3 month old baby straining/crying and can't poo

[FelixFelix]

My dd is 13 weeks, and the past couple of weeks she has been having trouble pooing. She will wake up at around 3/4am screaming and straining, and this will carry on until around 9am when she will finally do a poo. When she does do it, it's always soft so it's not constipation. It seems to be getting worse, and the other day she was crying and straining from the morning until the evening with no movement whatsoever. I've been having to use a cotton bud with Vaseline to stimulate her to go, as she's getting hysterical and I can't leave her for hours when she's like that She's now doing this in the afternoon and evening too, and I feel so helpless as I can't seem to do much about it.

I saw the GP when it first started happening and he asked if she was still managing to go. I explained that she was, but only after hours and hours of being in pain and crying (plus the extra stimulation) and as she was still pooing the GP wasn't interested

Does anyone know what could be causing this? Hopefully someone else has experience with this issue. She's formula fed by the way, and is on Cow & Gate comfort milk (not the thick stuff, it's the thinner milk which helps with colic and constipation as the normal stuff actually did make her constipated) and she's not really had any problems on this formula apart from this issue, which I'm convinced isn't caused by the milk she's on.

Can anyone help?

[laura2323]

My dd was like this on the same milk. I gave her sips of cooled previously boiled water every hr or so and within 2/3 days it had eased. You could try this. In the end I switched to aptamil and she was better.
Or I've seen mentioned on here before

• very diluted orange juice
• brown sugar in water
• cycling her legs
• baby massage

Phone your health visitor they might help, it was my hv who said about the water. Hope your dd gets sorted soon!

[goodbyeyellowbrickroad]

Can't help with regards to milk. Whenever DS was having difficulty pooing we'd either pop him in his vibrating chair which worked like a charm or cycle his legs.

[FelixFelix]

Thanks for the replies I've tried everything suggested believe it or not! Nothing seems to work. I will spend hours at night massaging her tummy but it doesn't help. It's like she can't seem to relax her muscles to actually get the poo out. I keep trying her in warm baths too to relax her but still not happening I'm a bit reluctant to go back to the doctors after they were so dismissive last time, but it seems like my only choice.

[pudseypie]

Go back to the doctors. We used dr brown bottles as well as comfort formula which helped my ds with wind etc which then eases the constipation. Mr ds actually has an intestinal disease which causes severe constipation and has just had a stoma formed at over 2 yrs old but we've been in your position since he was born so I can sympathise. He got prescribed movicol by the hospital when he was 7 months old but not sure how old children have to be to have that. Definitely go back to doctors and if you have a good health visitor ask them to help too.

[FelixFelix]

Thanks pudsey. It's weird as her poo is actually really soft so it's not like it's too hard for her to pass, so I don't think it technically is constipation. I think it's more to do with her not relaxing her muscles so she can't poo I'll make another appointment and see what they say.

[teasleromani123]

my daughter was the same! we used to give her watered down juice the lot but nothing seemed to work! she had lactulose stuff nothing just gave her bad tummy ache,, so I have her 2.5ml of prune juice with a little water,, worked a treat! it made her poo a little darker but it was absolutely fantastic! she hasn't had any problems pooing for about 6 months, without having any prune juice,
I would recommend prune juice tastes horrible but it bloody works.. but only give them 2.5ml
HTH
Emma

[pudseypie]

Poo doesn't have to be hard to mean you are constipated. My ds poo has never been remotely formed and has always been soft but we know he's chronically constipated. We also used to add an extra ounce of water or one less scoop of formula to his bottle - that was the advice of our gp though so check with yours first. I really wouldn't hesitate going back to doctor's though, if something isn't right

[brettgirl2]

Are you making the formula up according to oz instructions or ml? 30ml is more than an oz. ime it is enough to make a difference.

[FelixFelix]

I only understand oz rather than ml so I always make it up in ounces. We now have lactulose and she's going more regularly, but she's still struggling for an hour or so beforehand and it's creating explosive nappies! I suppose it's better than no dirty nappy at all