9 Month Old Having Bowel Problems

When my son had some problems I would put a little bit of the prune baby food in his breakfast cereal and lunch fruit and it would loosen him up.

Poor guy! We have had great success with watered down prune juice and probiotics (like acidophilus, bifidus)- you can buy probiotics at a health food store. Buy the capsules so you can open them and put the powder in juice or water. Avoid foods like banana, white rice, yams, and cheese and focus on giving him LOTS of water.

I had this problem with my oldest boy. I ended up putting a tablespoon of Corn syrup in everything he drank and it seemed to clear it up. There was one time after that where I had to do an enema. That REALLY worked. My girlfriend always told me too that you want to stay away from rice and bananas, push apple sauce and juice. I know how miserable it is to have your kid feeling like that. Good luck to you and remember, it is short lived. They grow out of it.

He's probably old enough to have yogurt. Get the unflavored, unsweetened kind. Introduce it the same way you do other foods (a little bit to start, nothing else new at the same time). Most babies take well to plain yogurt. The probiotics in yogut could help his bowel problems.

Hey jackie,

My name is D. I have a 15 month old and 1 due in November. I know of a solution that is very healty choice. It is called Aloe... It is a natural juice that works with the digestive track. It comes from the actual Aloe plant.. I know it sounds weird but I am healh and nutrition specialist and work with this alot.... They have it flavored in strawberry kiwi, cranberry, and pomengrante so It tastes great! Alot of kids have this issue and I see it frequently... You can get it on this website www.marketamerica.com/gopro I am telling you this will get things flowing in a great way and your baby will love it... Call me or email me if you want to discuss it further I would love to talk My number is ###-###-#### and my email is ____@____.com

Hope this helps D.

It sounds like you are doing things really well. You might also try flax seed muffins with bananas. It seems that each kid has something that helps them go. I gave my babies apple juice to do the trick. Formula has a tendancy to make it hard for babies to go. I would limit his formula a little bit if he is eating all those other things.

In addition to the fiber that your doc is perscribing, your son needs to have enough water to move the fiber along. Inadequate amounts of water will make him gassy and possibly more constipated...this happened with one of our boys.

Hi Jackie-- My son got constipated as soon as I started him on rice cereal. I tried everything, and prunes worked the best. I think gerber even makes prunes mixed with cereal. I hope you find what works! Don't be shy about going back to talk to the pediatrician if nothing works. I think it's something you'll want to address sooner than later. If he learns that it hurts to poop, he may start holding it back, and then you'll have a whole new problem! Good luck.

Hi, our pediatrician recommended prune juice, starting with two ounces twice a day (morning, afternoon). You can buy big bottles of it in King Soopers or Safeway (it doesn't need to be a special baby kind) and put it in his sippy cup or bottle. Keep on that for a few days and if his stools are too loose, cut back on the amount of prune juice, or if they are still a problem, try 3 ounces twice a day, and if that still doesn't do it, I think you'd need to go to a medication, but if I were you, I'd give the juice a try first.

Sometimes, the fiber from bran or fiber cereal can actually make things worse (for most people it helps, but for some people it makes it worse because it's binding, so it can make things stick together more/harder). If you still use infant cereal, avoid the rice cereal.

my daughter is now 10 mnths old and we had this problem about 2 mnths ago. The first step you have to take is quit giving him cereal and breads for a few days, he will still get everything he needs from his formula or breast milk. Use prunes a few times a day and then Prune juice (still half water and half juice)if apple juice isn't doing the trick, my daughter liked the prune juice. Make sure you are not giving him bananas because that will stop him up faster than anything. Also, store bought applesauce has pectin and can make babies constipated too. These are the things that I did and they worked, I had to figure it out through trial and error and I hated seeing my baby having those problems. Her constipation started when I gave her too much banana. I hope this helps. Good luck and hang in there.

I had this issue as a child, and was given suppositories.
I STILL have this issue as an adult, and when I take a calcum + magnesium suppliment, that radicaly "cures" this issue for me. So much so that I need to moderate my suppliment. You might ask if you can try this approach. I notice most calcium suppliments contain magnesium. I am not sure if it's safe for a baby though. Nothing else works for me. Even as a vegetarian I had this issue.
I just read another response & remembered - flax seed does also work for me - I have eaten ground up flax seed sprinkled on top of yogurt - I love theflavor of that... and couldn't figure out what was making me "go"... it took a few days and I figured out it was the flax seed. My baby food book says to put it in their rice cereal - it must be safe. Try that.

We have the same problem with our little boy (20 months). It started shortly after more solid foods - like meat - were introduced into his diet. He had one very bad episode of hard stool and ended up with a painful anal fissure. Since then he has been "withholding" - meaning he doesn't just go when the mood strikes. Our pediatrition recommended giving him miralax. You can buy it at the pharmacy section of just about any store. To start with the doctor had us give him 1/4 teaspoon mixed in with about 6 oz in his sippy (he never took a bottle, but if you little one does it can go in there). We also mixed it in with applesauce or other soft juicy foods. As he has gotten older we have had to slowly increase the amount to 3 1/4 teaspoons mixed in with his morning milk. It works like a charm! Maybe you could talk to your doctor about this option - be aggressive about the level of pain your son is going through - our doctor gave us the same advise twice before prescribing the miralax remedy. Since I am not a doctor and do not know your son's weight/height, I don't recommend just following the amounts we gave our son unless you talk to your doctor first!

While a lot of people have made some good recommendations that are natural - or at least more natural than miralax - none of them worked for us. We gave him more juice, prunes, prune juice, karo syrup, mineral oil, bran, and flax seed with no effect. I've heard that some formulas can be constipating so trying out different brands may help as well.

Good luck!

what kind of juice? Try prune or pear. Give the kiddo some dried prunes (cut up) or reconstitue and then puree. If you continue to have issues, I believe there are safe over the country things that will help. Ask a pharmacist or call your doctor back.
L.

For our kids, the problem was usually not enough liquids, and increasing juice and water did the trick. Canned fruits starting with "p" always helped. Peaches, pears, etc. The extra fluid with the canned helped more than the fresh did. I did the ones canned in juice only. Adding a bit of Caro syrup to a bottle can help, too, but check with doctor to make sure you give him the right amount. GL!

Hello. My daughter has had problems with hard stools since she was 5 months old. Her pediatrician suggested Miralax, the adult stool softener. It's non-habit forming, and they don't absorb it into their system. From what I understand - all it does (to be a little graphic) is helps their poop hold more water. My daughter has been on it since then and it is definitely our life-saver from screaming, painful poopies. We tried all of the "more fiber" options and nothing seems to help. I even took her off of dairy.
I would recommend starting with a 1/2 teaspoon a day and work your way up or down from there. They can have as much or as little as they need, and it will not hurt. I absolutely trust our pediatrician, but if you're not sure - feel free to ask yours. Good luck!

I had the same problem with my daughter. My doc told me to give her Dark Karo Syrup. It worked for awhile. But we have been told she actully has a medical problem. You may want to ask your doctor about miralax. Not sure if at his age he can have it, as she was about 2 years of age when she was put on it. I've also have heard Malassas works, but I think thats the same was Karo. I could be very wrong. My youngest son has a problem of going, but we believe its becuase he has been on cereal since 2 weeks of age, we give him Karo and he goes. Just some ideas.

My youngest daughter who will be 9 months on the 15th has this problem too. I have helped alleviate the problem by giving her applesauce EVERY day. Without it she suffers from hard bowel movements and with it they are softer and easier to get out. Good luck!

Make it a GREAT day!

S.