Help and Hello!

[frumpymum]

Hi everyone,
Im new and looking for advice!
I'll try and keep it brief. 21 month old daughter has suffered from really bad constipation since i stopped bf her at 8months. Due to bad advice from health people we didnt think it was an allergy but have now stopped dairy and things have improved a bit. Im waiting for hospital appointment (who knows how long it will take!) and have been using soya substitutes in the meantime. However, still have constipated baby (not quite as bad as it was)and now think that the soya stuff may have to go too. I have no clue what type of milk to give to her now (cant get rid of bedtime bottle no matter how hard we try), and basically have no clue what to substitute the soya yoghurts, cheese etc with.
please help, im going off my head!
many thanks,
shona

[hairymclary]

if she is still constipated despite cutting out all dairy I wouldn't be too quick to assume it's an allergy.
Also, I believe (hopefully someone will correct me if i'm wrong) that they can't actually test for alergies like milk if there is none present. so if she is on a completely dairy free diet they will not be able to tell you if she is allergic to it.

have you tried cutting anything else out? my ds gets constipation if he has too much banana and wheat (particularly wheetabix)

[3littlefrogs]

cheese, milk and eggs are terribly constipating if you are prone to it. Are you giving lots of fruit and vegetables, prune juice and plenty of water? Dont give high roughage type of things, for example bran / cereals / weetabix because they form enormous stools which are hard and difficult to pass. Cooked carrots, stewed apple are very good. There is a very good "regimen" of medication for chronic constipation in children consisting of docusate and lactulose, but it has to be prescribed by doctor and proper diagnosis must be made. My dd got terribly constipated after having chicken pox and being treated with piriton. Her gut was "dried out" to the point where the contents became a large solid mass. She ended up with an anal fissure ( a nasty injury to the anus) and it took me a year to restore her normal bowel function. I still have to watch her diet very carefully.