing in the morning. Again mid-morning and another one in the afternoon. And then the milk for lunch and dinner. But I did use something for the very bad times called Babylax. It is a liquid suppository with a clear bulb on the end to push the liquid into the child's bottom. Easy to use and works quickly to clear it up. Good luck!

Try swithsing formulas. If you see little pellets of undigested formula in her poo she is having a hard time digesting it. She might also be pushing because she has gas and just trying to work that out. If this is the case try burping her more often during her feedings. And you can try laying her on her back taking her right leg and her left arm and touching knee to elbow, release after a few seconds, then both knees up to her stomach, then left knee to right elbow. this helps relax the stomach muscle to release the gas and will also help work any poo out. You can also try baby massage. This works really well as well and your baby will love it.

No bananas, no oatmeal. Try applesauce, prunes (I know you said you've tried, but give it some time and keep trying them) and apricots, pears, plums and peaches also are great. Add more fiber foods . Fiber foods for older babies are bran cereals, graham crackers, whole-grain breads and crackers, and high-fiber vegetables such as peas, broccoli, and beans.

I also found this on askdrsears.com

"CONSTIPATION IN INFANTS UNDER A YEAR
In addition to the above general tips for preventing and treating constipation at all ages, try these infant-specific tips:
If formula-feeding, experiment with different formulas to find which one is most intestinal-friendly.
Feed baby smaller amounts of formula more frequently, which gives the intestines a better chance to properly digest the formula. An easier rule of thumb is to feed half as much twice as often.
Delay introduction of solid foods, especially more constipating ones, such as rice and bananas. Instead of rice cereal, try barley cereal. Good starter high-fiber foods for constipated infants are pureed pears and prunes.
Ease the passage of stools using glycerin suppositories or liquid glycerin (as described above).
Add one teaspoon of flax oil once a day mixed into baby cereal or baby's bottle.
Watch for about-to-go signs. As soon as your baby begins to grunt, grimace, look bloated, or show signs of straining, quickly insert a glycerin suppository to ease the passage."

My son went through the same thing at about 12 months. Kayro didn't work for him either.

For immediate relief, lots of apple juice. It has worked for the entire family.

For especially bad cases, an infant glycerin suppository will take some of the pressure off within minutes, but still do the apple juice.

If it turns out to be a continuing problem, look at the formula. He was on cow's milk at the time, and I had to keep dropping the amount of fat in the milk until the problem went away. He ended up on 1/2% fat.

Good Luck

My son had same issue and nothing worked until he was prescribed a powder that i would put a teaspoon in his formula and that worked wonders!!!

I had the same problem w/ my son. We finally switched his formula. He was on Similac Advance we switched to the Similac Soy, made it worse and finally we tried Similac Allimentum. Within 2 days he was acting normal and within about a week he was pooping regularly. Good luck!

A.-My oldest son went through this as a baby and I used to feel so bad for him. Just try going through all that you are feeding her and make sure none of the foods are too binding (or at least keep those to a minimum). What we used to have to do for him though, when he was in too much pain and had not had a BM, was just lay him down, hold his legs up in one hand and just take our other hand and rub his belly right under his belly button (not too hard, but, hard enough to help get some things moving). This worked for him and helped ease his constipation pretty well. Good luck, I hope your daughter gets better!

Hey A.. My little angel was born Jan. 24, 2007 and I am dealing with the same issue of constipation. It is really sad. When you give her prune juice, give her the adult prune juice, not the baby stuff. Give her one ounce in the morning and one later in the day. I add it to my daughter's bottle, but I am not breastfeeding. The best formula I have found to help is Enfamil Gentleease. It is in the purple container.

Good luck!

Hello A.! I know exactly what you're going through. My doctor had me put a teaspoon of the dark kayro syrup in every bottle (at the time she was having like 5-6 bottles a day.) I also noticed that once I fed her prunes and cereal (5 months) she was able to poop more regularly. For her, "regularly" was like 3-4 times a week. I didn't care how often, I was just concerned that she was able to pass it with no crying/straining and that it was soft. She sometimes bled too. Poor babies. All is good now that she's on solids. I hope your little one gets on track soon!

My 19 month old son had the same trouble with pusing and pushing and not being able o go. i tried prune juice and it did not work. Finally after watching him struggle for so long I called his Dr. and he started him on a very gentle laxative that he takes with apple juice before bed, I could not beleive how well it worked after only one dose. The presciption is called polyeth glycol powder. It is very gentle and safe and workes so great. The r told me that is kids think it hurts to poop, they will hold it in and make the constipation worse.
C.

I used to have the same problem with my baby, now she is almost two, try giving her water between meals, It would work with my baby, my pediatrician would always recommend that: WATER, WATER, WATER,