Constipated AGAIN?! Help!

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.

On Jul 23, 10:26?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.

I think you should have your doctor actively involved in this issue in
case it isn't something that will easily be fixed and actually
requires a diagnosis. Does she take in any water?

On Jul 23, 10:26?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.


Also, and I haven't verified it, but I've heard that when
concentrating on a high-fiber diet, it needs to be accompanied by
increased water intake, or it might not work as well and only wind up
adding bulk without the moisture necessary to help it pass. Also, and
this is very important, if baby has learned that pooping hurts, she
may have taught herself to hold it and avoid it. It can be done, as
evidenced by my nephew. He is 5 years old and he holds it all in until
he requires a trip to the doctor as well. They hope he will eventually
outgrow it. He has to periodically take MiraLax so that he can't hold
it in and has to give in and go.

http://www.gicare.com/pated/ecdgs07.htm

On Jul 23, 9:42 pm, Chris wrote:
On Jul 23, 10:26?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.

I think you should have your doctor actively involved in this issue in
case it isn't something that will easily be fixed and actually
requires a diagnosis. Does she take in any water?- Hide quoted text -

She has a sippy cup of water with her all day. She takes in about 6
ozs or so, plus she has a lot of water in her foods. I've tried
getting her to drink more, and she likes playing with the cup, but she
won't actually drink it. I thought before it was because she was
teething - she would take the cup but not the sippy spout and at the
end of this constipation saga she sprouted 5 new teeth over night.
She'll take the sippy now, but not as much as she used to (and she
won't take a bottle if there's water in it). That's why I've been
adding some water to her foods, and she gets lots of juicy fruits.

On the last visit to the pedi, the NP suggested bringing in the stool,
but since the very next poop she had was the ok kind, we decided not
to. The NP didn't find anything particularly wrong at that time. I
just don't get why she's so constipated.

On Jul 23, 9:49 pm, Chris wrote:
On Jul 23, 10:26?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.

Also, and I haven't verified it, but I've heard that when
concentrating on a high-fiber diet, it needs to be accompanied by
increased water intake, or it might not work as well and only wind up
adding bulk without the moisture necessary to help it pass.

I'll keep pushing the water, and discuss it with her babysitter.

Also, and
this is very important, if baby has learned that pooping hurts, she
may have taught herself to hold it and avoid it. It can be done, as
evidenced by my nephew. He is 5 years old and he holds it all in until
he requires a trip to the doctor as well. They hope he will eventually
outgrow it. He has to periodically take MiraLax so that he can't hold
it in and has to give in and go.

I've read about that too and was worried. I guess using the
suppository for a few days may help. She was in so much pain last
night, her tummy was super hard, but once we used it (was not in long
enough to do much other than get her to push out) she started pooping
and her abdomen was much relieved.

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.

I had four children and they never were constipated but my
granddaughter was. So I talked to our family physician about it and
he said when babies get constipated it means they are not getting
enough water. Do you give her water? When we gave it to Emma it
really did help her. Also maybe her food is too warm. If you heat
the milk too much it can lead to constipation. But really try
water...sometimes it is the simpliest thing can solve an issue. I
wouldn't think your diet should be causing this. barb

is it possible she's eating too much fibre? I can't remember where I
came across this, but somewhere I came across some statement about
babies not needing and not being able to tolerate as much fibre in their
diets as adults, but I don't recall whether or not it was a reliable
source - she's obviously not eating too little fibre, so this could be
something to dig around for more info on, I'll try and have a look
tomorrow...

Cheers
Anne

Also, and I haven't verified it, but I've heard that when
concentrating on a high-fiber diet, it needs to be accompanied by
increased water intake, or it might not work as well and only wind up
adding bulk without the moisture necessary to help it pass.

I think you may be on to something here, but looking at the various
quantities, I don't think the water needs to be increased, but the fibre
decreased, 6oz of water for a 1yr old is probably similar to a quart for
an adult - adults need about 2 quarts of water a day, but for a 1 year
old where a significant chunk of the diet is breastmilk, that's
providing the rest of the water needs and attempts to up the water
aren't likely to be very sucessful.

Cheers
Anne

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.

I would probably make an appointment with her doc.

In the mean time my kids drank more water at 12mos by using a sippy with
a straw (much easier to suck from) or by using a regular cup with no lid
(messy but they drank more). They weren't very good with the sippy
spouts yet either. As a matter of fact I still use the kind with just
the slit (no spill proof spout that makes it hard to suck) for meal
times and the spill proof kind for the living room and car.

I don't think you need to change anything in *your* diet. A pharmacist
told me dairy could be constipating to some kids so you may want to cut
the dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese) out of her diet - which should be fine
with as much as she is nursing. She is getting all the milk she needs
and then some just from nursing.

One of my boys gets mildly constipated with too much banana and so I
give him grapes - which works great to get him to go. Just one more
thing to try. My boys think grapes are pure gold so really eat a lot
though, lol. I quarter or cut them in half and they don't have any
trouble eating them.

PS: I bought the straw sippy and removed the little piece that made it
leak proof. It works nice because they still can't pull the straw out of
the cup but it is easy to suck and while it does leak - it isn't like an
open cup.

Good luck - I know it is hard to see them so uncomfortable.

--

Nikki - mama to 4 boys.

On Jul 24, 12:06?pm, Nikki wrote:
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.

I would probably make an appointment with her doc.

In the mean time my kids drank more water at 12mos by using a sippy with
a straw (much easier to suck from) or by using a regular cup with no lid
(messy but they drank more). They weren't very good with the sippy
spouts yet either. As a matter of fact I still use the kind with just
the slit (no spill proof spout that makes it hard to suck) for meal
times and the spill proof kind for the living room and car.

I don't think you need to change anything in *your* diet. A pharmacist
told me dairy could be constipating to some kids so you may want to cut
the dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese) out of her diet - which should be fine
with as much as she is nursing. She is getting all the milk she needs
and then some just from nursing.

One of my boys gets mildly constipated with too much banana and so I
give him grapes - which works great to get him to go. Just one more
thing to try. My boys think grapes are pure gold so really eat a lot
though, lol. I quarter or cut them in half and they don't have any
trouble eating them.

PS: I bought the straw sippy and removed the little piece that made it
leak proof. It works nice because they still can't pull the straw out of
the cup but it is easy to suck and while it does leak - it isn't like an
open cup.

Good luck - I know it is hard to see them so uncomfortable.

--

Nikki - mama to 4 boys.

My 20-month-old has loved sipping through a straw and drinking from a
water bottle with a sports cap for eons. He takes in so much more that
way. I just push the top of the sports cap down to where it isn't open
as much so he doesn't drown himself while drinking and spill a ton if
he leaves it on its side.