Constipated baby

[hallsaresweeties]

9 month old is super constipated , have tried prunes , and have been giving him paediatric movicol (CosmoCol) since Saturday morning. There's been no improvement at all, and he is screaming in pain for the most part. Aibu to take him to out of hours ?

He has been eating pretty much as normal.

YWNBU at all. Poor baby! If he’s in pain he needs to be seen.

Have you tried a bit of orange juice? And a belly massage can really help but if he's not able to go then yes take him to the docs

Is he passing wind?

How are you defining constipation? Frequency isn’t a concern if the consistency is normal.

Occasional wind but it's very hard when it does pass. Tried bicycling , prunes, movicol , warm baths, massage.

When was the last time he went? Are you giving him plenty of water?

My son used to be on Movicol. How much is he on a day? They might advise you to up the dose for a day or so but ring your doctors for advice. If your son hasn't been in a few days though and you are getting desperate then he might need a suppository. Not sure if you can get one directly from the pharmacist or whether it will need to be prescribed.

Probably controversial but put some vaseline on a cotton bud just inside his bum, helps things move along. My mam swears by a bath in washing up liquid and swirling the water around the babies bum but I haven't tried it.

How much movicol have you been giving him? Agree with taking him to OOH sounding reasonable; my guess is that after checking him over they may well recommend increasing the movicol - and then increasing further every couple of days until it works. Then you have to decide where to go from there ... Good luck, hope he gets some relief soon.

Might be a hard bit 'stuck' at the entrance and you'll need a suppository to soften that so a trip to the doctors is needed.

A warm bath and tummy massage used to help DD if she got constipated, did often mean cleaning poo out of the bath but better than her being in pain. Make it fairly deep so when sitting their tummy will be submerged. Vaseline on bum as pp said can also help. Blueberries are also great at helping things move along more swiftly.

He's on 1 sachet a day but dh has given him 2 sachets today. He's miserable with it.

Orange juice. Or half orange, half warm water. Poor baby. Have you been on holiday or anything recently? A change in water used to constipate my DS.

When I worked on a children's ward we (gently) used a children's glycerin suppository. Very high success rate. Your GP can prescribe.

The Cosmocol WILL be working but as it’s a stool softener, it can take a while to work it’s way around the digestive tract (especially if quite impacted). Since Saturday is a long time though. I would recommend a glycerine suppository to deal with the blockage at the bottom end. The rest should follow quite easily. Hope you have lots of wipes. I’ve been there!

An orange a day always keeps my 8 month old regular.

Have you checked to see if there's anything visibly stuck? Had to assist DS with a finger and some vaseline at a similar age. But no, you would not BU to take him to A&E if he's in pain. Hope he feels better soon.

@chasingsushi I've had to pull a stick/hay thing and a tangerine segment out of my toddlers bum in the past 🙈

@kaytee87 ha! The things you never imagined you would willingly do to another human being before you had kids!

My Ds has had digestive problems for years. Movicol now keeps his system “ticking over”

Movicol is a softener not a laxative-
it softens the stools so they are easier to pass. It can take a good few days to work and they also need to be drinking plenty of water/fluids or it isn’t going to work. It works by bulking out the stool with water, a bit like those little balls you can buy to add to basket compost.

Sometimes Movicol on its own isn’t enough and needs to be used alongside a laxative like pica-sulphate. Laxatives work much more quickly (but have obviously less desirable effects)

I would wait and go back to your regular GP, up the fluids in the meantime.

My 8mth old is on one Movicol per day. He needs to drink a lot of water (with fresh orange added) to keep it working. You have my sympathies, it’s horrific and I’m in complete fear he’s now going to be stuck on it for years. We’ve also upped the dosage for a few days as needed.

Orange juice mixed with water helps us, and keeping them hydrated with cups of water everywhere for him to go to.

At 9 months old, he may be too big for this, but do you have a baby chair that vibrates? The vibrating function always made my constipated DD poo!

Dd had constipation quite badly from around 8-9 months to 18 months. Gp said to use a suppository if dd had no bowel movement after 2 days (after talking movicol) and was in discomfort. We had to do this a few times over that period and it always worked within an hour. I'd def go to a&e if it's bad right now or if not get to a pharmacy and ask pharmacist. Can't remember the name of the one we used but it was also for adults - you only insert it halfway for infants. You didn't need a prescription for it.