i'm a new mom who has a five mos old girl(formular fed). my daughter usually have a bowel movement every other day but sometimes longer. doctor suggests equal part of water and prune juice will help, but i don't see that happening. it's heartbreaking to see her scream and cry to push it out.
many thanks.
Thanks everyone for the quick response! I'm new to mamasource and it's great to see how practical this web forum is. Thanks to my friend who referred me!
No, my 5mos old has not started solid yet. Doctor recommends to start when she is 6mos. (veg/fruit starts from green to orange) BTW, while I was worried about my daughter BMs, she had an early one this morning. I guess my rice water with formula worked??
You could try suppositories(sp) or i would try switching formulas, when my son had the same thing i switch formulas and we were back on track no problem - or maybe she is ready to start eating some solids so the problem is there is not enough in her system to make a bm - good luck
My daughters Dr.started to give her miralax at the same age and I still put a little in her cup now. It's over the counter now. Some kids are just like this no matter what you feed them.
Hi E.,
My daughter is 5 months old too. Everyday I give her 1 ounce (4 times a day spread out, so 4 ounces total a day)) of half apple juice and half water. If I don't do this she gets constipated. Try it, I know how you feel, it breaks your heart looking at them struggling to have a bowel movement. Good luck.....I think the apple juice works better than prune juice. Try it!!
I am not a doctor but I am a mom of four children all under five years of age and constipation was common. The biggest issue is the formula. Try using a formula that can break down and is easier to digest. I found that carnations goodstart and/or soy can be very gentle. When feeding her cereal/rice, I added a very small amount of baby prune jar food to the cereal. You can also try wax depositories, made by fleet are pretty gentle and Vaseline to assist. Trail and error is part of being a new mommy. Just listen to your baby cries…she will always tell you :~> A.
ask your doctor about miralax. It is over the counter now but when my oldest was about six mo. old he had the same problem. Nothing worked for him so her perscribed the miralax (a small dose). It worked wonders for us. After a week or so he was back to normal. Also, I don't know what kind of formula you use but you might want to try Good Start. It is supposed to help with that.
Mineral Oil. My son had the same problem he is now 8 months old and still gets a little mineral oil in every bottle. Formula fed as well. It works because when I forget for a couple of days I notice the change in his poop. Just be consistent with it. They don't even know the oil is in the bottle. The cheapest place to buy it is Target and Walmart.
In addition to the diet, warm baths followed by a tummy massage can be helpful. Also, how active is your daughter? Lots of movement can help with, well.. movement. If she is strong enough to use one, try the Jumperoo (which many moms have nicknamed the "Pooperoo"). All the action, not to mention gravity, seems to be very helpful with BMs. Lastly, is she getting enough fluids? If we don't get enough liquids in our diet, our bodies will get it wherever it can, which sometimes results is harder stools. Best of luck to you, E..
Hi E.;
Please give her lot of water to drink. Maybe you need to change the milk or prune juice. Have her eat vegetable and lot of fiber. If she does not drink lot of liquid and eat vegetables,fiber in her system, she will have a problem with her bowel movements. Cook her a steam broccoli but make sure the leafy part is soft,peach,grape,oatmeal for breakfast,fruit and vegetable for lunch. Soup is also a good meal for little child with potato or yam to it.
Good luck,
A.
my son had the same problem. try putting one teaspoon of light karo syrup in each of her bottles until she has a movement. it works!! also, I had to switch my son to enfamil gentlease formula. just by doing that my son has a daily poop. good luck.
I understand what you're going through. My son had the same problem. Try putting "Karo" in her water before adding the formula. This is a light corn syrup which comes in a vanilla flavor. Put about 1 tea spoon to every bottle with in 2 days you should begin to see results. Good Luck, God Bless!
I had the same prob when I transitioned frm Breast milk to formula. I went to the natural food store and got Essential fatty acids and flax seed oil. It gives an infants dose. It is especially formulated for infants. I also did the prune juice and water and she actually liked it. If you can't get that in add an extra bottle of water! Good luck...
E.,
Is your daughter eating solids yet? If so, get her on vegetables. Formula can be constipating. Try feeding her green beans, yams, peas, squash. Avoid rice and bananas for now. Dilute her food with prune juice instead of water to get it to a stage 1 consistency (Puree) if you're making it homemade, or buy stage 1 foods. The fiber from the veggies should help.
-D. (mom to 6 month old)
The prune juice and water really works!!
E.,
When my son was an infant (now 15 y.o) he had the same problem, what his doctor suggested was to give hime warm applesauce or prunes in the a.m. with his breakfast (the 1st phase type of applesauce/prunes). To date he still has a bowel movement every morning.
Just a question, have you talked to your parents or the fathers parents about this problem, maybe you or your partner had the same problem when you were an infant. Who knows this might be an inheritant situation.
I hope things get better. Enjoy being a new mom, this time will go by so quickly!
Good Luck!
D. Graham
Maybe she isn't getting the intestinal flora she needs, add some yogurt or a probiotic into the mix. If she is eating, add fiber to the diet, say 1:1 wheat bran/oat bran cooked with water and if needed fruit sweetened, but not much. Ten's of thousands of years ago our systems received as much as 200 grams of fiber from all the wild plants we ate, now we are lucky if we can get 20 to 30 grams. The system needs help in getting rid of materials, we are not using enough natural plants to aid in this. Rule of thumb, if it doesn't give several grams of fiber per serving, don't eat it. E.
Hello, I'm a mom of a 2yr old and a 1 yr old. In response to your constipation issue. My kids BOTH had the problem in there first months. My son was worse so the doc's said to start with the equal parts of the prune juice. We found that did not work, so we started with 1 oz water to 2-oz prune juice once a day. In the end he was up to that in the morning and evening. After about 4 weeks, I slowly started reducing the prune juice and adding more water and then just weaning him off. We saw a few docs for the problem and they said to really try to work it this way because you don't want to have to give the child medicine or enima's cause then they become VERY dependent on them!!!
hope that helps
Is this a new thing for her or has she always had problems with constipation? If it's not new consider that it may be an allergy/sensitivity to the formula. Most formulas (even soy) contain some dairy. My daughter could not have dairy for the first 10mths of her life. I was nursing so that meant I couldn't have dairy for that long. Once we figured it out her problems cleared up within a week or so. If it's a new thing keep up the prune juice. It's consistency that will help loosen up her stool.
If you have started some solids DO NOT give her applesauce or bananas. They will bind her up and make it worse!!!! Give her plums, oatmeal and/or any green vegetable.
If your are willing to consider I would take her to a NUCCA therapist. That is basically a form of adjustment that can be made in a form of minor physical manipulation to straighten out the spine and allow the nerve signals to travel properly through the spine. Often babies have these issues because during birth the natural 'perfect' balance of the head on the spine is disturbed and some of the communication of the brain to the rest of the body is not perfect.
You can inform yourself at www.nucca.org
I had all three of my kids adjusted and the effects were perfect, less headaches, no constipation, better sleep- no backpain...never realized that birth is such a trauma to a baby.
Good Luck!
Hi E....
I also have a 5 month old daughter breast/formula fed
I have a few you might try...
Pediatric Glycerin Suppositories worked for my daughter when she was constipated. THey are quick and painless.
My daughter received relief in about 10 minutes.
They also have prune baby food. Try giving her a little of that if you have started her on any food....
My mother in law would take a prune and boil it in water to make a juice and add just a tiny tiny bit of sugar and give it to her and that worked too...just not as quick as the suppositories...
