Constipation for the little ones

My twinks r having problems going #2, the ped put them both on cereal to help withthe reflux, and since then they have had the prob. They told us to give them a bottle of juice/formula once a day to help- but its not helping. Anyideas? I need something that will "clean them out" and within the day- the poor things have been so miserable and screaming. What to give and how much? Thx

 

Dark Karo syrup (I'll have to look up the exact amt. but roughly a 1/2 tsp) in a bottle a few times a day usually cleans them out good.

 

You might want to check with your pedi first, but we use Gerber's apple & prune juice (it is one juice with both fruits combined). If it's too sweet you can dilute it, but I think the apple & prune juice combination works well. It solves my DD's problem within the hour.

 

Do u mix the apple/prune juice with the formula for a feeding or give it to them straight inbetween a feeding?

 

Our pedi always advised to use the light Karo Syrup, but you can use either one. Infrequent bowel movements do not mean constipation if your infant's stools are soft when he finally passes one. Initial treatments usually include giving extra water or fruit juice once or twice a day. A common treatment used by parents is adding Karo syrup or other light or dark corn syrups to their infant's bottles of formula. If giving formula, changing to a soy formula can also be helpful.

 

I used juice as a substitute for some of the water I mixed the formula with. Dark Karo syrup also works well. Another thing that works is taking their temperature rectally, that will sometimes stimulate movement.

 

We added light karo syrup and if they were getting solids prunes into the diet. Like KYSweetheart said just because they do not go every day does not mean they are constipated.

 

Are you using Rice cereal in the bottle? That really constipated my ds so we switched to oatmeal cereal, and no more constipation. Also, as Jenny said - the rectal thermomoter works WONDERS!

 

I give mine a teaspoon of milk of magnesia per pedi's request. The juice didn't work for ours. You may want to talk to your ped before doing anything.

 

My DD was not as young as yours, so I would check with your pedi as to whether you should add the juice to the milk or give it to them straight. I would think that if you do give it to them straight...you should at least dilute it because they're not used to it.

 

around that age, we had to start my girls on prune juice. They got 1 oz prune juice with 1 oz warm water every morning in a bottle. Now we do 2 oz straight prune juice and we got off the rice cereal and onto baby oatmeal instead... You may want to look into getting off the rice cereal, but they may be too young for that.

 

We have had the same issues for quite awhile because both DDs take rice cereal in their bottles for reflux. I feel so sorry for them We tried the dark Karo and it didn't work for us. However, prune juice definitely "did the job" for both girls. Our pedi told us to dilute it 2:1...2 parts water to 1 part prune juice. Most of the time we just put the prune in with their formula and they gulp it right down. We only do it once every about 3rd day if they haven't gone #2 yet. It seems to work for us within 12 hours. I guess I would ask your pedi how much you should give based on your babies' weights/age. Hope it works!!!

 

Oh, also, we did try oatmeal at one point vs. rice in their bottles. It definitely works the opposite of rice!! However, we found that they also became very gassy with the oatmeal, which kind of defeated the purpose because they were uncomfy from the gas.