Constipation Misery in 5 weeker

[AdelaideJo]

Hi All,
My 6 week old DS has been constipated all day and is really suffering...he's ff (usually SMA but as of this evening Aptimil) and I've tried the usual warm bath/tummy massage stuff, to no avail.

I've just cooled some boiled water and am really tempted to give a couple of ounces...can anyone advise?

Oh, forgot to say I also express milk so he gets about 3 ounces of that per day but nothing seems to be shifting his little bowels.....

Any advice gratefully received!

[DisplacementActivity]

Message withdrawn

[avenanap]

I think you need to call NHS Direct about this really. All the normal clearing methods shouldn't be used because he's so young. I do know that doctors often have their own way of getting things moving (involve a finger and lubricant). I wouldn't recommend anyone else do this though. He needs to see a doctor really, just to make sure there's no blockage.

[moominmonster]

Hi, SMA really constipated my first son and I was advised to use Aptimil which did the trick. I wouldn't worry unless your baby has been constipated for days I this boiled water will help too.

[crackpotdog]

try with cooled boiled water!! this helped for our ds

[ten10]

I would also say that you don't need to worry too much at the moment,
my son at about the same age as yours was constipated for four days,
after three days i phoned NHS direct and got a doctor to check him over after the third day,
they said nothing was wrong and that i could do one of two things, either i could give him cooled boiled water and wait for nature to take its course or they could give me some laxatives for him,
i didn't like the idea of giving something so little laxatives so i decided to wait
after forth day he had very big green very nasty poo which went everywhere,
so far up his back it was in his armpits.

[LolaLadybird]

Which Aptamil milk are you using? They do an Easy Digest one which we used for DS when he was v small and suffered with colic. He didn't suffer with constipation but I remember the blurb on the tin talking about 'softer stools'.

[AdelaideJo]

Thanks for all your responses, really appreciated. I cracked in the end and gave him 2 ounces of water. Half an hour later he exploded with screaming glee so we had a very happy end to the evening and I managed to eat my dinner in some kind of peace.

We changed to just a normal Aptimil in a blue tub, it must be very good because his bum has been streaming today.

I'm surprised SMA have any customers- all I seem to hear about it people giving it up once the constipation kicks in!!!!

[JaneLumley]

Glycerine suppositories are brilliant and my two tho breastfed couldn't do a THING until I started giving them the ODD one as recommended by William Sears. Obviously nothign should be used every day, but thesde are gentle and just get them going.

[sophiewd]

We changed from SMA and worked a treat, went onto COw and Gate

[lizziemun]

I think it depends on your baby, i used SMa for dd1 and she was fine with it so i when i had dd2 i bought SMA for her.

It didn't agree with her so i changed to Cow & Gate Comfort and with in 24hrs she was like a changed baby. After 5 weeks of her crying almost constantly with in 24hrs we had a happy smiley baby.