allergic and constipated

[fairi]

My baby (who is 6.5 months now) is struggling with what seems to be a dairy allergy. Sadly, my breastmilk has never been sufficient to feed him exclusively with it - I feed him all that I can produce and have had to supplement him since his first week.

The problem is that he is allergic to every formula we have used - and are now on the final option: unformulated goats milk (goats milk is not available as a formulated product in South Africa), which we have to fortify with folate and dried beet juice (for its iron content). He has been on solids for three weeks now and seemed to adjust to it well, initially, but now his stools are worse than ever - very hard, dry little balls.

Our pediatrition recommended the above changes on Thursday as well as using a an antihistimine for 2 weeks (to help his system from 6.5 months worth of allergic response) and using an extract of pelagonium to help heal infections caused by severe nasal congestion with related postnasal drip and inflamed throat and ears. He has also put him back onto a probiotic called reuteri (one of the only two human based probiotics on the market apparently).

Baby has just woken from his night's sleep screaming in agony, trying to pass what seems to be his most painful stool yet - and went soundly to sleep as soon as it was passed with the aid of a glycerine suppository.

My questions: Is there any kind of treatment - particularly herbal (but will consider anything!) that might assist his bowel? Is slippery elm something I could give? If so, what dosage and what method? Is there any thing else?

Is there also anything I could use that could strengthen his body from is allergic predisposition?

[foxinsocks]

what solid food are you giving him? constipation can happen when babies are introduced to solids (even without the allergies)

my dd had certain allergies at that age and it took a bit of hit and miss before we figured out what worked with her digestion and what didn't

check the age you can give these but stewed prunes (pureed) help a lot as do things like apple. Banana is something that I found clogged up both my kids.

[tatt]

fairi its quite normal for poo to become harder when babies go on solids, but not so hard as to cause pain. So changes to the solid food he is having may be enough. You are already doing the best you can for him by giving him a probiotic but you could try a different one. The human body contains a variety of bacteria after the first few weeks and no-one yet knows what the best bacteria are for reducing allergy/ those with digestive issues. The other thing you need to do is make sure that he gets enough liquid as even very mild dehydration can cause constipation. Dried beet juice added to the formula (not heard of that before) might mean its not hard to get liquid levels right. Pear is low on the allergen scale and might help his digestion. Don't know hoe early you can do prune juice but agree with foxinsocks about banana and prunes.

Have you tried herbal remedies to build up your milk supply?

[mandyc66]

sorry to but in, but just try to increase fluids a bit or give 'wetter' food. Might sound silly or obvious but does help.
on another vein isnt it amazing how huge a poo can come out of such a little bottom.
Also remember the poo they did before solids, sometimes they appear to strain to pass that..but they aren't are they? Probably just practising for bigger ones!!!