My 6 month old is breastfed exclusively. She will not take a bottle and she is constipated. Her signs of constipation are going once a day to maybe every other day, straining to poop, and once she does poop she begins straining again. Her poops are very thick, like she were on solids...which she is not. It has been going on for a few weeks now. I went to a new ped, since my last one just kept telling me she basically would work it out. She has also been spitting up a lot more, and some of her spitting up bothers her (but not all the time). She is fussy at the breast when eating, and pauses constantly as if trying to poop with no luck. At the new ped appt. she had a bowel movement and they saw it and said it was not normal for a breastfed baby to have this kind of poop. It was dark dark brown and very thick. My ped is leaning in between acid reflux (which she was tested for with a barium swallow and came out clean at 3 months) and a possible food allergy. he gave her a prescrip. of prevacid (1/2 tablet each morning) and some thick syrup called constualnce for her constipation to be given 1 tsp. 3x a day. He also advised prune juice diluted, yet it is hard to give her because she won't take a bottle. She seemed to get regular the first day she was on the Costulance syrup (back to watery seedy yellow poops), and then I took her off the Constulance syrup the next day and her constipation seemed to return by night. I now reverted back to giving her the constulance 3x a day today since yesterday she didn't stay regular. Has anyone had gut issues with their little one and what worked for you? I see my new ped. on Tuesday, but I wonder what your thoughts were.
Well we've been on our reflux meds and once a day constulose syrup and our dd is a much happier baby these days. No more fussies at the breast, she can poop without too much straining, and she seems to be sleeping better now too. I am looking forward to taking her off the reflux meds at our next appointment to see if it was the constipation that aggravated her reflux problem. She poops at least once a day, and from my perspective of watching her strain for so many months she has cut back her straining discomfort 10 folds. Her bowel movements are still sketchy if I do not give her the constipation meds....they usually turn out very dark and green...but if I give her the meds she stays more brown/yellow and less thick than peanut butter consistency and passes more comfy. I have completely eliminated dairy...but I had started the elimination weeks before her constipation started. She is still breastfed and I am glad I have stuck with it, and it is nice now to see her face look up at me with smiles after a feeding instead of tears of pain.
07/30/08 update: Our dd is now 7 months is still battling with constipation. We found it was actually the cause of her frequent night wakeups. She is also started spitting up a lot more when we took her off her reflux med (prevacid) for two weeks. So we restarted her on prevacid again like before and she gets her consptipation med (stool softener) 3x a day. WHAT A DIFFERENCE...NO MORE ARCHING AT FEEDINGS AND SLEEP HAS IMPROVED! I'm only feeding her oatmeal, prunes, green beans, peas, pears, and peaches. I'm not really sure how the carrots and sweet potatoes did on her system so I will introduce them at 8 months, as well as for the bananas and applesauce. She also hasn't tried squash yet...I may wait till 8 months on that too. Of all the "P" fruits...prunes works the best for us for irregularity. She is also FINALLY getting the handle of putting herself to sleep now...and even for naps! So to all those mothers out there who feel no they get no sleep...it does get better!! So MUCH BETTER in time! Thank you all for your advice to a sleep deprived first time mommy!
My son had similar issues. I started feeding him prunes and they were a life saver. I didnt start him on solids til 6 months but it might be time to do it. I brestfed too. Also try him on cereal but make it with formula. That helped my son make a BM as well.
It may be something in your diet. Have you changed your eating habits? Maybe added or deleted anything that may have caused this change in the baby's bowel movements? Try adding or deleting things in your diet like prune juice for easier bowl movements to deleting bananas....its all interrelated breast to baby........good luck.
My son was exclusively breastfed, and he wouldn't take a bottle either, however he would drink water out of our glasses. He showed an intrest in what we were drinking, so I tried letting him sip out of my glass and presto he was drinking out of a glass (with assitance of course!). This made it easier when he was constipated to give him some pear juice...my pediatrician said it works even better than prune juice, and it really did.
Definately look into any iron you may be giving the baby, and see about foods you may be eating bohtering her. Milk is usually a big culprit, and someone else posted the other big ones. Are you giving her any of the baby cereals? If you are, they can be really binding (since they are very iron fortified)...especially the rice one. I found that oatmeal was the ony one that my son could eat and not everyday.
I would also call and get an appointment with a gastroenterologist t make sure nothing else is going on...beside you will probably have to wait for an oappointment, and if you can figure it out before your waiting is done, ou can always cancel.
I wish you luck an dhope maybe you found something helpful!
G.
I would take your baby to a gastroenterologist. They are the experts. My dd has severe constipation pretty much since birth and because I waited so long to see a specialist I got the run around. Now she is almost 5yrs old and we are still dealing with it but now working with a gastroenterologist.
My oldest daughter (now 10) suffered a whole lot & still does w/constipation. We would give her all sorts of different things we were told to try by the ped but the one that worked the best for her was kondremul - it was a liquid we would give her before bedtime & it worked like clockwork. A few other things we would do would be to put her in about an inch or two of warm water in the kitchen sink or bathtub and let her sit in it for a little while - that would usually bring on a dirty diaper - or a warm hot water bottle across her belly - the other thing we'd do was to hold her legs up while she was straining to go. This had to have been one of the hardest things because you feel so awful for them with the crying & screaming. Good luck though and although many people will have their own cures, be sure to check w/ur ped because what may work for an older child can hurt an infant. Unfortunately we found out the hard way when we tried one of my mother-in-laws suggestions. Sami went from not going to a raw diaper rash in no time (she told us to give her senakot & i figured that since she had 3 grown children we were good, but boy was I wrong).
Hi M.,
I was going to say that each child has his/her own 'regularity.' Going every other day is fine. My son would sometimes go days before having a bowl movement. However, since she is straining...have you considered your diet? Make sure you keep yourself hydrated, especially in this weather. That might help too.
Good luck,
S.
My almost-8-mo old daughter also does not take more than 0.5 or 1 oz at a time from a bottle. But, for some reason, she will take almost anything from the medicine dropper that comes with her vitamins. On days that we are desperate, her dad will feed her breastmilk and sometimes even her dinner/cereal/veggies from the dropper (we figured out that a full dropper holds the same amount as one of her little feeding spoons). Also, we started to train her to use a sippy cup and to drink from a straw starting at 5 1/2 months--these are still not efficient ways to get liquid into her, but sometimes any little bit helps.
Try drinking about 5 oz of prune juice yourself half an hour or so before nursing. I heard this tip from a friend, and it worked FABULOUSLY with my baby (while not causing me any trouble). My pediatritian thought it was a crazy idea and wouldn't work. He's wrong. I don't know how it works. Maybe it "shouldn't", but it does. I never drank more than 10 oz in a given day, and never needed to. It always got my son's system moving again. (The nice thing about this trick is that you don't have to get the baby to drink the juice somehow.)
Good luck.
Could it be something you are eating that she have developed an allergy to? My daughter goes to a GI doctor for milk/soy allergy and she told me that her son developed an allergy at 6 months of age. I would suggest seeing a pediatric GI doctor. It can not hurt...although your Dr. I am sure is very good, you might as well go see someone who specializes is the area. I was wondering why the Dr. prescribed prevacid..that is a medicine to help relieve pain of acid reflux and you said that she tested neg. for it...has it helped at all? Good luck!
Sorry I don't have more but wanted to say as far as the prune juice, try a sippy cup or a clean medicine syringe. You can have her suck on your pinky finger (soft tip touching the roof of her mouth) and squirt the juice into the side of her mouth. That's how we had to supplement my oldest when he was a newborn.
Well I havent breastfed in a long time.. but the baby eats what you eat and it could have alittle to do with your diet if its changed ..which could change her poop. It might be time to start introducing the bottle with the juices if you want to work it out naturally.. Pediatricians may tell you to work it out naturally which is probably fine, every second with your new baby is like a day and if she isnt comfortable it's just the worse.
Hey,
My son was breastfed too until 9 months and never took a bottle either. Did you try giving her a sippy cup yet?
When he was constipated i would give him pear juice, or pear baby food. Or else you can also get one tablespoon on molasses and give it with 2 oz of water and put it in a sippy cup and try giving it to your baby - Good Luck
Try gripe water. Also, a pacifier, also, keep baby sitting up during and for 1/2 hour after feeding. My child had the symptoms you are describing, except the always hard poop part, and the gripe water and these other things worked wonders. I realized at this point that sometimes one thing helps but several different things tackle the issue in multiple ways and help more combined. My daughter's symptoms eventually went away after a few months.
Hi M.,
Well done on breastfeeding :) I also breastfed both of my children, my youngest daughter had constipation around that same age.
I gave my daughter apple or prune juice diluted with water, it really seemed to help. (some ppl would probably say you shouldn't give juice but I always did my own thing and my children are extremely healthy with no alergies, no ear infections and very few colds... you know the saying, Mommy knows best) I also gave Natalie warm baths when she was constipated and I did watch my own food intake since I was breastfeeding.
I remember how upset Natalie would get because her little belly would hurt, it's heart breaking... I hope you find something that works for your little one. Good luck!
I gave my son prune juice and it always worked great. Unsweetened and organic if you can find it; i prefer natural remedies myself. If your baby won't take it from a bottle, give it in a syringe or even from a cup she can try learning to sip from. i would dilute it 1/2 juice 1/2 water or 1/3 juice 2/3 water, depending on how she responds. Good luck!
try the prune juice in a little cup, or even those medicine spoons in infant care kits. maybe look at what you are eating, see an allergists. just dont let anyone tell you to stop breastfeeding over this. keep experimenting. if its been a few weeks something in your foods or inside her haschanged. i know she isnt on solids yet, but it should be interesting to see what happens then. i know they said it didnt look normal, but as long as its not hard balls, its not full blown constipation. also dont rule out seeing a specialist just tomake sure everything is working properly inside. good luck
This sounds like a food sensitivity (possible allergy). The medicine and prune juice will only deal with the symptoms (constipation) they won't solve the problem and aren't meant to be used as a long term remedy.
First off are you taking any vitamin/mineral supplements. Iron supplements & iron fortified foods often cause constipation in infants (and adults). (Beware baby foods are highly fortified, so take care when introducing them OR avoid baby food altogether and start with table food :D) Take a break from your supplements/fortified foods and see if you see an improvement. If your supplements are the culprit, I've heard that "Floradix" has and iron supplement that does not cause constipation and is much more readily used by your body.
If there's no improvement within a week try eliminating any food categories that you consume on a daily basis (dairy, wheat, gluten, eggs, soy, corn are the biggest offenders in the standard American diet and they're hidden EVERYWHERE, but if you eat bananas or rice every day then those are just as suspect). Once the constipation subsides, try introducing the foods categories one at a time at least 3 days apart if there's no reaction. If there is a reaction remove the food again and wait until you return to a non-reactive state.
Start a food diary. Record everything you consume (include brand names where applicable and don't forget to note things like your vitamins and medications). Note any changes in your daughter's eliminations and mood as well as any other significant changes (sleep patterns, skin conditions, fussiness, etc). This will help you pinpoint your daughter's sensitivities much faster.
A RAST allergy test might be worth doing, but it will probably not tell you what is causing your daughter's constipation, because they only test for IgE reactions which are immune system reactions, not gut reactions, so even though it's tough the elimination addition testing method will give you the quickest and clearest results.
Hope you find something helpful in that novel :D
M.,
Re: not taking bottle
We had to resort to a syringe with our little guy when he went with the babysitter. Not efficient, not fast at all, and not without fuss, but he did get what he needed.
Like Tylenol, aim for the inside of the cheek, a little at a time. It's slow, but it works (well, it did for us.)
When you say she's not on solids - is she on anything other than breastmilk?
Another idea is: let her get a quick nip each side once an hour - the foremilk is more watery than the hind milk. She's likely going to be upset about switching, but this too might help.
Good luck!
M.
Hi M.,you could try changing your diet and eliminating gluten based products. Also, the easiest start would be for you to take a probiotic-Garden of Life makes a great probiotic and see if that helps the baby through the breast milk. If not, you should still continue to take it but also remove gluten and dairy from the diet. You should see an improvement within the first week. I am a certified Holistic Health Counselor who focus on women and children's health.
You could try a sippy cup. Maybe one of the disposible kind that doesn't have a valve, so it won't cause a problem with her trying to suck on it.
It doesn't sound like she has reflux. I would stop the Prevacid. She's probably spitting up because she's straining to hard to go poo. Instead of giving her oral laxatives you could use 1/2 of an infant glycerine suppository. She could become dependant on both the suppository and the oral meds, so it should be just a temporary fix until you can figure out what else in going on in her little tummy. I'd bet on an allergy to something you are eating, as others suggested.
My son, 8 1/2 months is also very constipated (I think). The doctors have said that it's normal to strain and if he's going every day to every other day that he's not constipated. There are many times that that poor child has worked very hard to get a raisin sized bowel movement out. Up until last week he was breastfed almost exclusively with a bottle of soy formula at night (he has dairy and egg allergies they think). He too has been crying at the breast, pulling back and straining so I've now started weaning, I don't want him to be upset while feeding. He's on solids, the pooping became worse when he went to solids. AMOF, I cut down the cereal from two feedings a day to one b/c he wasn't going for two to three days then. My middle daughter had tons of issues with constipation and the doctor had me put benefiber in her juice and just add as much fiber as possible to her diet. It really worked. I give my son pureed prunes when the problem seems to get bad. I find that the prune juice has a TON of sugar in it, so I try to stay away from that. Apricots also have a lot of fiber as do green beens, peas and corn. Good luck.
