Chronic Constipation!!

[shmeans]

Help! I don't know what to do anymore. My nine month old has been chronically constipated since the very beginning of solids. We started solids around 5 months and then delayed b/c of poopy issues. It has been an ongoing saga since then. Finally pediatrician put him on lactulose. I wish i had just delayed solids longer but felt pressured to give real food. anyway, i don't like having my son on meds everyday and have tried getting him off the lactulose but then there are no poopies. I tried flax oil-didn't work. he eats only high fiber foods and lots of prunes and still is mostly breastfed. even with the lactulose his poopies are either dry or explosive and not so regular. Last week we want to holistic practitioner. She thinks it may be my water intake (but i drink alot already) or a bacterial imbalance. I have just cut out dairy too, but have been drinking soymilk mostly for a long time. He has just started acidolphus supplement but we are still on the lactulose. i am feeling fed up and impatient. anyone out there have any experience with this?? someone suggested i post here, so here i am. I am considering just going back to just breastmilk, stopping lactulose and starting back at square one with just my diet. But what do i do, just not eat in front of him?? he doesn't eat much anyway. How are you mommies out there figuring this out? poopy has become my life.

[thepeach80]

I think going back to just bm will be the fastest road. I would keep giving the lactulose till you get one god poo after that and then see what happens. He can have ice to eat/play w/ if you think he'll be bothered w/ you eating. Evan isn'ttoo bothered, they adapt quickly. He's 13mos and can only have Neocate and rice. Chronic constipation though was AJ's main sign for his dairy issues and Evan's pea and raspberry issues.

[shmeans]

thanks thepeach80. so your kids symptoms were constipation too? I hear so much about reflux, rashes, and diarrhea that i thought maybe i was stretching it. i wish my pediatrician was as supportive as all the mommas in here.

[thepeach80]

It was definitely one symptom, until AJ started whole milk,it was his only symptom, then he got a rash to go w/ it. Evan had bad reflux till about 12 mos and we eliminated all foods, so I can't say if it occampanied the constipation, but it was very evident when we tried peas (which he's allergic to) and raspberries.

[shmeans]

Just have to say i am so glad to have come in here. My son was up at least 10 times last night crying for his poor tummy and he flipped around all night long. Daddy had to sleep on couch just to function for work today. so!.. .i started an elimination diet today and a food diary first thing. Little man woke up with a red hiney this morning too. I'm just glad to have come in here and found out some things so i can at least feel like i am taking action toward helping our son.

[brookelynnp]

My ds is almost three and his constipation issues are all I can think about. First it was excessive spit up and very quickly it moved into constipation. We stopped all wheat products and saw a great improvement. Slowly we added the wheat back and found the constipation worse than ever. So we went off the wheat again and saw some results but very inconsistant. Now we have him off both Dairy and wheat and things were looking up as they always do and then out of the blue the constipation came back. This has been the consistent pattern for almost three years now. We have about 8 dry little pebble sized poops a day. Sometimes the set back is due to my ds sneaking wheat filled foods and other times we have no idea why he is not pooping. We have been working with a homeopath for the the last three years and having up and down results. Soon we sill start digestive enzymes to see if this helps. I should also say that back in August both of my ds and dh got pertussis and this has really done the most damage to his recovery from the constipation. But our lives and our homes happiness all depends on whether or not ds is pooping or not. If he is not no one sleeps and the smallest thing is cause for an all out tantrum at any second. Some of this is just him being 2 1/2 and some of this is just plain discomfort. poor little bugger I cant wait until the time when we have this licked. In the mean time he cant potty train, cant go to school but cries to go but cant because he is still in diapers. Soon he will be changing his own diapers! LOL

[mtm]

we're dealing with dairy issues in a bf baby too. Took me a while to trult get all the dairy out, I was missing some of the code words. Ds was constipated too. I did read that a lot of dairy allergy kids can't have soy either.

[shmeans]

Wow! I am so glad I am not the only one. I sort of need to know others are having this problem due to certain foods. It makes me think this elimination diet --AArg!--is going to do something. Brooklynnp--are you just cutting out wheat, or wheat gluten too? Oats, rye, kamut and maybe one or two others have gluten. (oats is a debate amongst allergists, i think). There are also a million hidden words for wheat, etc. Mtm , I did the same thing. I thought I was cutting out dairy but really wasn't.

Update--I did go back to just breast in order to get him off laxative med. He is pooping already As soon as I feel he is regular and the proteins are out of my milk I am going to start re-introducing foods. 2 wks maybe? We are on day 4. The night waking was better already until about 3 this morning. We'll see...

[brookelynnp]

At first we just did wheat then we added Dairy and now we are just going to eliminate all gluton as well. I found a bakery here In Denver that is all Gluton and half dairy free.... When I nursed ds I also had to go off wheat and for two and a half years we did it off and on with the dairy. But now I cant take it any longer and we are going to the Celiac diet and then move on from there with our Naturepath to see how we can best make it work for the whole family. It is pretty funny though to see my 2 year old walk around a Wild Oats talking to adults about wheat allergies. It is also scary when I look at the amount of children we are in contact with daily that have similar diet restrictions. What is happening to the world. We bf, cloth diapered, veggie fed and didn't vax and still we have all of these issues.

B

[shmeans]

I'm so sorry to hear of all these little people with such big problems. We are still on our diet. I am getting a bit sick of rice. Found some recipes for some other gluten free grains that i'm going to try. Brookelynnp-- you are lucky to have gf bakery. We have a holistic practitioner and my son has gone on digestive enzymes too. No results yet, but they take a while I think. Soured foods, like miso are supposed to help. there is chickpea miso if you can't do soy. try the allergy sub-forum if you need extra support. I feel your pain. 2 1/2 years!!! I don't know if i can handle this for that long. I feel so sad for him. Good luck. Let me know how it works out.

[Nelybel]

Oh dear.

I need to jump in here too. My dd is 1 (just this week) and has been constipated since Christmas. I'm doing flax seed oil and pro-biotics...with extremely limited results. She does have sensitivites to Dairy and Soy and Wheat...but I was hoping she'd grow out of it. The frustrating thing is...she was doing fine until xmas and was already eating some solids with no problem. I can't figure out what it is. She nurses a lot as well so I'm doubly frustrated. Good and bad to know I'm not the only one. I've just begun my search to figure out what the problem is and my hunch was (before I began researching) was that it was her food sensitivites causing it somehow. Looks like that must be the case based on your stories. Sigh. Now what to do.

J

[brookelynnp]

So we are one week and three days into the Celiac Diet with only cultured yogurt and cultured butter as far as dairy products and we are giving ds "Kid lax" and herbal remedy as instructed by our Naturepath. He had one really good day of healthy poops and the next two days he had only one small dry poop. I geuss I will take out the remaining dairy.

On a better note his over all happiness and his temperment have really improved. I do believe he feels better.


B

[shmeans]

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Okay Mommas, Update!! We are on day 16 of our elimination diet. We added some solids back in to little man's food on approx day 10 - small amounts of fruits veggies and rice- and so far so good!!! Poopy everyday but one so far!!!!!! I have added in corn as my first test food with no problem. I'm pretty sure its dairy and or wheat gluten but i've eliminated other highly allergic just to be sure. I can tell he feels so much better. I gotta say--I feel much better myself. I didn't even know I wasn't feeling my best. The next food to add to my diet is eggs, then peanuts and tree nuts. Soy, dairy and wheat are last. I want ice cream! but I am so happy to change poopy diapers and sleep more than an hour at a time that I could eat whatever. Take heart ladies!!! Thanks for the support!

[shmeans]

Oh--Broolynp-- don't forget all the hidden dairy in so many products out there. Even things that say non-dairy aren't neccessarily safe. Also, 60% percent of kids allergic to dairy are allergic to soy.

[shmeans]

Originally Posted by Nelybel

Oh dear.

I need to jump in here too. My dd is 1 (just this week) and has been constipated since Christmas. I'm doing flax seed oil and pro-biotics...with extremely limited results. She does have sensitivites to Dairy and Soy and Wheat...but I was hoping she'd grow out of it. The frustrating thing is...she was doing fine until xmas and was already eating some solids with no problem. I can't figure out what it is. She nurses a lot as well so I'm doubly frustrated. Good and bad to know I'm not the only one. I've just begun my search to figure out what the problem is and my hunch was (before I began researching) was that it was her food sensitivites causing it somehow. Looks like that must be the case based on your stories. Sigh. Now what to do.

J

wheat only??? not wheat gluten??

[Nelybel]

"wheat only??? not wheat gluten??"

Ummm - not sure. My awareness of her sensitivites are based on nothing very scientific. She was colicky - I eliminated dairy (completely) and she got better. But I was suspcious that there was more...she was so spitty etc. So held off on grains and soy when she started eating solids and didn't eat much soy myself either. First time she had a piece of bread her next poop gave her a horrible rash. We stopped wheat (obviously) but some time later she had some more and the next poop - the same rash. The only time she has had soy (as in soymilk), she threw up right after. She seems to do OK if she injests very small amounts of wheat but any significant amount (say a piece of bread eaten in a restaurant) causes a problem. It might not even be the wheat I suppose.

I'm new to this whole food sensitivity thing. I'd love to be enlightened. What is the difference between wheat and wheat gluten. I mean - I know what gluten is....we're vegetarian and gluten is part of many vegi meats (which she doesn't eat). I've also chewed wheat until the only the gluten remained (like gum). But in terms of food allergy or sensitivity I'm not sure what you mean. When I read the labels of things...if it says wheat 'anything' I don't give it to her. Help! :->

J