3 month old with pooping problems. Any advice GREATLY appriciated

[chowebella]

Hi there,

My son is now 3 months old and he's having a really hard time pooping.

It started about 6 weeks ago and seems to be getting worse. He's always passed wind a lot and when he poops its very explosive like its literally explodes from him.

He started going about 2-3 days inbetween poops and would then have a big clear out but lately he's been going 4/5 days without pooping and will then only go a small ammount.
He is formula fed and his stools are not hard.

last week after not pooping for 6 days I took him to the doctors who prescribed lactolose. After a few days of trying the lactolose still no poop so I went back and the doctor gave me suppositories to try. He pooped almost instantly after the suppository but then we went back to not pooping for a few days so again I went back to the doctor who prescribed movicol.

He has been pooping with the movicol but it has made his poop very runny and when he passes gas its staining his nappies with wet farts (sorry for the tmi).

The problem to me does not seem to be he's constipated as his poops have never been hard and the movicol seems to be making his poops too watery. My main concern is he is clearly in a lot of pain when he tries to poop, he draws up his knees and he tries and tries his hardest bless him and he will scream in pain.

Its really heartbreaking to see him in constant pain everyday trying to poop and he's become really fussy and grizzly. He has always been such a pleasent baby I was truley blessed with such a happy baby but this whole poop situation is getting us both down. He still passes wind ok, although very smelly.

I really don't know what to do to help him anymore, I've tried the boiled water even with a splash of orange juice (advised by health visitor) i don't want to be constantly pumping him with lactolose or movicol or suppositories as I'm afraid it will make his bowels lazy and could cause more problems in the long run.

any help or advice really would be greatly appriciatee I am at my wits end.

thank you

[Minnieisthedevilmouse]

I always did a bit of brown sugar in warm water. Teaspoon sugar to well a bit in a bottle or on spoon.

[MrsSpencerReid]

I could be wrong but I thought that is poo was soft then he is probably not constipated. My ds doesn't poo very often, every couple of days, and it takes a good few hours or grumbling and straining before a poo explodes everywhere!! He also passes a lot of wind, tbh I thought this was pretty normal, I'm sure someone who knows what they're talking about will be along soon

[pudseypie]

My ds has hirschsprungs disease so is chronically constipated and due to have a colostomy fitted next week.
Things we found that helped at that age was using a Comfort formula and putting an extra ounce of water or one less scoop of formula in. Dr Brown's bottles are the best and really helped reducd wind. Bicycling legs to get tummy moving. Baby massage also good for stimulating the bowels.
My ds has been on movicol since he was 7 months old, now 2.3 years and no long term effects so don't worry about that. I hope some of this helps. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks I would ask for a referral.

[pudseypie]

Oh and movicol only softens the poo it doesn't stimulate the bowel. If his tummy is bloated or hard then he could be constipated

[monikar]

My DD was constipated and was formula-fed. What I did was add an extra half ounce of water to each bottle. Doing this for several days did help and in this way you are not medicating him.

Hope he feels better soon.

[Thewhingingdefective]

My daughter was the same - no diagnosis of an intolerance was given or even suggested. She had reflux and awful constipation. I breastfed but was told to give Gaviscon in formula. She was also given the same meds as your baby. I really didn't want that, so we did baby massage and went three times to a cranial osteopath. It seemed to help, or maybe it was a coincidence and her digestive system just matured.

That said, she does still seem to have IBS flare ups and she's eight now. She gets Movicol and an anti-spasmodic when it's bad.

If your baby has an intolerance to lactose, then giving lactulose is probably making things worse instead of helping.

Could you try a lactose free formula?