Constipation

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Too lazy to trawl through old posts. My baby is just 12 months and he is constipated. This might be tmi but its as if his bum isn't big enough to do the poo. ANyway I hve decided to try prunes with him tomorrow. I have nevetr had this problem with any of my other children so just wondered what the best thing was. Should I give him prunes chopped up or juice. Anyone have any ideas. TIA>

Try both.

Try oats not wheat for breakfast so porridge would be good

Avoid bananas

chocolate covered raisins (both work as a laxative)

give him home made spag bol with lots of veggies and olive oli and mix olive oil into the pasta as well

Rub a little baby oil onto his rectum and maybe if you can a little stimulation there to start him off. Rub his tummy, use some oil warmed in your hands and give hima massage. sit him on a potty or holf him with his back to your tummy and hold him under the knees, coo to him and make him relaxed, as it might hurt to pass that first bit of poo as it'll be compacted and hard.

An old family passed on trick is to give a small square of dark chocolate (bourneville will do). No idea why it works - but it does

I usually bring him upstairs when I see him straining and take off his nappy and let him stand up. OK TMI here: then I usually massage his rectum to try and get the first bit out. Will try the choc raisins. I also put some petroleum jelly there to ease it out. He is still breast fed and I try to get him to take other fluids but he is not fond of a cup so should I just let him have a drink out of his bottle.

Yes let him drink out of the bottle, water and prune juice.

If it's really bad and he's really blocked up you can get glycerine suppositories from the chemist. They are imediate and always effective.

You coul;d get bust baking tomorrow and use linseeds in yur cooking, make him soe muffins or something and mix in a load of crushed linseeds.

Could he eat linseeds straight?

No.
They have to be crushed, or soaked overnight, taste foul.
Need to disguise them in cooking or sprinkly them in his prridge or wheatabix.

when I get constipated I have a glass of wine andit usually gets me going. Suppose I shouldn't thry that with him though. Thanks for the advice TC and SB will try that tomorrow. NIght.

Night mate. A cup of coffee and a fag help too! Hope he goes soon, Lottie lives with constipation and I know how horrid it is.
Sweet dreams, x

Forgot to mention getting him some lactulose from phamacy if constipation is a bit of an ongoing problem.

my DS is terribly constipated and dr. prescribed lactulose - got him going a little, but i have to give him it everyday and am worried that he'll become dependant on it to make him go. tried stopping for a day or 2 and he was just back to square one. have tried all tricks mentioned above so any others for a youger baby would be fab.

my 6 yr old was a baby and very constipated my hv told me to put vaseline or baby oil on his rectum and gently massage. tbh, i was too scared to do it in case i did it too hard or something so she suggested pure diluted orange juice. - obviously to drink, not to massage in!

My 2 month old is constipated and just wondering if any1 had any tips

At 2 months old..... if you are bottle feeding I would ty and get him/her to drink some water. Some people say to add sugar to make it more appealing but I'd try plain, boiled, cooled water first. Just try and offer it throughout the day.

Other than that i'd try massaging the tummy and perhaps gently stimulating the opening to the back passage using a little bit of vaseline .

We had real problems with the twins but the following worked like dynamite - stewed prunes / Organix prune porridge / pure orange juice. Have to say that vaseline around the bum did also help when I was getting desperate and before the prunes did their magic. As for the lactulose my GP said that it is only basically very mild water and sugary solution and no harm will be done if they take it for ages.

blotto - does the prune/oj cocktail work very well or am I think and do you give them separately?

I did actually give tham together and also separately depending on what mood the kids were in as sometimes they would drink it and sometimes they wouldnt. either way within 24 - 36 hours I always saw improvement.

try massaging the feet, the soft bit between the ball of foot and heel of foot... clockwise direction, starting with left foot.

go up just inside edge of left foot, across the line where the ball ends, over to right foot, follow the line, down just inside edge of foot to where hard bit of heel is, across the line.

start again, do 3 - 4 times... gently on baby, a little firmer as foot gets older...

Thank you everyone ill try all those ideas!

When ds was constipated we put him on the "P" diet - peas, pears, prunes and peaches only as I found out that apples, bananas and rice cereal only contribute to the problem. The little glycerin suppositories work well too if all else fails - I just used part of one as they seemed really too long and it worked just fine. Also light Karo syrup and water (do they have that in the UK?) helps too.