Pellet Poops

DS Nicholas has always tended to be more constipated than Michael. No matter what I've been feeding him he always seems to have pellet poops. Just lots and lots of marbles. Sorry if TMI. I told the Dr who said to give him more water. I did, I give him juice, prunes, oatmeal. Nothing seems to work consistently. I'm not going to call the Dr because I feel like he'll just say up his water. WHICH I DID. I've seen some people say they use benefiber. What do you do?

 

Fig Newtons! Those always work for my girls. That and raisins

Also, I've just noticed that they seem to go a lot more if they've been eating a lot of sweet potatoes (I boil them and then peel and cut into chunks and the girls love them!)

 

Bananas, rice cereal and applesauce all tend to produce firmer stools. Carrots and squash are constipating for some babies. Pears, peaches, plums, apricots, peas and prunes make stools softer. Apple juice twice a day is a good bet. If this doesn't work, prune juice is even better.

 

Blueberries always for for my daughter.

 

I've had good luck with Pear juice.

 

I add wheatgerm to my girls' pancakes now, use benefiber in their water and miralax/mineral oil in their milk (switching everyother day) My pedi says these are all fine and they can end up in surgery from repeated constipation with a blocked bowel! YIKES. I also feed them raisins, prunes, graham crackers, pears and cup of water everyday.

 

Bea had chronic "marble poops". What really worked is to limit the milk to two small cups (about 4 oz) a day, and keep the dairy to under 16 oz a day. We also add wheat germ to yogurt in the morning.

 

I don't have a good answer to "what works," but FWIW, this problem was worst for us from about 12-18 months. After that, their digestive systems seemed to mature or something. Sarah still gets constipated sometimes, but I used to see those pellet poops everyday and now I only see them every few weeks.

 

I know my boys are about a year older than yours but GRAPES worked for us. We don't usually have poop issues, other than them going VERY regularly. However, recently Grayson didn't go for about three days straight. I had tried prunes and it didn't help. The nurse at the peds office said grapes...that sometimes it can go either way but it worked for us. In fact, it made my other son have runny stool...so maybe I went overboard in the amount. I guess you could cut them up in quarters, that's what I do anyway OR see if they will drink grape juice. I don't give juice but would in that case.

I also ended up having to have a glycerin suppository (only a piece of it) but I'm not sure that's good for kids under two. ck w/ the ped on that one.

HTH

Alicia

 

QUOTE(Faith00 @ Mar 31 2008, 09:48 AM) [snapback]696640[/snapback]
I also ended up having to have a glycerin suppository (only a piece of it) but I'm not sure that's good for kids under two. ck w/ the ped on that one.

HTH

Alicia


I use suppositories alot, but the pedi says it is best to loosen the stool before it gets to the point of suppository use. I used them as early as 3 months and now I use the whole thing (make sure you buy childrens or infants ones). If the poop is hard and you think there is more in there use one and then use the foods mentioned above in other posts.

 

Okay, I totally feel like a bad mommy now! :mellow:
My son gets the pellet poops occasionally, but we have never thought anything of it.
Is that a sure sign of constipation?? I have never noticed any signs of struggle or discomfort associated with those pellet poops...it just happens sometimes, not always...now I am wondering if I should be doing something about it when it happens? :huh:

 

QUOTE(Rose524 @ Mar 31 2008, 10:19 AM) [snapback]696703[/snapback]
Okay, I totally feel like a bad mommy now! :mellow:
My son gets the pellet poops occasionally, but we have never thought anything of it.
Is that a sure sign of constipation?? I have never noticed any signs of struggle or discomfort associated with those pellet poops...it just happens sometimes, not always...now I am wondering if I should be doing something about it when it happens? :huh:



You are NOT a bad mommy, but pellet poops are a sign of constipation and if poop is hard they can really be tearing up their insides, just what my pedi told me. I never worried about DD#1 and now I feel so bad that she could have been hurting, she is still a very plugged up kid, three of them are very plugged up kids, we deal with this on almost a daily basis now.

 

QUOTE(7Ms @ Mar 31 2008, 12:22 PM) [snapback]696710[/snapback]
You are NOT a bad mommy, but pellet poops are a sign of constipation and if poop is hard they can really be tearing up their insides, just what my pedi told me. I never worried about DD#1 and now I feel so bad that she could have been hurting, she is still a very plugged up kid, three of them are very plugged up kids, we deal with this on almost a daily basis now.


Thank you! I just went back and re-read the thread and will be using some of the remedies you guys mentioned when it happens again. Once again, thank goodness for Twinstuff!!

 

Watered down Orange Juice always works. Sometimes I will put about 1oz of prune juice mixed in with her milk. :blush:

 

We give benefiber every day. Also when I see things started to get bad I give miralax daily for 4 days or so.. We also have cut down our milk intake (they get about 8 oz per day) and cut out cheese and bananas. constipation is the worst, we deal with it all the time..

 

QUOTE(kajulie @ Apr 1 2008, 09:15 AM) [snapback]698818[/snapback]
We give benefiber every day. Also when I see things started to get bad I give miralax daily for 4 days or so.. We also have cut down our milk intake (they get about 8 oz per day) and cut out cheese and bananas. constipation is the worst, we deal with it all the time..



I also do the Miralax and then everyother day I do Mineral Oil when plugged up, I do benefiber everyday. I also cut down on the milk but the pedi screamed NO NO NO!! Keep the milk intake (for 12-18 mnth olds) at 12-16 oz a day and up the fruits, miralax and mineral oil to loosen them up. Mine were down to about 6oz a day.

 

How much benefiber to give per day? I've been mixing a 1/4 tsp with milk. I went out and bought it yesterday! Hopefully this will work. I also gave him some raisins today.

 

QUOTE(PoshTwinMama @ Apr 1 2008, 10:25 AM) [snapback]698962[/snapback]
How much benefiber to give per day? I've been mixing a 1/4 tsp with milk. I went out and bought it yesterday! Hopefully this will work. I also gave him some raisins today.


I put a teaspoon in each cup of milk (6oz). I also use a teaspoon of miralax and mineral oil when I use them... do not exceed 2 TABLEspoons a day per kid with any of the three.

 

Thanks! I'll up the dose to 1 tsp.

 

I give them a heaping TBS of benefiber twice a day. The pedi basically said we can give more than the reccomended dose, it can't hurt them. The pedi is also the one who told us to decrease the milk. We give yogurt every day as well which counts as dairy/calcium..

 

Raisins work great, as do oranges. James is pooping pellets at the moment. His poops go from "just right" to "dry, crumbly pellets" in no time flat.

 

Almost all fresh fruits work with my girls. I just cut up whatever I have in the house and it works like a charm.