6 Week Old Having Trouble Pooping

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this...
My 6 week old daughter cannot seem to poop since we transitioned her from breastmilk to formula (her twin has been fine). Sorry if this is TMI, but it's not that she's constipated b/c her poops are soft, but she strains and strains but nothing happens and then she screams like a banshee until she can poop. The nurse at our dr's office said to try inserting a rectal thermometer a bit and gently move it around which then sometimes makes her poop. The problem is that she just can't seem to do it on her own and going through this routine with the thermometer isn't pretty.

Our night nurse suggested giving her some water with sugar but beyond that the dr doesn't seem concerned...I guess since he isn't hearing her shreik constantly and seeing how uncomfortable she is.

Any thoughts? TIA!

 

we had this problem with our girls when they were on enfamil premium lipil formula....we switched to gentle ease by enfamil and it has gotten much better..the protiens are partially broken down which i think is easier on the belly

 

When my girls had this problem we replaced 1 ounce of the water in their bottle with pear juice. But they were older than 6 weeks old, I think it was when they started solids.

 

Hmmm, she's already on Nestle Good Start Gentle Plus which also breaks the proteins down. I wonder if we should try Gentlease instead?! OY!

Thanks!

 

The exact thing happen to our Brandon, Gentelese seemed to fix the problem. Good Luck.

 

When we brought our boys home from the NICU they were on Neosure, and were fine for a few weeks. Then they had horrible gas pains and problems pooping. We switched them to Similac Sensitive, hoping that would ease their problems. It didn't make much difference at all. Then we switched them to Gentlease for about a month, and while it may have helped a tiny bit, it didn't help much either. They were still miserable and had the WORST time trying to poop. It was heartbreaking to see them strain and cry!! And like you, their poops were soft, so it wasn't constipation, it was "infrequent stooling." Our pedi really discouraged suppositories though, but the nurses used them regularly in the NICU, so I called my favorite NICU nurse and she said suppositories were fine. I don't know why pedis discourage them so much! Even Dr. Sears recommends a "well timed, well placed suppository" when a baby is grunting and straining. Anyway, our boys were preemies and the NICU nurse said that as they get older their abdominal muscles will get stronger and they won't have these problems, and she was SO right!! After 3 or 4 weeks of giving them a "helping hand" with a suppository (only when they went longer than 24-48 hours AND seemed in pain), they then were able to poop on their own consistently. I can't even remember the last time I gave them a suppository. Are your babies preemies? If so that may explain their inability to poop. Even if they aren't preemies their intestines may still not quite be strong enough to consistently "push it out". When our boys had this problem I also added a tablespoon or so of dark karo syrup to several of their bottles a day, which also greatly helped.

 

We also switched out one ounce of water for pear juice in one bottle per day for constipation. We started this early, but I don't remember how early. I think is was around 2-3 months. When their poops went to a peanut butter consistency and they had to strain to poop, the pediatrician recommended pear juice for them. I didn't feel comfortable giving it to them straight so we did it with the formula.

 

We did about 1 ounce white grape juice and 1 ounce water - that got all of our little ones moving.

 

Yep, the formula can be really constipating on little bellies. We had to add rice cereal for reflux and that really gave us constipation issues. We got the okay to go 1/2 ounce of pear juice with 1/2 ounce of water up to 3 times a day as needed from the Ped.

 

DD had problems with this early on, and I was breastfeeding so it often has nothing to do with the formula. The easiest and quickest way to get the bowels moving is to use plain old prune juice. No reason to mix juice with the formula or dilute juice...it is the sugars in the juice that make the bowels move better. If you dilute the juice then it fills baby up and takes away from real nutrition. Best way to do it is give 1 oz straight juice in between feedings. No reason to be afraid to give it straight...that is the way it works best by pulling water into the gut and making the stools looser and therefore easier to push out.

 

I get really upset at doctors. Really, our pedi told us it's ok if our son does not poop for up to 6 days. Honestly? He would scream in pain and poop little pebbles. Also, they are so quick to prescribe chemicals and other garbage, yet they are not trained in a natural medicine that has been used for centuries. I mean many times medications are great but in case of pooping I get really upset at doctor's point of view.

You know, you can go to a health food store and inquire about Bifidobacterium infantis. It's a good bacteria that helps with so much, including pooping.

You know, same kind that the famous Activia Yogurt markets (they are just a regular yogurt that adds this to their formula). Actually, the same as they add to Nestle Good Start with Natural Cultures?

Anyways, it saved our little munchkin that always had constipation. Also interesting fact is that many babies delivered via c-section are missing this.

Read some info here:

This is what we use

What is Bifidobacterium?