Constipation in Babies

[Bumblelion]

What can I do to help my 15 month old baby? She is very, very constipated. I did take her to the doctors and all they said was to give her lactulose (not an actual laxative, just makes the poo a bit softer) and some syrup of figs. They said they didn't want to give her anything else as she is so young.

Anyway, this doesn't seem to be really doing the trick. I am going to take her back to the doctor's on Friday but I was wondering if any of you encountered constipation in your young child and what you did to overcome it.

She really seems to be suffering from it - crying for 20 minutes or so, extending her legs stiffly, really, really straining and eventually she gets there but it is very distressing to see her go through this to do what is, after all, a normal bodily function that we mostly manage to do without difficulty.

Hi, I am new here so have only just seen this thread, but have had exactly the same problem with my son since he was 6 months old - he is now nearly 2! At first I felt like the doctor thought I was just another neurotic mother. Both the health visitor(who doesn't have any children!) and the GP asked me who it was upsetting more, me or my son, as though it was just me. It did upset me watching him suffer so much but I was very careful not to let him see it. At first they said it was all down to his diet, and in effect I should feed him the right stuff. Having already had a daughter with no problems I found this attitude very patronising. After many return visits we were given lactulose. This did not really have much effect. After getting referred first to a dietician and being told diet was ok, I then insisted on a referral to a paediatrician at a 'constipation clinic'! He merely said that constipation is very common and upped the lactulose and when that didn't make any difference added a truly disgusting laxative called Docusate. This has to be one of the worst things I have ever tasted so to get that into a young child was not easy. This combination might have worked if I could get enough into him, but there are only so many things that mask the taste and he soon got fed up with having the same things every day. The paediatrician just goes on about getting him going every day and changing the medicine every time we go. When I asked if they do anything other than the blood test to see if anything is actually causing the problem he said they only really do that if they have been like it from birth! Anyway, the main reason I wanted to post here (if you're still reading after all this zzzzzz!)is that we have recently started going to see a chiropractor. She has discovered that his pelvis is slightly misaligned,probably from the trauma of birth (he was a big baby - 9lb 12oz) and also his skull is not quite right, you can feel a sort of ridge down the front from the top. What all this means is that the fluid that moves around and up and down the spine to all of the nerve endings is reaching the area that slows down the bowels more than the area that speeds them up. Obviously it is more technical than that but that's how she could explain it. I have to say that after 4 visits it appears to have started to make a difference as Joel has done poos for three days running after the last 2 visits. I am really sorry to ramble on but if this helps anybody it is worth it. I will let you know how we get on.

DD always became constipated when I fed her banana, until I started to give her prune juice with it!
She now (aged 2.4) has developed a taste for kiwi, which is also helps against constipation. I don't give her a whole one anymore though, because it caused the opposite to constipation!

I've just found this thread, and it is a great relief. I am weaning my 5 month ds at the moment, and his pooh has gone very dry for a small baby (like plasticine) compared with just a week ago, I was wondering if this was ok, and if I was feeding him something wrong, but having read this, I think the banana he is having for breakfast every day might be the culprit!

Our daughter has just turned 5 weeks and has been suffering with constipation, it was first noticed after a long 2 days of crying followed by a pebbled size poo. After the "pebble" passed through the rest of the poo that was building up just kept on coming it was a great relief for everyone.

The doctor recommended giving her lactulose just before bedtime and has also told us to give her an ounce of freshly squeezed orange juice without any bits, or pear juice, in it mixed with one ounce of water. She also said to boil prunes and do the same with the juice of the prunes.

It is horrible seeing them going through all that pain, and you hear so much about not giving them water or juices, but as the doctor said to use,,,,common sense has to kick in somewhere and if she needs help, give it!

So for us this has been the answer, and for our daughter it has worked if you are concerned go to your doctor and hopefully they will give you some direction.

my baby is 7 weeks old and has had constipation for 2 weeks. we live in italy and the doctor here has said not to worry and it's a common problem (the baby is having about two thirds artifical milk as I wasn't making enough.) She is really really distressed, she tries and tries. It's hard for her to sleep and she's often inconsolable. The dr here has recommended 'microclisma', a tiny pipette with glycerin that goes up the bottom. It is effective and I know lots of people who have used it here but she has only done a poo when I have used this and not spontaneously. We have tried everything else - changing milk, massage, colic drops and probiotic drops - all recommended by the dr. Nothing is working and I am so worried I don't know what to do. Any suggestions for a tiny baby would be very very welcome.

My dd suffered like this at around similar age. In fact she ended up with retracting prolapsed bowel which sounds like what is happening here. The strain causes some of the bowel to come out. This can and does go back in by itself which is what dd's was like. After three visits to a&e they referred us to a bowel management programme at the local hospital. After scans they told me that compacted poo was making the bowel 10 times the normal size. Anyway dd and myself had to stay in hospital for a week where dd had daily enemas and took some sort of senna medicine. After that week we continued with lactulose plus increased fruit and fluids for several months. Dd is 10 now and has hardly been constipated since. Hope you get this sorted out as I know from experience how distressing it can be.

Just read through posts and wanted to add a comment re linseed/flax seed It is very good for consipation but is quite powerful stuff, it is best if you get the ground flax and make it into a porridge or add a teaspoon to porrige or cooked fruit. If it not enough you can increase the amount until you find how much works for your baby.
It is available from Asda on the free from aisle.

thanks!!!

My 18 month old dd has this unfortunately. After speaking with the health visitors and doctor she is on movical now so they can prescribe something more.

Hi all, i'm suspecting that my 4YO DS is suffering constipation because he had not poo for few days and told me that his stomach is not feeling well and sometimes is painful. I'm so worry. I had fed her a lot of prune juice but it still seem nothing change. Anyone can suggest me some of the remedies or formulas that are able to cure the issues.

Heyy judegan, not to worry so much!! Better give them those home remedies,no chemical it will good for them. But. It will be better for you to bring them to seek for advise from doctor.

I advise u all dont simply let ur children try any sort of remedies, not everything also can be used. especially those traditional herbs remedies, do not try at all cost! my LO ended up in hopsital bcos of my MIL itchy hand let her try! better seek proper medical advise 1st!

I switched to Mamil for a week, it really works! Because it contains no sugar and high DHA! But the real ingredient is the pre-biotic in Mamil help to solve constipation problem!

Vege and fruits are the most effective constipation remedy because it is contains very high level of fibre. Besides eat more veges and fruits are not harm to body.

Last time when my daughter faced constipation, my friend had recommended me to switch my current milk formula to Mamil. It is really work and I don't see my daughter face the issues anymore.

Reading with interest. My 13mo DS2 really struggles with his poos. I read on another thread that Ellas Kitchen Prune Pouch works wonders too.

I am off to Sainsbo's tonight for some prunes, I tried to get him sucking on an Orange quarter which he loved but didnt have much effect, i have loads of oranges which need using so i will squish them into a juice and see if he drinks it. He loves to drink water (and eat bananas which may be our culprit too). I will also make some mashed apple to put into his breakfast.

I had heard that at DS's age he should avoid wholemeal bread - is that right? Some advice i have found online says he should be eating it...

I want to avoid the GP as much as possible as i dont want to keep just giving him meds if i can help him naturally (i am not a new age hippy honest! i just want to see what we can do first)

My daughter had constipation issues on and off between 6 months and 12 months old. (She was breastfed until 6 months old, unfortunately I stopped producing breastmilk then). At first we thought the reason must be the change to formula milk,so we tried a few different brands,but it did not help to the problem completely. We also started weaning from 6 months so it might be the combination of the two..(change to formula+weaning) she did not like pureed food at all, she spat out everything, and she really started to eat properly at around 10-11 months. At 12 months she had the worst period of constipation even though she was eating a lot of fibre at that time. We tried everything including even suppositories when nothing helped,but on the long-term nothing seemed to solve the problem. It was awful to see her in so much pain, screaming while pooping, and she even developed haemmorhoids due to straining. We took her to the GP, as well, but the usual advice was change in diet. In the end one pharmacist recommended lactulose,which was a miracle to us!! I realized that she started holding back the poop and that was the main issue. She had a painful experience, and firstly she had to forget about that..Lactulose is not a laxative,it is working by making the stool softer. It is ok for babies. The recommended dosage was 2x 5mls, but I started off with 5mls once a day only. And it helped us so much. She was still struggling with the poop, and was crying..for the first 3 days..even though it was soft..but after 5-6 days!! we could stop using the lactulose and she had regular poop again with no screaming. And now almost 2months after she is doing great. She poops easily and regularly (once a day). She had to forget the bad experience first. Lactulose has helped us a lot, but also try to give as much fiber as you can, and offer drinks regularly. I also tried to encourage her verbally,and reassure that it will all be fine. I am so glad that we could leave this phase behind!!