Help! Poo related!

[Belle2808]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post but my 7 week old baby is very constipated, had massive poo on Tuesday. Changed her onto hungry baby milk on Tuesday night and nothing but very hard green poos since. No actual dirty nappies if that makes sense. Seen the doc and she suggested water but as of yet nothing, she's straining and it's obviously hurting her she's screaming in pain and poo is kind of coming out but then going back in? Any advice to relieve it??

Thank you x

[noblegiraffe]

Change her back from hungry baby milk? It's probably not helping.

If she hasn't done a proper poo since Tuesday you should probably take her back to the doc. He might prescribe lactulose or similar to help move things along.

[ilovepowerhoop]

I'd put her back on first milk for a start as 7 weeks is a little young for hungry milk. It is harder to digest and (as you have found) can be constipating.

Cycle her legs, tummy massage, a warm bath, cool boiled water may all help too.

[Belle2808]

Thank you for replying, yes we put her straight back on gold yesterday Evening so not sure if it's just taking it's time. She's a lot less distressed today so wasn't sure if maybe it is just going to take a wee bit of time for her bowels to move?

[noblegiraffe]

Oh, if you can see the poo, then can you get hold of it and help it out? Holding baby's knees against their chest while they strain can also help.

[Belle2808]

I'm so annoyed as I didn't want to put her on it but health visitor advised (she was feeding absolutely fine before)

[ilovepowerhoop]

why did the HV advise it? (sometimes they seem to cause problems rather than fix them)

[Belle2808]

I honestly don't know! She was in when I fed her and said oh why don't you try her on hungry baby as she seems to be looking for more!! So frustrating as you feel you should listen especially when it's your first

[ilovepowerhoop]

surely if she was looking for more you could have just given more of her existing milk (silly HV!). How much was she taking in a feed?

[jammiecat]

If the constipation persists and the water, cycling legs etc doesn't work we found comfort milk sorted out my DD's constipation (at least so far - she's 4 weeks old).

[BigArea]

Hello there, DD used to get constipated and I had to help it out once or twice as suggested by a PP. Basically (sorry this is a bit yuk but it is a poo thread after all) I had to press around her anus to sort of squeeze the poo thinner in order for it to be able to come out. Hopefully once the blockage is released normal service will resume. Good luck

[whereisthewitch]

Is it SMA she's on? It severely constipated my DD and as soon as I switched to hipp organic she didn't have this problem anymore. I think a lot of people have this experience with SMA, obviously suits some babies but sometimes you have to try a few different brands before getting one that suits your baby.

[Pregnantagain7]

I wouldn't put her back on hungry baby milk even when she's older if she's looking for more give her more milk. I am so wary of that stuff I gave it to my eldest as I didn't know better it made her so fat! And before any one flames me I don't mean cute chubby baby or even chunky she was huge. Also did give her constipation but the advice I got was she will get used to it, yeah thanks for that mrs hv!

[ilovepowerhoop]

I dont see how hungry milk could make a baby fat as it has the same amount of calories in it as first milk. The only difference is in the proportion of whey/casein milk proteins i.e. first milk is predominantly whey based and hungry milk is more casein based.

[whereisthewitch]

I used hungry milk and my toddler is very skinny

I was advised to use it by my hv because my daughter was downing an 8oz bottle every 2 hours, she told me that this wasn't good for her kidneys so the hungry milk would be more satisfying. And it was, but ours is an extreme example most babies are happy to go for at least 3 hrs between formula feeds.

[DirtyDancing]

Have you tried 'bicycle legs' to try and get it moving. Also gently massaging the tummy for a good 10 mins (be v v careful to do gently and do not press on rub cage. Might be worth googling it so you can get correct massage instructions - loads on YouTube

[perrinelli]

I had this experience with normal SMA and dd1. Found that aptamil agreed with her tummy much better.

[Belle2808]

Thank you all so much for replying, helped her along with squeezing etc and got a very hard poo out so hoping that's relieved the blockage. She seems better so fingers crossed! She's currently taking 5oz which hv says is a bit too much bit she is going a full 4 hours in between! So annoyed I listend to her now!!

[PansOnFire]

Belle I think you need to speak to a different professional as your HV sounds terrible - 5oz, 4 hours at 7 weeks sounds fine and certainly not a reason to use hungry baby milk. You sound like you know what you're doing though, I'm glad your baby has had some relief.

It's hard being a FTM, especially when professionals are not great with the advice. I'd say as long as the centile line is going at the correct angle then what you were doing is working. Good luck.

[Gerty1002]

Yikes just 5oz?! My DS was on 9oz every three hours at 6 weeks and only then did the HV very reluctantly suggest we could try hungry baby milk.