6 month old DD help please.

[nobullshitallowed]

My DD turned 6 Months on the 17 of may. She's fully breastfed, she's having a massive problem pooing.

I'm at my wits end with it, she's in agony. She had a rough start at birth, 3 weeks premature. I've been trying with solids but she's been refusing and getting quite worked up with it, so I'm leaving weaning for a week and starting again.

I eat a good diet, I've been to the doctors 3 times with this now, I feel that they are completely fobbing me off.

DD is leaving it that long that her poos are solid and she's tearing.

On doctors advise I've given her fruit, fruit juice, hot baths, baby massage and leg movements. Nothing is working.

Has anyone else been like this? What can I do? I can't handle seeing her in pain anymore.

See a paediatric gastro
Get an x-ray of stomach
Ask about meds like lactulose
Assess her muscle tone

When she's had fruit and bits of food has she drank any water?

When you've been to the Drs have they felt her tummy each time to check she's not blocked up with poo? Ds1 suffered from chronic constipation for a few years, but it started when he was a toddler, so older than your dd. Is it only a recent thing that coincides with starting weaning? Or has she always struggled? If she's backed up she will need something to help her clear it out, but if it's only recent, then water should be enough. (Personally I'd be wary of juice at this early stage)

Ds1 had lactulose, which helped initially, but he was then put on movicol for quite some time. It will really depend on how long it's been going on as to whether your little dd needs more fluids initially (bf and water) or something to help her go easily.

She's been like this from birth. I give her water and it doesn't work.

Doctor felt her tummy and said she felt 'blocked up' I've got an appointment tomorrow. I'm going to ask to be referred. Thankyou

I'd be asking about a stool softener to make it easier and less painful for her to go. Have you been feeding her any rice cereals? The iron fortified ones really didn't agree with my kids.

You need a gastro referral for sure. I can't believe the GP is dismissing an infant with anal fissures. That's awful.

My DD has also suffered from constipation from birth. In her case it's idiopathic (no known cause) constipation. Just a sluggish bowel. Inherited from me, sadly! But one thing the doctors wanted to rule out early on is Hirschprung's disease. It's where a part of the bowel has no nerve endings and so it doesn't push the stool along and out. So you will want to rule that out. Coeliac disease is another possibility.

Movicol is brilliant for chronic constipation and my DD has been on it for five years. It's just a stool softener and doesn't cause the bowel to be "lazy" or any of that guff you hear about long term constipation meds. It's also safe for babies even though the box doesn't mention a dosage for the under twos.

I agree push for a referral. An exclusively breastfed baby shouldn't be constipated, that's very uncommon and needs investigating. Does she have any other issues? I thinking cows milk allergy could be a culprit.

She doesn't have rice cereals, just fresh fruit and veg. Although she won't take any of that without getting distressed. So we've stopped for a week.

My dh is lactose intolerant, so maybe worth looking into, I didn't think of that.

Going to beg for help tomorrow, she can't carry on like this, feel awful for her.

Thanks for all your help x

You can also give glycerine suppositories to unblock things at the bottom end. They do paediatric sizes which you can cut in half (they are basically jelly). You can ask for a prescription.

Sometimes when constipation is really severe, there's no point taking a stool softener orally until the bottom blockage has been dealt with.

My DS had similar problems (when exclusively breast fed). He could go (or not go) for more than a week or two. I never found out why although he had reflux, and thrush from me taking ABs for post C-section infections. He was given liquid senna by the GP when other things didn't work, and that did work.

He didn't really wean onto solids until about 11 months (when he discovered restaurants). He was fine after that.

It's completely normal for breastfed babies to go up to 10-14 days without a poo as long as when it does come, it's soft. Breastmilk is more easily absorbed in the body so there's less waste.

What isn't normal is for hard stool that are difficult to pass and causing tears. This can happen quite often with formula fed babies that have difficulty digesting the cows milk proteins though. These can travel through breastmilk and cause issues in some babies that have allergies.

Just add lactose intolerance is different from a cows milk allergy.

Lactose intolerance is pretty rare in babies (they can have a temporary intolerance after stomach bugs) but it's usually the proteins in cows milk, rather than the sugar (lactose) that cause the issue.