Mumsnet Talk

He's 8 months and reay constipated. We used to use lactulose but the doctor said no to that now. He gave us supositories but they barely help. Ive been giving him blended prunes several times a day but it makes no differwnce at all (?!) Ive got weetabix to give him now but Im not holding my breath.

Hes got a severw cows milk and egg allergy, lactose intolerant, banana allergy and not good with chicken or beef.

He has plenty of water, lots of breastfeeds, fruit and veg. His diet is a very good one in fact. I just seem to produce children that dont poo...

Fresh orange juice is very good for this, you could try that too.

p.s mine was same - he grew out of it eventually.

tinned prunes in syrup? rather explosive experience in my first child.....

bit odd about the consipation with a good diet, any chance your child could be ige and intolerent as well?

Ige intolerant? I dont know what that is.

Ive beem giving him prunes for days. Loads of them.

I thought about orange juice but if tonnes of prunes dont work I cant see how orange juice would and I can get prunes in him I dont think he'd go for orange. Worth a shot though.

I do know he has a high ige level. Since you mentioned ige?

weetabix was awful for giving ds1 constipation so i wouldn't try that.

too much of the wrong kind of fibre can cause constipation.

can i ask a stupid question... how do you know he is constipated?

Controversial, but if it's just a one off sugar water helped when DS was a baby and got constipated. Not recommended for regular use.

Do you think it'd be worth getting referred to a paediatrician? It's v unusual for a breastfed baby to be so badly constipated, and it sounds like he has a good high fibre diet. If he's uncomfortable (I presume that's why you're posting?) I really think you should get a paed's opinion.

Meantime, have you tried Babylax?

Yes we have a paed appt in 3 weeks. Not about the constipation but now I'll def be mentioning it. My eldest was breastfed and very constipated too. Embarassingly, apparently as a baby I was the samse. So if its something inherited Ive passed it on to them.

I have never heard of babylax, will google it now.

Thisisyesterday, because he is straining and nothing comes out. When it does come out hes screaming in pain and its very dry and hard. Poor baby.

I think you're right, it's probably an inherited condition. Do mention it at your paed's visit, prunes and weetabix not shifting an 8month old is not v common, this is bad constipation. Hopefully the paediatrician can help.

aww poor love

i only asked as i've seen people talk about babies being constipated on here before, when they're just breastfed and not going every day!

sounds really horrid for him though, and you too.

you say he has a lactose intolerance, and yet he is breastfed? how does that work?

Have you thought about wheat intolerance? Can cause huge constipation issues...

Lukewarm we've only just (in the last 10 days) intoduced wheat. (we were worried he might be allergic) and hes been constipated since we started weaning him at 6 months.

Before this, when he was just on breastmilk he would only go once a week. But this was ok for him, he never struggled, it was smooth (tmi) no pain or discomfort.

Yet when I first weaned him it was fruit, veg, the odd baked bean, and that was enough to start it off.

My mother would say his gut isn't ready for food, if mine became constipated early on introducing solids. (Don't know the theory behind that) Maybe cut down on solids?

It's awful when they're unwell. Poor him, poor you. Hope he's better soon.

Thanks. Im not sure about cutting down, I think adjusting something or adding something might help.

I wondered if it was a common allergy baby problem but it doesnt seem as though it is.

Thanks though.

Warm sugar water and warm hand to rub his tummy. Hope gets things moving.

In which case, I think you need to push for more help from the paeds. Definitely not a normal 'allergy' problem from our experience (the opposite...). Sounds horrible, hope you get it sorted soon.

I've been wondering the same thing and asked on another thread. I think it's possible that DS has some kind of allergy/ intolerance. He was also a breastfed baby who pooed once a week! Now he's on solids it's become more of an issue. I know another child who is lactose intolerent who also suffers badly from constipation.

Ds doesnt have lactose in his diet, I have the same diet as him so I dont think he could get it through me? TBH I know very little about the lactose side if things.

His eczema has gone mad in the last 24 hours as well, every inch of his body is covered even the backs of his hands and his fingers. Hes got cuts all over from clawing. Poor kid. I blame teething.

Erm... The prunes finally worked.

Until next time!

Breastmilk is full of lactose. it's the sugar in all milks

Hi, theres different types of lactose intolerance. Scroll down a bit (if you can be arsed that is) to secondary lactose intolerance. My sons can be avoided by my avoiding cows milk produce as I would anyway because hes so allergic. Id never really researched that side of it before so Im glad you asked me.

Lactose and breastmilk

hiya, that is saying that food intolerances can cause secondary lactose intolerance

it is right that if it's a temporary thing then continuing to breastfeed is fine, as the breastmilk, while containing lactose, will help the gut to heal especially if the damage has been done by something else that is now cut out.
but if a child is lactose intolerant it will be intolerant to ALL lactose and that includes the lactose in breastmilk

sorry, but have done mucho research into this as I have intolerant children myself.
not saying you're doing the wrong thing or anything, i just wondered if it was actually definitely a lactose intolerance your son has? it is often, as your link points out, confused with a cow's milk protein intolerance