Constipated DD (think I gave her too much food too fast) :( Now nothing is working

[emeraldgirl1]

She is having lactulose but the effect is very hit and miss, stupidly I probably stopped it too soon when she improved a bit and then she got a bit better after a couple more days back on lactulose. But now she is not improving despite still taking it for past 2-3 days.

Her diet is, I think, pretty bang-on constipation friendly right now: plenty of stone fruit (peaches, nectarine) and prunes when she will eat them. Courgettes, fresh tomato sauce. A little plain yogurt. Porridge. some pasta with veg as she loves it. Less cheese than ususal. Waaaaaaay more water than she has ever drunk before (I think too much solid food and not enough fluid caused the problem in the first place, I feel so bad for not realising)

But she is still having trouble squeezing out hard and dry poos (sorry tmi)

Though yesterday, randomly, she suddenly managed a proper bowel movement after lunch... She has been on the same mount of lactulose today and drunk much more water but back to constipated poos again...

Should I just carry on as I am doing and add a bit more lactulose (Gp said small spoon twice a day)?

Or go back and ask for movicol? (I am a constipation sufferer myself and only movicol ever worked for me)

I don't want to over treat!! DH says I should just relax and keep giving her good food and water and lactulose and she will get her rhythm back... But it has been about 3 weeks of fairly permanent problems now. It got v bad and is getting a bit better but not resolving.

I think she is holding on... As obviously at one point it was really really hurting and there was a v little bit of blood :( Now I think it hurts less but she still needs to strain a lot and I think she doesn't like it.

Have posted here and not in health as it was a weaning issue and also because there are lots of really serious problems posted in health and I feel silly...

Am a bit stressed about it though an just want consistent improvement fr poor DD :(

What milk are you giving her

Need just a bit more info, how old is she? How often do you offer solids and which milk does she have? Also are you offering solids roughly an hour after her usual milk feed?

She is 9m
With breakfast and supper she has the solids about an hour, maybe 90min with supper, after her milk. At lunch I give her the milk after her solid meal, water while she eats. HV advised cutting a milk feed entirely but I aren't done that yet.
She is still having roughly 500ml per day of milk.
She is on aptamil and has been since birth so I don't think the constipation is anything to do with the kind of milk as she has only been v mildly constipated once before when she was 4 weeks. Tbh normally her bowels are on the loose side!

Basically I think 3-4 weeks ago I wasn't giving her enough fluid to deal with the sudden increase in her appetite for solids, plus she had an ear infection and went right off her bottle (didn't like sucking) and I think the problem began then.

Now she is having loads of fluid and plenty of watery food but I think she is holding onto her poos... Can't seem to get the lactulose dose quite right, should I be giving more, or more often?

Thanks so much btw!!

Haven't done that, not aren't done that!!

Sorry, and that should have been 600ml of milk, not 500ml... Actually it can be 700ml depending... Never less than 600ml anyway.

Hi my 9month Dd is exactly the same she's been constipated about three times since I started weaning at 6months. I give her a varied diet etc and am not doing anything radically different to how I weaned my first
DD and she was never constipated. It's painful to watch isn't it. The poor thing crying her eyes out when straining and also you go through so many nappies in a day with teeny weeny poos.

I have also got some lactulose from the GP and I try to give her water from a cup. The HV said that some babies are just more prone to constipation than others and to keep giving her the lactulose and to work out what is the optimal amount- perhaps is just trial and error. I've also stewed some prunes and puréed and frozen cubes to stick in random food. She was originally happy to eat whole prunes as finger food but doesn't seem bothered any more. I also have been giving her lots of satsumas to eat which seems to help and sometimes squeeze orange juice into porridge etc.

Personally I'm not convinced that changing milk has much effect. I use SMA (same one I used with DD1) so I figured I'd change to aptamil to see if it made a difference. It didn't - she still seemed as constipated- so now I'm back on SMA which is a pound cheaper than aptamil.

I give three milk feeds a day morning / evening and 2.30 pm ish and just try to get as much water down her as possible at other times.

Good luck..

Btw if you do a search on old threads there are lots of tips on here.

Don't know why your HV has advised dropping a milk feed now. Very poor advice.

JingleJohns I agree... She thought I was already giving too much milk as it is... Do you happen to know the correct amount that a 9m old baby should be drinking?

The nhs recommend a minimum of 600ml each day of first stage milk between 6 and 12 months, that's if you are not bfing of course, don't want to confuse anyone who is