Constipation issues

I think I am on a roll here. I just too many questions coming to my head and I actually have time to post them, that is a first. Sorry to be asking so many question, hopefully not all the post will be started by me, but this is easier than asking the doctor sometimes, cause you have to jump through hopes just to leave a message. And sorry this is about a messy topic.


Anyways, we have been dealing with constipation with my DD for a while now. She is an excellent eater but a horrible pooper. Our doctor said to give here prune juice twice a day and they said she is too young to be given any medication. I know the juice will help because when we give her the fruit it helps her go, but she only goes a little(some is better than none). The problem is she will not drink the juice. We have tried with the bottle, sippy cup, spoon, syringe, and a glass, but as soon as she gets one sip she is done. I just have this feeling like it will help her, but I can't force her to drink it. Do you have anything else I can try? Should we just stick with giving her the fruit and can we give it everyday? The poor things keeps pushing till her face turns red but nothing comes out.

Thanks again...all of you are a tremendous amount of help and I need all of it!!

 

Have you tried the "P"s? Pears, plums, prunes, peaches, and peas? These foods should help your DD with her poop.

 

Ditto the food choices, plus eliminating rice and bananas and other constipating foods.

Also, I've had better success getting prune juice in our little one by mixing it in formula rather than giving it to her straight or diluted with water. Not that she ALWAYS took it that way, but she took it more often than not.

 

We haven't needed it, but our doctor said apple juice would also help some with constipation. Have you tried that? Maybe you could even mix the two?

 

We did apple prune juice with one of the boys. He didn't like the prune juice but the apple prune he would take.

 

My health nurse said stewed prunes is better...more fibre. Maybe mix with applesauce?

We only had one episode of constipation, and I eliminated the rice cereal and upped her fruit and veggie intake and she's been fine since.

 

Are your kids eating solids? Mine would never drink prune juice, but they would eat pureed prunes all day long. You could mix it with a little oatmeal or applesauce if they don't like the flavour, but it's very ... ummmm.... effective. :laughing: Be prepared for blowouts.

And never worry about asking too many questions, whatever the topic! It's always better to learn from everyone else's experience

 

Yup, they eat solids and she does very well with all of them. We have also tried the Ps and prunes are the only thing that helps, but only sometimes. I was hoping the juice would help some more. I will try mixing it with apple juice....thanks for the idea.

 

BRAT diet--sta away from Bannanas Rice apples and toast

One thing my sister does bc she has this issue with ehr 8.5 month old.

she keeps prunes(baby food) in the frige and after every meal he gets of solids she gives him like 5 bites of prunes. this has helped him tremendously! hope that helps!!!!

 

You may want to try pears. Worked for my two!

 

Have you introduced dairy yet? I would suggest any probitic yoghurt. See if they will have ~ half of the small container. It always works my sweeties.

Pears and homade squash work like a charm aswell.

Good luck!

 

Stay away from apples like PP mentioned - BRAT. But, apple juice has the opposite effect. We kept feeding rice cereal but mixed in apple juice - they wouldn't drink it. We would also mix in a couple teaspoons of jarred prunes. Pears are also very easily digestible, as is avocado.

 

I have started them on dairy and give them yogurt twice a day, but I will try the probiotic one. If I can mix the apple and prune juice, what should be the mixing ratio?

 

Try exersaucer and jumperoo. We started solid (1-2x/day) but they still poop like 1-2x/day after they jump like monkies in the jumperoo. Works wonder!

 

You can just eye the mixing ratio but start on the lower end IMO. I think I would put about a 1/4 - 1/2 cup in cereal, for a container of yogurt a couple of tablespoons. I had to be really careful with anything prune...lol. Once they ate a whole jar of prunes and we had the opposite problem for a week, which of course turned into a diaper rash. :headbang:

 

My doctor recommends pear nectar. We haven't tried it yet but I bet it tastes better than prune juice.

 

Viv (and to a lesser extent Ava) have had constipation issues but since we started them on solids regularly, things are so much better. We avoid rice, bananas, applesauce and other constipating foods and they gets prunes/pears/peaches at least once a day. The change has been amazing! I have never given them juice (except some pear juice in their bottles before they started solids) because they love fruits so much and they've worked so well. I know how awful it can be to see them struggling and in pain so I wish you the best of luck and hope things start moving soon!! :grouphug:

 

We used to mix an ounce of apple juice into my older DSs AM bottle - it worked like a charm. We also had to really limit bannanas and rice and applesauce with him (he was on enfamil AR which can be constipating).

 

I found that our DD always was constipated - while her brother wasnt .
My DH and I joke that her bum is like a diamond mine because she poops out little pebbles of coal that are hard enough to be diamonds.

I tried taking her off the rice pablum all together - and adding prunes to her pablum - and all her fruit. It took 3 days - but it is a HUGE change .

We put her on Barley cereal - and add only breast milk and prunes. (both her and her brother eat it)

I also give her a little watermelon to help too.
Its been 3 weeks and smooth sailing (theres a joke there somewhere )

Hope that helps

 

Thanks for all the ideas. Things are a bit better. I tried a mixture of apple and prune juice and that didn't go all that well although she a couple more sips than prune juice alone. I know she doesn't like peaches but will eat them halfheartedly, so we are sticking with pears and prunes for fruit. I like the idea of mixing some apple juice with her AM bottle, will have to try that.

Thanks again for all you help and ideas, I really really appreciate it.

 

Try water. Water helped my DD#1 when nothing else did (including the p's).

 

yup, she drinks plenty of water! Loves water and nothing else. Now she has a little bit of poop at almost every diaper change. I am thinking her system is just a bit slow at metabolizing. Now prunes are not working like they used to. I am just going to let nature take its course. Every time I try to hard it seems like nothing works. At least now when she pushes she doesn't cry like she was doing before.

 

Have you tried massage? I had horrible constipation issues with my DS (started very young and he ended up with a fissure, it's horrible to see your babies in pain!). I had a massage routine and some baby yoga moves I would do with him whenever we were playing on the floor and it worked like a charm. If I did the sequence a couple of times a day he would always poop. The other thing our doctor gave us was lactulose for when it was really bad...it's not a laxative it just helps to soften the stool so it's easier to pass. We were able to give it to him when things were really bad before he had even had solids. I also started probiotics with him and that helped too. I would buy the baby powdered form and put a scoop in his bottle once a day. Now he just eats it right off the spoon since it's sweet tasting.