Constipation - really need help

[Tapster]

DD 10months old and has been really constipated the last couple of weeks. Got doctors appointment on Monday but want any good advice.

I've tried prunes for 3 days no impact. I've tried raisins, no change. I've cut out cheese and bananas still no improvement.

Find it difficult to get DD to drink water, tried the Doidy cup and the the Tommy Tippee basic cup. She is still BF 4/5 times a day so I would think she is getting enough liquid that way.

Really don't want to give her drugs. She eats lots of fresh fruit, veg a bit less recently. Help.

[funnypeculiar]

Have you tried prune juice (soak prunes overnight and give the liquid)? Might take it better than plain water, and obviously has it's own effect
Dried apricots?

[Tapster]

Tried apricots but not prune juice.

[Roskva]

One way I can usually get extra water into dd (she's having a cup strop at the moment and won't drink water) is to make (or buy) fruit puree and add a couple of ounces of water to it and feed it to her on a spoon.

[iwouldgoouttonight]

Hi - I posted recently about my DS being prescribed Lactulose for constipation. My doctor also suggested diluted orange juice (although I can't get my DS to drink it!) and I'd tried prunes, raisins, juice, etc and nothing made any difference.

I phoned NHS Direct after he'd taken the medicine for a few days to see if he could take it for longer and they gave me some sensible advice (was surprised, normally they're useless!). She said its quite common for babies to be constipated, if you're breastfeeding they're getting lots of water that way, and there is water in most food anyway. I was wary of giving medication if I didn't need to but she said Lactulose is really gentle and works by encouraging the water to the poo so making it easier to pass (rather than relaxing the muscles which other laxatives do and I don't think you're supposed to take them for very long). So she said there is no harm in giving it whenever he's constipated and then stopping then the poo becomes normal again. Hopefully she was talking sense, it seemed quite reasonable to me anyway and think its better to give medication than for DS to be in pain.

I will now go away to contemplate how my saturday evenings changed so dramatically from going out drinking to staying in and talking about poo with strangers!

[jaz2]

My DS (9mo) has had constipation problems for a couple of months now. It's very distressing to see them in pain - sorry your DD is also suffering. My doc wouldn't give me anything for DS, insisting on treating it the natural way (as the HV suggested). Things have improved slightly.

Suggestions are:
Apple puree (ideally homemade!), and stacks of it - DS has this twice a day.

Apricots (get the dried non-sulphurised ones, soak them overnight, then combine with appples to cook and then puree - also fab source of iron).

Weetabix (I mix it with the fruit purees)

Pureed prunes (DS has 2 a day)

Orange juice (a little, diluted in water - tho it's also difficult to get DS to drink it)

Courgettes (apparently!)

and as you say, cutting out bananas and cheese (and eggs).

I have been told that it's water that makes poo a bit softer and easier to "get out" (TMI - sorry!)...so the quantity of milk she is getting will make no difference.

I also fill him up with all the fresh fruit I can: kiwi, peachesan strawberries.

[Roskva]

pmsl at talking about poo with strangers - it's amazing what kids do to us

[Anna8888]

You need her to eat an awful lot of prunes and they will work, I promise.

Cook up a whole bag of prunes in water, blend, and give her a whole meal of prunes. 24 hours later she'll poo. Give her a smaller bowl of stewed prunes every day for pudding thereafter, cutting out a day as things get better.

[gillhowe]

This is gross but DS drinks bath water more than any other kind...

Warm water is quite helpful sometimes though, and massaging her tummy in a warm bath might help (clockwise circles round her tummy button) then bicycling her legs

Good luck

[yomellamoHelly]

Ds2 is now 8 1/2 months and has had 3 bouts of constipation since weaning him at just over 7 months. I simply take him back to exclusively bfing him which sorts him out very quickly then reintroduce the food again a few days later.
I don't know when you weaned your lo, but could you go back a stage for a little while and see if that sorts her out? At 10 months I'd expect to be offering food before boob - so maybe reverse this and see if it does the trick?

[amidaiwish]

what is she having for breakfast? puree up some apricots & prunes and mix into some weetabix.

cut down on white bread too.

i also used to cook soften some apples, apricots and prunes in a little juice, blend and mix with custard, a lovely dessert aka the "shit buster"

peas are also good for getting poo out. if she won't eat them try blending some with a little creme fraiche.

i also find taking them swimming has quite a good effect. not sure if it is the exercise or the amount of water they swallow [eek].

[Tapster]

Thanks for all your suggestions. DD hates all types of cereal except shreddies, as she can feed them herself. Weetabix to her is the food of the devil. We have done BLW as she generally hates being spoonfed, although manage to spoonfeed her some yoghurt most days.

She very rarely eats white bread, eats loads of fruit, and some veg (especially courgettes and peas!) and she has eaten a plum a day for the last 3 days.

Think she is holding the poo in. Put in some suppositories - we have a great pharmacy with lots of naturopathic treatments and thats what they recommened. She pooed three time after each one but still it hurt later on in the day when she pooed.

Off to doctors tomorrow so may get some medicine.

Can't believe I am spending most of my waking hours thinking about poo! She had the opposite problem up to 4 months when she was non stop pooing. I did think there was enough water in BM for them not to need extra - she is so resistant at the moment to drinking water.

She is teething badly, her molars are coming very early can this cause it?

[amidaiwish]

ah - holding the poo in, my DD2 was a master at this.

the GP recommended lactulose which we used to get her poo to paste consistency, so that she couldn't possibly hold it in. now we use movicol every now and again when necessary (it is fantastic, one sachet in her milk before bed sorts her out the next day).

one thing i find helpful when DD starts to strain (strain to hold it in, not to actually do it) is to pick her up and carry her with bent legs (hold her behind her knees). that way it seems to come out. tmi...

not sure if teething is linked to this, just that her poo might be quite acidic and sting, therefore she's holding it in to stop it?

[amidaiwish]

oh yes and suppositories are excellent. DD2 won't let me use them (she's nearly 2) but they were fantastic in the early days when she was constipated.