Constipated AGAIN?! Help!

On Jul 23, 9:26 pm, cjra wrote:
My poor little girl. Remeber about 6 weeks ago she went through a 3
week bought of pretty severe constipation (black, pellet like stools
on the few occassions she actually had stools). Finally after trying
to get prunes, ground flaxseed and ground bran into her as well as
prune juice mixed in everything she ate and a trip to the doctor she
started pooping again, with a vengeance. All was well until this past
week, she's constipated again - not as bad as before, the stools
aren't hard black almost powder, but they're infrequent, more solid
than they should be and clearly painful. Her tummy is very hard. A
suppository worked last night to get things moving a bit, but she is
still pretty backed up.

Her diet is high in fiber and she eats loads of fruits and veggies and
grains, including all the 'p' fruits. She's had at least one a day of
prune, peach, peach, pineapple, plum. I had started her on goat's
milk (1 3oz bottle at daycare) during that initial phase, so I thought
it was that and cut it out. She's otherwise BF'd on demand, but at
daycare she doesn't take much EBM now (~1 bottle, sometimes two, so
max 5 ozs). She has been eating yoghurt since about 9 months with no
issues. Goat's milk is supposed to be easier to digest than cow's
milk, so we didn't even try cow's milk. Except for a handful of rice
yesterday (we were at a Thai restaurant) she doesn't eat anything that
normally causes constipation.

What do I do? Cut all dairy out of my diet? I've had dairy all year
with no issues. She nurses 3-4x/night and also before bed. On the
weekends she nurses 2-3x/day. Is it likely something I am eating?
Everyone says "BF babies never get constipated!" so what's going on?
Oh, we ended up not testing for blood in the stools because when we
finally did get a stool sample to take in, it was the good color and
consistency so we figured problem over.

-btw - she's still eating mostly purees of vegetables for lunch and
dinner, with a bit of bread (whole grain), her snacks are teething
biscuits, yoghurt+fruit, cheerios, bits of solid fruit, and she has
mutli grain cereal or museli for breakfast mixed with fruit and juice
and EBM (the juice is prune or pear to try to get the bowels moving).
She loves finger foods, so everything else she eats is basically
whatever we have on our plates that isn't too spicy.

Thanks to all who responded. She has a sippy cup with water with her
all day, but I'll keep the water coming and maybe try different types
with the straw as well as keeping closer tabs on what she eats. We
used a suppository for a couple of days and though it didn't stay in
long enough to dissolve/activate, its presence got things moving and
she started pooping. After a few days of that, she's pooping just fine
now on her own. She seems to keep getting backed up then needing help
to get it out.

Her 1 yr appt is next week (a bit late), so will discuss with her pedi
then.

On Jul 23, 9:26 pm, cjra wrote:
My poor little girl. Remeber about 6 weeks ago she went through a 3
week bought of pretty severe constipation (black, pellet like stools
on the few occassions she actually had stools). Finally after trying
to get prunes, ground flaxseed and ground bran into her as well as
prune juice mixed in everything she ate and a trip to the doctor she
started pooping again, with a vengeance. All was well until this past
week, she's constipated again - not as bad as before, the stools
aren't hard black almost powder, but they're infrequent, more solid
than they should be and clearly painful. Her tummy is very hard. A
suppository worked last night to get things moving a bit, but she is
still pretty backed up.

Her diet is high in fiber and she eats loads of fruits and veggies and
grains, including all the 'p' fruits. She's had at least one a day of
prune, peach, peach, pineapple, plum. I had started her on goat's
milk (1 3oz bottle at daycare) during that initial phase, so I thought
it was that and cut it out. She's otherwise BF'd on demand, but at
daycare she doesn't take much EBM now (~1 bottle, sometimes two, so
max 5 ozs). She has been eating yoghurt since about 9 months with no
issues. Goat's milk is supposed to be easier to digest than cow's
milk, so we didn't even try cow's milk. Except for a handful of rice
yesterday (we were at a Thai restaurant) she doesn't eat anything that
normally causes constipation.

What do I do? Cut all dairy out of my diet? I've had dairy all year
with no issues. She nurses 3-4x/night and also before bed. On the
weekends she nurses 2-3x/day. Is it likely something I am eating?
Everyone says "BF babies never get constipated!" so what's going on?
Oh, we ended up not testing for blood in the stools because when we
finally did get a stool sample to take in, it was the good color and
consistency so we figured problem over.

-btw - she's still eating mostly purees of vegetables for lunch and
dinner, with a bit of bread (whole grain), her snacks are teething
biscuits, yoghurt+fruit, cheerios, bits of solid fruit, and she has
mutli grain cereal or museli for breakfast mixed with fruit and juice
and EBM (the juice is prune or pear to try to get the bowels moving).
She loves finger foods, so everything else she eats is basically
whatever we have on our plates that isn't too spicy.

When I worked as a RN at the hospital we had patients that were
extremely constipated and we usually gave them heated prune juice. It
seemed to help more than the prune juice at room temp. Also we added
creamer to it....but I don't know if it would work on a baby. You
could try it and see in small amount. Also it sounds like some thing
is making her constipated....what foods is she eating...keep track and
then lower or elminate that food item until she can handle it. But
the best thing is water, water, water. If giving her water helps then
that leads me to believe she's not getting enough. You could heat the
water too. Sometimes giving them water to drink and then giving them
a bath where they can sit and play in the water (good and warm) will
make them potty. I didn't believe it either, but it works. The warm
water on the outside increase bowel motility which leads them to have
a bowel movement.

I had 2 breastfed children who pooped once a month until they weren't
exclusively breastfed. However, they pooped copious amounts of normal
texture poop when they finally went. I mean--I could do nothing but
constantly change the diaper or hold them over the toilet for several
hours. My PA said "My kids have all done the same. Every feed to once
a month is perfectly fine as long as when they poop it isn't solid or
they are miserable." However, that is not the case for you.

Miralax is extremely safe--I think it is as safe as massive quantities
of fiber--maybe safer, because fiber without enough water is bad and
the Miralax, when correctly mixed, is almost guaranteed to have
absorbed all the water it needs. I and my children have a genetic
condition that causes constipation resistant to most treatment.
Miralax works. It is just a powdery sugar you mix with water and it
holds onto it and an overdose is guaranteed to give diarrhea. It is
completely tasteless and textureless if you let it sit for 5 minutes.
I only had to mix it with a tiny bit of juice to ensure my son drank
it all. It is now over-the-counter in the US--look for the BIG purple
bottle next to all of the fiber pills and laxatives in the pharmacy.
Alternatively, you can use magnesium supplements or buffered Vitamin C
supplements. Move from a small dose to a large dose semi-slowly until
things start moving regularly. You can stay at that dose or back down
a bit. I switched from Miralax to magnesium and Vit C just because
dosing is easier (I take between 20 to 50 pills every day, so what is
1 more?) and my doctor says I should take them anyway. If none of
these work, your kid needs to see a gastroenterologist or some other
expert, because constipation that is completely resistant to the best
treatments out there is a sign of a very serious problem.

BTW, suppositories aren't the most effective thing in the world! (As
you know!)

Christina