Sensitive Subject - Constipation

I had this problem with 2 of my 4 children. After the first 2, I was told by my mom (mother of 10) that 4 oz. bottle of water with one teaspoon of Karo syrup would do the trick. A lot of times, the formula milk tends to constipate them.

When my daughter was constipated around that age my doctor suggested a little extra water..like 2 0z throughout the day, not at once, and also glkycerin suppostitories. The other thing is, it may be the wrong kind of formula. Both my kids were breastfed until I went back to work, with some formula supplementaion...both also are extremely lactose intolerant. I switched them to lactose free formula and have done great ever since. My kids did not do well on soy...they threw it up, and I have heard quite aq few parents say this as well. Hope this helps.

We used Karo Syrup with my daughter per doctor's orders. You put 1 teaspoon of karo syrup in with her bottle and it worked pretty well. Good luck.

My two month old was having problems with constipation and fussiness with gas. Our pediatrician recommended formula without lactose, so we went with the enfamil version. She's been on it for about three weeks, and what a change! She's been tooting without any pain and she seems to be pooping without even knowing it. It's made a big difference. I wish someone had recommended this to me sooner, it may have made a difference with my other two kids as well. But just as the other moms have said, check with your baby's doc first.

good luck,
jessi

Hi M.,
I went through the same thing. The Doctor recommended suppositories which were just awful. We ended us adding a little pear juice to a few of his formula bottles each day and it fixed the problem right away. We used Gerber pear juice. I think Pear juice is a much more natural way to cure the problem. You can also use prune juice but when they spit up it's purple and stains everything.
B.

We had a similar situation with our baby. We gave her just a couple ounces of Pedialyte to hydrate her more - once a day for a 2-3 days. I also added a tablespoon of prune juice to her bottle twice a day for 2-3 days. It helped a little but nothing drastic.
My pediatrician had suggested caro syrup but after reading up on it there was no way we were going to use it!

I had the same problem with my daughter, who is now 4 months. I called her doctor and he told me that I could give her prune juice but it has to be diluted (1 oz juice, 2 oz water). I also had to switch my daughter to soy formula because the milk-based formula was making her gassy. Hope this helps.

Hey, Mom, this a great question. I had my first boy going on 2 years ago, and I had the SAME problem. I never brastfed before, so I decided to breastfeed him. I did that for about a month or two, and then tried weaning him to formula. Since I fed my daughters formula with iron, I decided to give him the same. Turned out that he, too got constipated. And he would whine and fuss and the sitter couldn't figure out what was wrong, just like you. So I had an incling that it had to be the formula I was giving him. My sister recommended giving him this syrup to make him go poo. It's called Karo Syrup. You can find it where the syrups and flour are found in the grocery store. The only problem with my son was that even though it made him poop, he would still get colicky when I gave him that specific formula, so my next step was switching to Soy Formula (which is also great for constipation) or Similac Lactose-Free. I stuck with the lactose-free milk since it worked for him for both reasons. As for the prune juice. You can give him like 2 oz. of that and mix with 2 oz. of water to dilute, just to get him going. It won't harm him unless he's drinking this frequently. Beleive me, afer a bottle or two, there'll be a LOT of laundry to do! LOL. So, you definitley can try a little prune juice mixed with water, or the syrup(I would try the juice first), if he is still fussy after feedings, try the milk...Good Luck, hope this helps.

Honestly, I would call your pediatrician. Good luck :)

My mom is a pediatric nurse and she said pear juice works. Of course the minute I bought it for my daughter (who hadn's pooped in 5 or 6 days, and at the time was going almost daily) she had a normal dirty diaper while I was at the store.
I am keeping it on hand though. I figure it tastes pretty good and has no side effects.

My sister had the same problem with her daughter. Her pediatrician told her to try water first. Depending on how much he eats, give him half that amount of water. I personally with all three of my kids, always added 1 oz extra of water to all bottles. I never did have a problem with constipation but it could just be that is how my kids are. Anyways when giving just water didn't work for my sister, they told her to put 1 tablespoon of Karo syrup in a 4oz bottle of formula. My sister swears by this remedy because it worked in just a couple of hours every time she used it. I would call your ped. just to make sure but I don't see the harm. You could always do a rectal temp too, they always suggest that.

We gave our son Gripe Water from a very early age (6 weeks old) and that helped tremendously with constipation and gas issues. It's a homeopathic remedy that our pediatrician recommended.

We went through the same thing. Our doctor said to give him nursery water. Just an ounce or two. It did help, but it was hard to get him to drink it.

Good luck, the hard poops really suck!

Just a hint on the karo syrup, start out slow! Our little guy really had blow outs on that!

M.:

you could try a formula without iron... for many babies the iron is very constipating.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

Hi M.

My Pediatrician told us to give our baby chamamoile tea mixed in formula or breast milk. One oz for every two oz of formula or breast milk. Give it to the baby as often as you need to until the baby poops. It is all natural and won't hurt the baby at all. You can read about it on line. The other idea she gave me was Kayro suryp. You mix it again in either one. Check with your doctor before you use my suggestions. I think the kayro was 2 table spoons for every 2 oz 3x's a day. I was told to give it to him for only 3 days. Please check with your doctor.

The chamamoile tea worked on my little guy at first until he didn't like the mixture of breast milk and tea. It took about 3-4 days before he pooped. Then the Kayro suryup worked in about the same amount of time. My son loved the suryup because it is so sweet.

Good luck

Sorry about the spelling. I am doing this with one hand.

If you choose to switch to a formula without iron, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consult with your pediatrician first, as your child may not get enough iron if you switch, and your doctor may suggest iron drops or another alternative.

I would contact your pediatrician anyway, as s/he would have a better idea of what would help your 3 month old. Mine had suggested that my son drink a few ounces of plain filtered (bottled) water, but he was a little older (8 months) when that was suggested.

M.,

Our daughter had the same problem around the same age, and we also switched from breast milk to formula. Our doctor told us to give her Chamomile tea. I found some at our local Jewel that was caffine free. We gave her one to two onces a day. (Make the tea and let it cool to room temperature, and feed in a bottle). One cup of tea lasts three to four days. Chamomile is a natural laxitive, and also soothes the stomach. This was a miracle for us. We used it for about one week to get her regular again. We still pull it out if she has a tummy ache and she's now one. Hope this helps!

M.,

My daughter has the same problem. She wouldn't go for days and then when she would, it was really hard. We started substituting 1 oz of water with an ounce of unflavored pedialyte (dr recommended). If your son will take it, you can also give an ounce of the flavored stuff. Good luck!

I would consult your pediatrician first but ours told us to switch to soy formula because the milk based formula was constipating our daughter. It helped but ultimately she sometimes continues to have the problem. If we give her any milk products, rice, or bananas we have to give her a fiber suppliment (benefiber) in her bottle to prevent the constipation.

I went through the same thing with my daughter and switching her to a formula without iron definitely helped.

hi-
i have a 2 year old and a 8 month old. both girls have every bad pooping problems. you might want to try whiching your formula to low iron {because iron causes harder stools}. or try nestle supreme formula. it has comfort proteins{it's the only formula out here with this}.

i hope this can help.

bye
H.

Changing formula should help!! I also gave a little water when my kids were like that.

hi! i can totally understand what your little guy is going through! my oldest(3yr old) had the same thing. starting at about that age. his dr. said NOT to switch formula and to try applejuice mixed with h20. my niece also suffered form it as well, and her mom was told to switch her formula to soy and mix chamamile tea with h20. i would highly suggest you ask your peditric dr. because they all have their own ideas on what works and because he is so little. good luck!

You can give him a few ounces of half and half water and pear juice..works wonders :)

My doctor said 1 oz prune juice 1 oz water- worked great!
but Iknow you don't want that. I alsotried rubbing the below the belly and circulating the legs to get digestion moving, she pooped right away.

Hi M.! I have something for you to try with your son that really does help. I have learned this over the years from being a mom of 3 and also a doula. When your son gets fussy like this and he seems to be in pain, take his legs up and bend his knees. Then try to touch his chest with his knees. This will usually relieve the pressure and gas and can make pooping for him easier. I hope that this was just a one time thing.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

M.,
Poop problems do definitly make those little ones grumpy! When my 6 year old was a baby (not more than 5 months old) he had hard poops too, and it was even so bad that we had to lube up a Qtip and help the poops come out. (YUCK!) Our doctor told us to try some diluted apple juice (about 2 ounces juice and 2 ounces water per day) and see what happened. It worked like a charm and I want to say that we continued that juice until he was eating baby food for every meal. At that time we just made sure that he had his fruit once a day and he was fine. My best advice though is to consult with your pediatrician and see what they recommend. Good luck! ~ K.

Hi M.,

I went through that with my third son and what I did was take a bottle of water (baby) and add a little Kayro syrup, just enough to cover the bottom of the bottle and shake it well; that'll do the trick. Also, if you're not already doing so, start giving your little guy water atleast once a day so he has that. Some people think that formula is fine because it's diluted with water but it's still thick. Hope this info helps. By the way, I've passed this info on to several friends and family members and they're pleased with the results.

It's probably the formula. Breastmilk is easier for little systems to digest. Ask your pediatrician what might work better or be easier for your little person to digest.

Unfortunately, I was not able to breastfeed my daughter after her first 3 weeks, so she was formula fed from 3 weeks on. She has been extremely constipated since. I know some of my remedies make some doctors raise their eyebrows, but they worked and I felt they were perfectly safe for my daughter. I would add a drop or two of Karo syrup to her bottles (usually every other bottle unless she was really stopped up). Some bottles I would put an extra ounce of water (ex - 5 ounces of water, but only 4 ounces worth of formula). It also helped if we rubbed her belly on occasion. My daughter would only tolerate Nestle Good Start, but if your baby will take another formula, see if there is an option that is not "iron fortified". It has gotten a little better on it's own, now that she only has a bottle at bedtime. Good luck!!

Gave my daughter Gripe Water at 2 months, after having horrible gas and constipation issues every night. I gave this to her everyday till she finished teething. Really helped with gas, contipation and teething issues.