Help - Urgent

[UCM]

My cousin has a 5 week old baby that is constipated. She took her to hospital as the child screams in pain when trying to poo. The paediatrician told her to give 'no added sugar blackcurrant juice (ie robinsons/ribena) to make her go'. I have never heard of this before. Pear juice yes, but not bottled dilute juice for a child this small.

After a week she phoned her HV, who told her 'let her scream, it has to come out some way'

I am a mother of DS age 2 and believe that this advice is wrong..... can anyone help.

Even though I am 36, I am still a little inexperienced in this and don't want to advise her to do anything that she shouldn't.

I have pasted this in Breast/bottle feeding as well.

are you on msn UCM?

I would phone NHS Direct. Has she tried giving her cooled boiled water? Thought it was prunes or prune juice to aid constipation.

is the baby bottle fed or breast fed?
\link{http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/babyconstipation.htm\some help here}

When DD was constipated when switched to formula (lactose intolerance, in pain from bfing) she was constipated. Her Dr. told us to give her apple, pear or prune juice. He said to start with apple if that didn't work, do pear, if that didn't work do prune. He wanted her to have the mildest possible "laxitive" type juice. We never had to make it past pear.

Thank you, going on MSN as we speak YG

My dd1 was totally breastfed and got severely constipated at 8 weeks (screaming in pain). I wasn't constipated (I had thought initially it might have been sthg I had eaten). Anyway, 3 times back and fwds to drs who kept saying 'breastfed babies don't get constipated because breastmilk is so watery). Eventually I made them refer me to a consultant who organised an xray of her colon which - lo and behold - showed the gut to be constipated and hardened faeces had caused it to distend in places. They immediately sent us to paediatrics (another hospital 20 miles away) where they gave my baby a glycerin suppository. Brilliant result (poo everywhere of course) but she never screamed again. You can buy them for children over the counter I think at Boots but you might want to ask your dr for one instead. One dr said if we'd put a bit of soap just inside her anus, it might have had the same result but personally i wouldn't do this as she might have a fissure (small cut) there and it would sting. Let us know how you get on.

Cooled boiled water with a little pure orange juice is what I was told to use and it did help.