Constipation and Karo Syrup

My DS is having constipation issues. He was originally on Neosure and now is switched to Similac, but is having the same problem. Pediatrician told me to put dark Karo syrup in his bottles (about one teaspoon for every 3 oz.) for a few days until stools are soft.

This is working out ok, but as soon as I stop, his stools get hard again and I find myself repeating the cycle almost continuously. I really do not want to be giving him all that sugar. It seems like his bowel movements are only about every two days and that he is just being lazy about pushing.

Does anyone have any other tricks besides Karo to share? I was doing the suppositories every few days, but I stopped because I think he was getting dependant on them and really not wanting to push.

Crystal

 

My DS is having constipation issues. He was originally on Neosure and now is switched to Similac, but is having the same problem. Pediatrician told me to put dark Karo syrup in his bottles (about one teaspoon for every 3 oz.) for a few days until stools are soft.

This is working out ok, but as soon as I stop, his stools get hard again and I find myself repeating the cycle almost continuously. I really do not want to be giving him all that sugar. It seems like his bowel movements are only about every two days and that he is just being lazy about pushing.

Does anyone have any other tricks besides Karo to share? I was doing the suppositories every few days, but I stopped because I think he was getting dependant on them and really not wanting to push.

Crystal

 

Hi. How about prune juice? Try that. Also, I use the Karo syrup as well but I bought the clear kind. Why are you supposed to use the dark kind? I wonder if I bought the wrong thing??

 

It's something about spores and honey in the light kind. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I was directed to use the right kind. First, ped. told me to use the light, then she came back in the room right as I was leaving and said she made a mistake, that it should be the dark kind.

Crystal

 

We have the same problem in our house with our 10 weeks olds. I started out using the the Kayro with all bottles. Then it seemed like it was bothering them and they became really gassy. So...I started to wean them down to every other bottle. Then I weaned down the amount and I am just down to 1-2 bottles a day with very little in there. Things are better and they don't go every day but as long as they aren't hard pebbles coming out, I am ok with that! Oh..I was told to use the light.

 

my son has bad constipation issues too! were yalls babes preemie? im wondering if its a preemie issue. mine were 30 weekers, are 8 weeks old now.

 

Dark Karo Syrup has more sugar in it and it works better. I had to give DS1 Karo in his bottles forever it seemed, eventually he stopped needing it. I didn't worry about it, formula is chock full of sugar anyway.

 

Any kind of karo syrup has the same problems as honey. I would not chance your baby getting botulism which can be fatal.

 

I was told to use dark karo syrup and it worked also. I used it pretty regularly until his body chemistry changed (they change so much as babies) and he figured it out. I don't think you need to worry about him relying on that instead of pushing. We still use it occassionally, but for the most part, he does it on his own.

 

Just talked to ped. again also. She said if I'm really stressing over the sugar to put it in every other bottle, but that I really shouldn't be concerned about it.

Thanks for all your responses. Maybe I'll just do every other bottle for a few days and see how he does with it.

Crystal

 

I breastfed my first child and one of the twins breastfeeds now (He hates the bottle) But the other twin uses a bottle and it got to be too much to pump for her (3 kids - the holidays - and mastitis) so now she is all formula and having hard terds (this is something I never had to deal with since the other two are breastfed) so i asked the pedi and she said she doesn't like Kryo Syrup because of the spores like in honey causing botulism so she told us to use the baby juices - mix it half and half with water (since she is only a month old) give her an ounce at a time and no more than two ounces a day. So we went to the store and got applee prune juice - we'll see if that helps.

I want to get back into the grove of pumping and then we will not have this problem.

Good luck,
Nikk