Infant Constipation - Elkton,MD

When my son was constipated as a baby my doctor suggested putting Kayro syrup in his bottle. I tried this and it worked pretty well. You sometimes have to give them a couple of bottles before it works. Good Luck!

She should call her pediatrician to see what they recommend. A lot of time formula with iron makes babies constipated. Ask if she could try an infant suppository. Not sure if he's too young. I know I used them with my son, but I can't remember his age at the time. Sometimes just the inserting it will cause a bowel movement. I'd definitely check with the pediatrician first though.

I would not give an infant Karo syrup. See this post from the Mayo Clinic (a very reputable source!) Karo can carry botulism spores, which is very dangerous for infants to be exposed to.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/karo-syrup-for-constipat...

W.
We have been down this road many times with my daughter,as a baby, I used brownsugar water,prune & .pear juice and water,kero syrup,and a 1/2 of a glycerine suppository which worked best. I then took her to a gastroentinologist who then perscribed Myralax in a small childs dose to get her regularity going and that helped for awhile they say NOT to use something too regular and then they wont go on their own. All of the things I mentioned were recommended from our Pediatrician.
My daughter still only goes every 4 days and then goes 3 days in a row and she is now going to be 4...

So its still an on-going issue for us

Hope this helps!

S.

If he is formula fed as others said, it is fairly common and you can try changing formulas or the bicycling the legs, rubbing belly in clockwise direction, or a small Q-tip for rectal stim just on the outside, never insert anything into the rectum, I know some people say the thermometer method works but it really is not recommended. If he is breastfed, she should take him for a weight check to make sure he is gaining well, if he is gaining well, it is not unusual to go up to two weeks without a BM in an exclusively breastfed baby. Both my kids were exclusively breastfed and my daughter was a 3 times a day pooper, but my son would go up to two weeks. I frequently took him to the doctor thinking something was wrong, but he was gaining weight great and they it is not uncommon for a breastfed baby to do this. So it can be normal for a breastfed infant, but you need to be sure they are gaining weight. Good luck!

Well,if she is breastfeeding make sure she is careful what she is eating. How long has is been since he had a bowel movement. I would call the doctors office tommorow if he still has not had one. If he is on formula you may want to ask the doctor before switching. some of the ones with iron may also have him constipated. you can take his legs and move them up and down and do his legs in a bicycle motion. another thing to do is to rub the stomach underneath the belly button in a counter clockwise position. this is supposed to help the intestines. good luck and congratulations grandma.

More than likely she's on formula right? Usu. breastfed babies don't have this problem. Make sure your daughter is making it exactly like the instructions. If she is try changing formulas and seeing if the baby responds better.

My guess is that your GS is on formula. It is very common for formula fed babies to get constipated. Rubbing the belly and moving the legs (bicycling) should help and you shouldn't need meds. Keep an eye on him and if he continues to get this way, you may need to switch formulas.

W.:
Just wanted to clarify what constipation is. :) What it ISN'T: a) time between poops or b) grunting or straining while pooping. Constipation is actually defined by the form of the poop; if they are hard small pellets, for example. Constipation is often mistaken as infants grunting or get red in the face as they go..actually, this is totally normal! But if you are defining this by the hardness of the poop, then we definitely have a case of being bound up inside.
I wouldn't do anal stimulation...that should be done ONLY under the direction of a Doctor..the danger is that infants can start ONLY going when this is done. Ditto for juice, karo syrup, etc. When you decide to give ANYTHING other than formula or breastmilk at this age, it MUST have the blessing of your Pediatrician, otherwise it can be very dangerous.
:)

She should talk to her pediatrician. If it is constipation (hard, pellet bowels), there may be an issue with the formula. I would think many suggestions (normal foods) would be off the table for such a little baby. If the problem is the amount of time between poops, our doctor recommended taking the baby's anal temperature. It worked really well, but you need to make sure you don't over-rely on it. Once things get moving, the problem shouldn't come back. If it does, you need to figure out the source of the problem.

If she's breastfed you need to call the lactation consultant /pediatircian right away because any kind of constipation in a 1 month old breastfed baby is very unusual and might be a sign of dehydration. If she's formula fed (or even partially formula fed) I'd check with the pediatrician too. It might be a matter of switching formulas, but that has to be done gradually. Fruit juice in a 1 month old is something I would only do under a doctor's supervision... but you can always try warm bath, bicycling the legs, rectal stimulation, etc.

One thing I have done to help with constipation without the use of medicine is to hold the baby's feet close to his/hers chest, as if your wiping the baby's bottom, this will ease pressure off the baby's stomach.

when you say infant, how old are you talking? when my daughter started cereal she got a little "plugged up"... so I would add a little gerber pear juice to her cereal and it worked like a charm!

if you are talking about a newborn, the only thing I can say is that I always thought my younger daughter was constipated because she would grunt and grunt when she had to poop... but it turned out, that was just the way she did it. I think she had a really loose poop one day and she still grunted like that!

good luck!

For my constipated son who was then 3 months old, I have used babies magic tea. I gave this tea directly to my son because it's a herbal tea that has no side effects.

I have an 11 week old that has been pretty constipated since we switched from breastmilk to formula. Our doctor recommended giving her 2oz. of water everyday and adding a little prune juice to it. We just started it so we'll see if it works. We just switched to formula and the doc also said that it can take up to a month for their digestive system to process it correctly.

When my son was around 8 months, I had a doctor tell me to use Kayo Syrup in his bottle, just a little, and that helped. Also a long warm bath will help.

At that age, I wouldn't recommend a lot of juice. When our daughter was constipated (about the same age) we put her on her belly a lot to help push it out, rubbed her belly, did the bicycle movements. And when nothing else worked, we added one ounce of apple juice per 4 oz of formula. Usually just being on her belly helped, but when it didn't, the apple juice worked like a charm.

With my son the pediatricin recommended pear juice. 2 oz water mixed with 2 oz juice daily. It worked wonder and made a much happier baby!

Warm baths, bicycling his legs, Thermometer with A& D ointment as if she were checking his temperature. Last resort, 1tbsp karo syrup in 4 oz of water in addition to his normal feeding routine, not in place of any of the formula - I would call the pediatrician first before that because he is so young. Just a few ideas that are not "medication".

My son had the same problem when he was 3 weeks old. How often did he have a BM? Babies can sometimes go 3 days without a BM! First, she should call her pediatrician! Our Pedi had us bicycle the legs, warm baths, hold legs up against his belly---didn't work for us. Then he said to try adding an ounce of water to his bottle because sometimes a baby can get dehydrated and it causes constipation. We also tried to give him 2 oz of pear juice in 2 oz of water.-- didn't work for us. We tried everything and sure enough it was our son's formula! We had to switch to a soy based one, but he couldn't handle that either. Finally we put him on Alimentum and that was the lucky ticket! He's been on it now for almost 5 months now and he has flourished on it! But OMG it is very expensive! I've found for us, it's best to use the ready to feed formula. You don't have to worry about measuring wrong or dealing with nursery water.
But have her call her Pedi, and try what he/she says. Our Pedi also told us to put petroleum jelly on his thermometer and "take his temp" to help him along. It worked, and relieved his pain, but it was only temporary. It might be his formula. But whatever it is, I hope it's not serious and good luck and I hope the little guy feels better soon!