Constipation help (reflux questions also)

My 8 week ok son is struggling sooooo bad with his BM's. He's on Soy formula (has been on it for the past 6+ weeks due to spitting up). Never had any issues with BM's until we started the liquid infant Zantac...he started that about 1 1/2 weeks ago due to reflux symptoms (haven't seen any real improvement on it, but my pedi says to stick it out for 2 to 3 weeks because it sometimes takes that long), his BM's have turned the consistencey of a thick sticky peanut butter or cream cheese. Not to get gross, but it's really green and sticky.

Today is day 3 of no BM and he's very fussy, grunty (like he's trying) and whiny.

I've done the bycycle legs...is there anything else I could do that is safe for this age? Anyone else have this same issue while on Zantac?

My daughter who is on Gentlease, has "normal" combo of liquidy BM's with some thicker sometimes. She doesn't struggle at all.

Incidently, my pedi says that if the Soy and Zantac combo doesn't help, she wants me to drop the Zantac and just try the Enfimil AR formula (I know this has added rice protines, but I'm confused because that is milk based and doesn't that aggravate reflux). If that doesn't work after a while, then she'll prescribe the prevacid. Thoughts on the Enfimil AR??

I'll take any advice/suggestions please.

 

When ours got constipated from the rice cereal we were adding to their bottles for reflux, we did 1/2 ounce pear juice to 1/2 ounce of water. Worked very well for them. As for the meds and formula they are two different things. I dont know why she would want you to stop the Zantac even if you go to the AR?? The meds are for the pain not for the spit up and the AR is supposed to weigh the food contents down in their stomachs to help with the amount of spit up. So to me logically, you need to do both. Meds and AR (if that is what you try next).

We were told that it only takes about 7 days to see if a reflux med is going to work. We were on the Zantac for 5 days and we had no change at all. So we switched to Prevacid and within about 24 hours I had new babies.

HTH!

 

Yes, it can cause constipation. Link to side effects. Zantac did absolutely nothing for my babies, so I would call and see if you can get that changed.

My kids all had reflux and did not do well on milk-based formulas. All you can do is try it though really. Just be sure to only make one med or formula change at a time, so that you know what is causing what.

 

our pedi told us, and so did our GI specialist, the soy formulas are notorious for causing constipation in babies. i'm not sure if the zantac is causing it but the timing of the constipation with starting the zantac is odd.

my boys were on zantac (and are again at night along with prevacid in the am) because of their horrible reflux. some people have awesome success on zantac, others not so much and swear by prevacid. it takes about 6 days to really start to see any improvements. with the enfamil AR, i can't really tell you because we are on similac insomil at the moment. the GI specialist told us that it really doesn't matter what formula you are on, if the babies have reflux they will have it regardless of it being milk based/soy based or hypoallergenic. it's whatever your baby will tolerate the best. as for the AR part, that might help since it's added rice. we thicken our formula with 1tsp of rice per ounce of formula so that it is smoother going down their throats and stays in their bellies a little better. we still have MAJOR issues with forceful and projectile vomit (at least once a day per baby)...that's why we are on 2 different meds. we are still hoping they grow out of it soon.

and it's normal for babies to go a couple of days without a BM so i wouldn't be too overly concerned unless it's really causing pain. ours went 10 days without a BM and still don't have them daily but our pedi assures us that it's ok, not 10 days but not going everyday.

what has worked for us, and recommended by our pedi, was giving them 1oz of prune juice mixed with 1oz of water 2 times a day. it may take a day or two to kick in but it might just do the trick. if that doesn't work (because it didn't always for us) you can try (and this was the advice of an ER pedi after they wouldn't poop for 10 days) giving them 1tsp of karo syrup (you can find this at the grocery store) mixed with their formula. this also takes a day or so but we had success with this.

switching the boys to hypoallergenic formulas helped with BM too, while still infrequent they do go.

i didn't catch if you were adding rice cereal to their formula for the reflux also? the rice along with the soy causes major constipation.

if all else fails, again at the advice of our GI specialist, give them milk of magnesia...but talk to your pedi about dosing instructions because they don't make one for kids.

and if you are really concerned, definetly talk to your pediatrician.

good luck and i hope they have a movement soon!

 

We had constipation issues on soy formula too, and the babes were around the same age when it started. If I remember right their digestive tract finishes developing or changes by around 6 wks old I think? That's when we found the biggest change in their dirty diapers, their body digests the food different.

We used karo syrup with my oldest dd (she went to formula at 3 months) so when the babies started having trouble I went back to the karo syrup for them too. I don't measure, I started with a small squirt in their bottle a couple times a day and just kept adding it until they started pooping easier. When they got older (probably 3-4 months old) I started just squirting a bunch into the formula I made each day, so every bottle they get they get "some". The light karo doesn't work as good as the dark, and this too was on the advice of my pedi.

It's also safe to use a liquid glycerin suppository to help them go. You can use the solid ones but I prefer the liquid, less invasive. The box says ages 2 and up I think, but my pedi said just use about a half a dose out of the applicator when they are younger. He has no problem with me using them daily if necessary, but the karo seems to help for the most part, we only need to use the supp's occasionally.

As for the zantac, I also didn't see improvement within 5-6 days and called my pedi and asked for prevacid. I literally saw a difference after just 1-2 days. Rylee had silent reflux, not a lot of spit up but she was miserable, always burping and swallowing and making sour faces from the taste/pain. She started sleeping better, eating better and just overall a much happier baby right away. We stopped the prevacid around 6 months old and she's been fine ever since, will occasionally have a sour burp but nothing like she used to be! :hug:

 

Mine still have some constipation on Alimentum and the DR ok'd me to give them 2-3 ounces of juice a day and not even to dilute it (which I do anyways). It does help.

Neither of my babies did well with Zantac. It worked for a few days and quit. Its VERY weight sensitive and thats probable why. We have had success right now with prevacid solutable tablets and adding a little rice to the formula. Good luck! Its a tough process but once you get it, I think it helps ALOT

 

One of my LOs is on prevacid, and I think it has helped a lot with his reflux. Though I think it too causes him to be constipated sometimes. The boys were on Enfamil AR for about a month or so, but the constipation was _horrible_. We tried to counteract it with 1 oz of pear or prune juice with 1 oz of water daily, but they were still pretty constipated. So I switched from Enfamil AR to Enfamil Premium and make a homemade thickener to add to their formula, which works great at reducing spit up. They rarely spit up these days, and that along with the prevacid means we have some pretty happy babies.

If you are interested in the homemade thickener recipe just PM me, or search the TS forum because I've mentioned it several times lately (there are LOTS of reflux questions here ). I've thought about starting a thread with that recipe then when people ask about thickening formula for reflux I can just post a link to that thread. It is soooo much easier to thicken w/ this xanthan gum recipe than with cereal, which always clogged the nipple for me.