Hey Mamas, I need some help. My daughter is 12.5 months and has NEVER been constipated, not even slightly since birth. Monday afternoon I realized she was grunting and pushing so I went and changed her diaper and nothing was there. She did it once more and nothing happened but she didn't seem uncomfortable or anything like that. Yesterday morning the same thing happened, she was grunting and I went to change her and nothing was there. Thats when I realized something was not right. She did it again but this time when she was in the middle of pushing she started crying and it was a painful cry. She kept on trying and she was noticably in pain and discomfort. I picked her up and again attempted to change her but this time she did pass something but it was hard and dark (sorry for all the info)! I put a new diaper on and about 20 mins later the same thing happened, pushing, crying, obviously uncomfortable and the same thing a small dark hard BM. When I got home from work I asked my MIL if she noticed anything and she said she seemed to be trying to go every so often but nothing was happening, but she was eating and drinking like normal. And when she is not trying to go she seems to be her usual happy self; playing, laughing, and smiling. Last night when we sat down for dinner she started to do the same thing but MUCH worse. She was grunting, pushing, crying very hard like she does when she gets hurt and her face was SOO red, and the poor thing was sweating soo bad. I picked her up and she gripped on to me soo tight and was just throwing her self around like she was so uncomfortable and in pain. She was crying like this for a good 30 minutes and kept trying and trying. Eventually I think she just tired herself out because she fell asleep and she was out, I changed her diaper and put her in a sleeper and she didn't even wake up. The same thing started happening this morning and I don't know what to do!!! I feel so helpless, the poor thing is in so much pain and I can't even do anything to help her out. What do you mamas think? When do I really need to start worrying? Is there anything I can give her to try and help her out? We have tried prunes and prune juice and that didn't help. We also just switched her to whole milk over the weekend, she is getting 18-21oz of milk a day and 8oz of formula with bedtime, she did not have the formula last night though. Do you think its the milk that is making her constipated?? She has tolerated all other dairy products without a problem prior to the whole milk. I just feel sooo bad I dont know what to do. Please give me any advice you have. Thanks for your help Mommys!!
Cut back on the milk and see if it helps. Lemonade always worked with my daughter. Up her fiber and fruit intake.
prune juice yu can water it down a little but it worked with my kids. There are also child size suppositories that workd. My first born had constipation a lot so I know how you feel. The bicycling of the legs also helps.
melanie
This happened to my daughter when she started drinking whole milk as well and it can be so difficult to go through. I would suggest you try Soy Milk, blueberries, strawberries,rasberries,flaxseed or maybe a small about of Benefiber mixed in with some juice. We had to stop milk altogether for my daugher and had a prescription for Miralax. If it's more than 2 days or so w/o a BM, you will want to try a sapository in order to give her some relief. Good luck.
My mom used to put corn syrup (the clear karo) about an ounce in the bottle of formula. and the kids would go right away. you could try that. the other option is get about a teaspoon of mineral oil in her bottle of juice. that will make her go to. it helps.
S.
Use GRAPE JUICE........it works the best & the fastest. Like juicy juice or ocean spray. I'm sure its the milk. If she is this bad dont water it down. This happened to all my kids when they went from nursing to whole milk. There little tummies had to adjust to the change of adding whole milk. Of curse make sure she is eating her green veggies too.
My Daughter went through the exact same thing at that age. She might be Lactose Intolerant. I had to take my daughter off of whole milk and put her on 2% right away! I was even giving her 1% and still feeding her Formula as well. You might want to try that. But call and let her Dr. know what is going on.
My Daughter even had blood in her stool from this problem. So if you see blood don't be alarmed unless there is a !lot. Then I would suggest taking her to the emergency room Pronto! I ended up there more then a handful of time because I was so scared of what was wrong. I even went to Children's Memorial and they told me the same thing. Lactose Intolerance!
My son went through this at the same age and had the exact same experience as your daughter. It was heartbreaking watching him cry when he would try to go and we quickly made some adjustments to his diet which helped considerably.
We tried prune juice but that alone did not help. We cut back on the dairy - limiting it to only milk - no cheese (and 20 oz of milk a day does seem like a bit much but I would ask your doc). We added ground flax seed to anything he would eat it on - buttered toast, pasta, oatmeal...and, as urged by our doc, we used suppositories if more than 2 days passed without any stool. Fiber is the key - you must make sure she is getting enough of it in her diet every day. Within a week my son was having regular, solid -but not too hard - stools. This is when we also really started to push water during the day. I would keep a sippy cup filled with it and hand it to him every so often and encourage him to take a sip. Now he asks for it on his own.
Most babies go through this at the one year mark. It will get better with some adjustments!!! Good luck!!
T.
I am a mother of two and I know your pain. I have some old home remedies that help me.
1. Give her some warm, boiled water first thing in the morning before she eats anything. It helps they same way coffee works for us.
2.Try giving chamomile tea to ease the tummy ache
3.Prune juice or prunes in a jar(gerber)
4.Put some vaseline on a thermometer and put it in her behind (sounds gross or painful but its not) Just don't stick it in too far or swoosh it around, just in and out. This helps the anal muscles to relax and gives it some lubrication to come out.
5.Lots of fruits such as apples and strawberries. Try not to give too much fruit juice because they could get acid indigestion.
Just keep in mind NOT to do enemas! Good luck!
Here's a few tips I was given when I was a new mom...
1. Using a Q-Tip, apply Vaseline around her little opening to help ease it out.
2. Apple Prune Juice!!!
3. Lay her on the bed...kneel next to her...butt facing you...bicycle her legs slowly...when you see it coming gently push her legs into her chest. It's supposed to naturally give them them the urge to push.
blueberries should clear up the situation in no time. my baby enjoys them frozen. it's a double whammy-makes them regular and soothes teething pains....munches the frozen ones. frozen peas are great too for teething. but back to constipation, lots of fruits will do it. we also like semi frozen cut up strawberries. good luck and relieve that poor baby!
