[13710]

My DS (7.5 mos) has never been a good pooper. He strains and gets red, and since starting on solids, he often cries. We feed him prunes, plums, peaches, apricots and anything else we can think of that is a natural laxative. We don't feed him anything that might be binding (bananas, rice, etc.) We are now pushing lots of water and watered down apple juice to try to help him stay more hydrated - which he is not always interested in drinking. (I should add that he's now exclusively bottlefed, for a whole host of reasons.)

Over the weekend his poop was so hard that it made his adorable little tushy bleed. Not a lot, but enough to make me realize that we need to step up our efforts. So I mixed some flaxseed oil in with his food on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday night he was very unhappy - I was worried that the oil upset his stomach, so I haven't given it to him since.

Does anyone have any good ideas?

 

[stafl]

more breastmilk and less solids in his diet might help. My oldest was just like you are describing, and I honestly think it was mostly because her body couldn't process solid food very well.
Apple juice might not be a good idea, can you try white grape juice instead?

Oh, sorry, I just re-read your post where you say he's bottlefed - it could be from the iron if there is formula in his bottles. 7.5 months isn't too late to try relactating, or you could get a rental pump and at least put as much EBM in his bottles as possible.

 

[P-chan]

Take a peek at the www.askdrsears.com website and do a search for constipation. He offers a range of gentle ways to encourage happier pooping.

Another alternative to apple juice is pear juice.

Good luck with this. Constipation is no fun for anyone!

 

[wombat]

How much solids are you feeding? You might need to back off them a bit. I also found a lot of the jarred baby foods have constipating ingredients in them.

We went through the same kind of thing - tried all sorts of dietary measures and nothing helped. The bleeding is caused by anal fissures and is really painful and takes a while to heal. It can cause functional constipation - baby holds the poop in cause they're afraid of pooping cause it hurts. Keep trying the dietary measures but usually you need to use a stool softener while the fissures are healing and they're afraid of pooping. We use milk of magnesia - 1 tbs mixed into mashed bananas and you virtually can't taste it. I haven't heard of any bad side effects of using it.

I think some babies just have a genetic tendency towards constipation and in our case both me and my mother have/had IBS.

 

[Marsupialmom]

actually flax seed oild is good for him.

I would cut back on the solids.

Also, apple juice can be constipating.

Half as much formula twice as often.

 

[kaismom]

I was just about to post this as i'm having the exact same problem with dd. I couldnt believe it when she had a little blood on her bum. I feel so bad for her.
I have:
cut way back on feeding solids and limit them to fiberous veggies and fruits pears peaches prunes green beans etc.
gave prune juice watered down the other day.
I also help her move her bowels every few days by doing rectal thermometer readings (ala dr sears) and then helping her push by lifting her legs up toward her chest. (so far this is the most effective but its only relieving symptoms not stopping the problem)

All these have worked a little but we arent out of the water yet.
I tried a homeopathic drop but it didnt seem to help and it cost $13.
I heard that psyllium (sp?) seed & mineral oil are helpful but havent tried them yet. I'm not so sure i want to give dd mineral oil as it is a petroleum derived product.

hoping your babe has a dirty dipe soon

 

[My Tiny Dancer]

If nothing seems to work you should definetely talk to your Dr. My Aunt's sisters DD had a lot of problems with constipation when she was a baby. Nothing worked and they ended up having to use supositories (SP?). My DD sometimes gets constipated but water and apple juice fix it. Sounds like your poor little one has it bad

 

[13710]

Thanks to all you mamas for your help and advice. We're trying a couple of different things and will see what we can "produce"!

 

[polka123]

I've heard pear juice helps

 

[kaismom]

just thought of this: i heard somewhere that flaxseed oil goes rancid very quickly and that it is best to get whole seeds and grind them up as you need them, perhaps this was the root of your childs reaction. still no bm here but dd is currently singing a chorus of grunts so we'll see

 

[DaryLLL]

I would suggest quitting solid foods altogether. Many babies just are not ready for solids foods at this age. Also, if he is ABM fed and the iron is making him constipated, can you give him non-iron ABM for part of his feeds until his stools are softer again? I would think prevention would be the best cure here.

My one dd was anemic at 9 mos (altho bfed, she was born early and did not set down full iron reserves in utero). She could not tolerate iron supplements at all, but her levels came up with continued bfing and gradual intro of table foods.

Have your ds' iron lvls checked and ask yr dr about this. He might be anemic from blood loss from the constipation from the iron which is supposed to prevent anemia, if that makes sense!

If you had been bfing and it isn't too late, you could relactate to help this problem too.

 

[kaismom]

As you suggest I've been thinking alot about stopping solids. my ds ate virtually none until 12mos - just not interested, but dd is sooo into eating that I feel compelled to give her food despite the constipation. is it always true that they don't need solids at this age (mine is 7.5mos). I'm so confused.