constipation in a new born

[mckenzie]

DD is just 6 days old, can i do anything to ease this for her?

she is a mixture but more formula than breast at the moment as she and i aren't getting it together very well. I'm assuming she's constipated as she did a little lump this morning only and is soooooooooooooooo unsettled and unhappy.

I hope so tipex although i cant help thinking it's my fault for giving her the formula.
Midwife is coming in the morning (to try and help me with the feeding) so I'll ask her.

My dd was constipated when she was first born and the midwife recommended cool boiling water with a tiny bit of apple juice in it (not orange as that's too acidic) - that got her bowels moving. If you don't want to add the juice just try to give the water.

dd1 didn't go for about 6 days, gave her a drop of orange juice and boy oh boy did the meconium come out!

what formula r u using? i used sma for ds1 with no probs, but sma with ds2 caused constipation for 3 weeks but then i changed to aptimil and it went over night. hth x

Echo Aptamil suggestion, DS had a bad time with Cow&Gate. I would avoid the orange juice for the time being, it works for the constipation but it's bad for allergies at such young age.

Dd suffered terribly as a tiny baby and the HV at baby massage recommended this:
Lie her on her back. VERY GENTLY massage in an inverted U over her tummy, so up on her right (your left as she's facing you), across her tummy and then down the other side. Then gently bend her knees up to her tummy. Repeat a couple of times, then do it again later in the day.
Dd used to get really distressed and once when she was about 4 weeks went a week without going. The explosion when she did clear out...

sure, formula fed babies are more prone to it, but you only have to read past threads on here (ie "breast fed baby- surely it can't be constipation etc etc) to know it is not just that. echo advice that babies' bowels have inherent design fault. (along with sleeping/burping.........)

thanks for all your messages of support. beleive it or not, she's now finally slept from 9pm and here am I awake at 4am worried because she's still asleep!! She's on the sofa though, not in her moses basket but she must be so tired that we decided once she fell asleeep to just leave her and let her catch up. She's still making lots of grunting noises that I think sound like she might be straining to go but could of course be anything. She's giong to wake up howling I guess as she'll be so hungry so I should go and prepare. Thanks for teh aptimil tips - I'll give it another day and see how we get on. Back to the second sofa for me now.

I hope the midwife can help you sort feeding. If that doesn't work, is there any specialised breastfeeding support close to you? (There are a few people on here who are experts on feeding, too.) Some midwives are good on bf, others, not so much.

i've just watched her struggle to get out a lumpy poo, by coincidence she started going as i was changing her nappy. it was hell to watch and listen to, bless her, she found it so hard. shall i give SMA another day and see if it settles down or change to aptimil now do you think?

qucik update on the loveyl poo situation. It happened again this afternoon. The midwife suggested i gave her cool boiled water with some drops from a fresh tangerine or orange which i did. She hasn't tried to poo again since she's had the water but she's gone to sleep now (fingers crossed, quite contentedly) so we'll see what happens. She's slept most of the day today though so I could be up half the night! Thanks for the massage tips as well. I've done that a couple of times today.
Are there any points on her feet that might help do you know as she seems to really like me massaging her feet?

Hi mackenzie,

Don't worry too much. Give the cooled boiled water as the midwife suggested but be reassured - if it's to do with the SMA she'll adjust to it in the next few days and then all should be normal. They can be a bit constipated when you first give formula - it doesn't last - just horrid while they have it.

Mandy

I really hope you are right Amanda, I gave DS Cow&Gate for a couple of months, Farleys for nearly other 2, Soya formula that made the thing slightly better -though I wouldn't go that route now-, but constipation didn't go until he started on Aptamil.

I'm also quite surprised some MWs are still sugesting the orange juice thing for less than 6m old babies.

Yes - orange juice should not be recommended anymore. However, it seems to take for these things to filter through. Most babies will adjust after a few days on formula - some don't though and just need the milk changing to something else. My DS didn't suffer with constipation but he did have terrible colic which improved dramatically 2-3 days after swapping from C+G to Farley's which I've since discovered is lower in lactose.

Hi Mckenzie - ds2 was like this from when he was born until 15 weeks old. He had a mixture of breast and bottle and our GP (I took him at least twice) said it was the fate of some breastfed babies to be constipated...

Bizarrely it stopped almost overnight when he started on solids! It's never been a problem since, but I remember the awful times when he'd be going purple trying to push and crying - so I really understand what you're going through...

We tried orange juice but it didn't work, nor did water - just something we had to get through. I know 15 weeks was early to wean, but if it's still a problem at about that time you might want to think about introducing some solids as it might help - but fingers crossed the problem will ease for your dd by then!

PS - I must emphasise GP said breastfed and not bottlefed! Nothing to do with having formula - and our ds2 was on Aptimil...

thanks everyone. Our midwife said not to use orange juice from a carton but juts a few drops of the juice from a fresh organe/clementine etc in the cooled boiled water which we did do yesterday. Today she went without all the screaming although there was still a lot of grunting noises and it wasn't as lumpy at all. I've left off the water/juice today and will see what happens now she's been on the aptimil for 3 days.
And i do apprecaite the reassurances that it isn't necessarily due to my taking her off the breast - thank you.