Baby struggling to pass stools for months??

[PurpleRayne89]

My son is 5 months and 17 days. He’s always struggled to pass poop and wind. Kicks legs, the whole shabbang- even keeping us both up all night with the fidgeting.

Doctor at the hospital suggested colic and said we should wean him. Started weaning him 2 weeks ago and now he’s “constipated”. Spoke to a different doctor, they’ve ran with the notes on the system from the hospital. They’ve prescribed him Movicol sachets which must be dissolved in water and drunk. My son is too young to drink water, especially the volume they’re suggesting. According to the instructions, the entire thing needs to be consumed for it to be effective. To me that’s a nonstarter. They said they will review in 2 weeks time. The laxatives are to make the poop more watery. However, he’s EBF and his has always struggled passing loose, liquidy stools. So the laxatives are just likely to cause diarrhoea and stomach ache. I’m stopping the solids until he’s at least 6 months and I’ll stop start if I have to.

Any similar previous experience?

Join the group Movicol Mummies on Facebook and ask on there. Hundreds of people with experience and so much knowledge and advice. Its a really useful group! Its awful to see them struggle with constipation, DS started around 6 months.

Re the movicol, I don’t believe it’s actually a laxative so shouldn’t cause stomach ache etc. it just adds more water to the stool to soften it so it’s easier to pass. How many sachets per day have been prescribed? It’s just 62ml per sachet for the movicol so it’s not actually a huge amount of water. We add it to milk once it’s made up but appreciate if your little one is EBF then that might be more difficult. I’ve heard of others mixing into yoghurt, but see you said you’re holding off the solids. Some also use a calpol syringe and get a bit in at a time.

I hope you get the support you need, in my experience GPs have been hopeless with advising us.

@Roses1221 thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately not on Facebook but might create an account for this purpose. It’s just annoying not knowing why he’s always struggled to pass stools even prior to the solids so his poops were watery but still struggled. I’ll use a syringe and do it a bit at a time. We have a pack of 30 funny enough. Thanks for suggesting that, really helpful.

No previous experience with constipation at that age but a fair bit experience with Movicol!

Movicol is a stool softener not a laxative so shouldn't cause stomach ache. Agree with pp you dissolve a movicol sachet in 62ml (ish) of water. Once that's done you can add the solution to anything you like. My DC is much older but I top it up to a cupful with cows milk.

Will LO take expressed milk in a bottle? Or could you give small amounts of the solution by syringe? You can split the dose through the day, it doesn't have to be taken in one go. It might take a few days to take effect.

Once you are ready to try solids again, the Ella's kitchen 'Prunes Prunes Prunes' pouch generally gives good results in terms of getting things moving

I had this issue from birth to weaning with my little one (although when he went it was firmer than you describe), we got given movicol and mixed it with his formula once dissolved. Would baby take a bottle of expressed milk so you could add it to that? Once we started weaning I found Asda root veg pouches would have him going within hours so used to give him one at least twice a week if he hadn't gone naturally by then.

@SatinHeart @Theresamagicalplace thank you both for your input. He won’t take the bottle, will try a syringe.

He’s been on ‘prunes, prunes, prunes’ for days and he’s still straining all day until he’s red in the face. I feel like it’s his ability to eliminate stools rather than traditional constipation - who knows. Doctor said to try this and he’ll check in in 2 weeks.

What is he actually getting out of bring weaned early? Babies digestive systems haven't matured enough to wean so early, guidelines are 6 months. Surely there is an alternative to gas and not pooing? Also, it's normal for EBF babies to not poo frequently. Both my daughters went as long as almost 2 weeks without pooing.

I wouldn't go with what one Dr says, I'd get a 2nd opinion re weaning early.

It is worth looking up ‘infant dyschezia’. It is often confused with constipation but baby has soft poo.

It gets better with time and encouraging baby to relax if straining. Medications that soften poo don’t tend to make a difference as poo is already soft.

My dd struggled with watery poo when bf and then constipation once weaned onto solids but it was related to dairy allergy. She screamed in agony and had a couple of hospital stays until we established what was wrong. We were then under a consultant and a dietician until about 18 months. The dietician gave the best advice and support re stripping dairy out of her diet and then slowly reintroducing using the milk ladder. This might not be similar to what you're experiencing but might be worth considering?

My DD is 6 months and 1 week and this is really similar!

Also EBF, from birth had issues with pooping. Would regularly go 7-10 days with a bowel movement. We saw the GP a couple of times who was of the opinion that if she was passing wind (which she was, plenty and stinky!) it indicated there was no blockage and therefore he wasn’t concerned. She wasn’t overly bothered by it (never had a particularly distended tummy, didn’t appear to be in pain etc). He did prescribe movicol but same as you I didn’t understand how I was to really get it in her, so although we have the 30 sachet box too it’s never been used!

Around 4 months she suddenly got better with it and was going every 1-2 days. We tried solids at 5 months and 1 week (mostly because she was trying to pinch food out our hands and her big sister was trying to feed her!). We only did a few days but she stopped pooping, took 13 days for her to go. Again no pain or grottiness, just lack of poop 💩

We started weaning again 3 days ago but are avoiding known foods to cause constipation, and offering things like prunes / pears with everything we offer her in the hopes it’ll keep things moving along nicely.

No real advice as I can’t figure it out either, but just wanted to share that we have a very similar situation.

Is he ff or breastfed? My first baby used to be constipated on aptimil but wasn't on hipp so we found formula brands did make a difference

@NEE1302

My dd struggled with watery poo when bf and then constipation once weaned onto solids but it was related to dairy allergy. She screamed in agony and had a couple of hospital stays until we established what was wrong. We were then under a consultant and a dietician until about 18 months. The dietician gave the best advice and support re stripping dairy out of her diet and then slowly reintroducing using the milk ladder. This might not be similar to what you're experiencing but might be worth considering?

This x

@PurpleRayne89

My son is 5 months and 17 days. He’s always struggled to pass poop and wind. Kicks legs, the whole shabbang- even keeping us both up all night with the fidgeting.

Doctor at the hospital suggested colic and said we should wean him. Started weaning him 2 weeks ago and now he’s “constipated”. Spoke to a different doctor, they’ve ran with the notes on the system from the hospital. They’ve prescribed him Movicol sachets which must be dissolved in water and drunk. My son is too young to drink water, especially the volume they’re suggesting. According to the instructions, the entire thing needs to be consumed for it to be effective. To me that’s a nonstarter. They said they will review in 2 weeks time. The laxatives are to make the poop more watery. However, he’s EBF and his has always struggled passing loose, liquidy stools. So the laxatives are just likely to cause diarrhoea and stomach ache. I’m stopping the solids until he’s at least 6 months and I’ll stop start if I have to.

Any similar previous experience?

1. It’s normal for EBF babies not to pass stool as often as formula fed babies.

1. Weaned babies MUST drink water (we were advised 2-3 sippy cups per day) regardless of age.

Another vote for a dairy allergy. Have you tried cutting milk out of your diet for three weeks and then starting having it again to see if it has an impact.

EBF babies can sometimes poo less than FF babies but they don't normally strain to poo even when it's been days. More likely to be an explosive poonami if DD1 was anything to go by.

Another vote for CMP allergy. Although with my DS ended up with egg, soy and a CMP allergy. The joys.

@PurpleRayne89 please please go see a cranial osteopath they are actual miracle workers!

He’s ok within himself otherwise; gaining weight. If this wasn’t an issue I’d have no concerns about him. He’s EBF. I’m going to stop solids. Start again in a short while. I’m not sure why the Doctor at the hospital said such diet would improve things. If anything it’s made things worse. If he’s struggled to evacuate watery BF poop then how’s he going to fair with thicker poop. I’m at a loss with these healthcare professionals. I mean where do they get their expertise from sometimes!

I don’t consume much dairy so I couldn’t attribute it to that. He has been struggling since Monday to poop; straining, kicking his legs, crying until bright red, turning over and pushing - nothing! I have him prunes Monday, yesterday and today watered down with extra boiled water. No joy! On occasion there’s a spot of poop in his nappy.

Bicycle legs, tummy massage, pushing legs up to chest, foot massage, warm bath, you make it, I’ve done it! Hopefully he poops soon. He’s passing wind also, struggles to do this occasionally too

I can imagine if he was just farting away and not ready to poop but he’s actively trying until it’s nap time again and he’s exhausted.

Ugh!

I’m not keen on using the Movical, I couldn’t see this making much difference. If he struggles to pass watery stools already. How would this improve things!

Have they looked at physical reasons?
My child is 12 now and has extremely complex disabilities including chronic constipation but non of this was apparent as a baby .

I'd vote dairy too.

It's not the amount you consume that's the issue, it's that it will be built up in your system... milk proteins are in a lot more foods than you realise...! Even some wines!

When my son was a baby he really struggled and we were prescribed lactulose. You can get it over the counter but I would speak to the pharmacist first. I was very gentle and it didn't work as quick as we thought so the doctor doubled the dosage which did then did work. He grew out of it at about a year when he was walking and eating more meals.

@x2boys what disabilities does your son have? They’ve assessed his anus and general check up, nothing too in-depth.

@Milkshake54 this makes sense. So do some research on this and detox from it basically?

[quote PurpleRayne89]@x2boys what disabilities does your son have? They’ve assessed his anus and general check up, nothing too in-depth.

@Milkshake54 this makes sense. So do some research on this and detox from it basically?[/quote]
Yeah basically, but it can take up to 8 weeks to see improvements - 2 weeks to leave you, 2 weeks to leave your baby and then some time for their tummy to heal...
If nothing else, eliminating it will let you know whether it is an issue or not! If you don't see improvements you can add it back in!

And you have to cut out all dairy, so read every label!
I stopped feeding my little one recently and I've just weaned myself back on dairy! Sadly my little one still can't manage it 😞.

Little one hasn't been investigated for a milk allergy have they? Constipation alone is only one symptom but along side colic type symptoms, sickness, reflux and eczema (just some) it can point to a allergy to cows milk protein x

[quote PurpleRayne89]@x2boys what disabilities does your son have? They’ve assessed his anus and general check up, nothing too in-depth.

@Milkshake54 this makes sense. So do some research on this and detox from it basically?[/quote]
I'm sorry I didn't mean to post that to worry you ,I was just thinking there might bowel issues that scans could show up
My son has many disabilities and I really didn't want to upset you but ime i would want anything physical ruled out
I'm sorry for how it came across