Anyone Had Experience with Stool-holding in Their Newborn??

K.,
We had that same experience with our son, who is now 5. We even had to do enemas to help him, which was a nightmare from all of us. We went to see a specialist and he said it was very common. You want to discuss this with your pediatrician. He or she may be able to recommend fiber supplements or other medications. I will tell you that the specialist also told us that as they start potty training, gravity will help somewhat. We still have to remind our son to go and we even have to make him sit on the potty for a bit, even if he cries. We try to make it easier on him by reading to him and letting him play his V-Smile or Nintendo DS while he is sitting there. It has gotten easier as he's gotten older. Talk to your pediatrician and see if he or she might have some more info for you. Hang in there and good luck!

Hi!

I really feel for you!! My daughter did the same thing, but it happened because she was lactose intolerant. It was horrible everytime she had to go. And it was always hard as a rock and very painful for her. We tried everything from suppositories, to prune juice, dark karo syrup,aloe vera juice, you name it we tried it. Some of it worked and some of it didn't and I hate to say it, but she is now 8 years old and still holds. We have to keep her drinking prune juice and a diet rich in fiber. I wish I had better advice, did your doctor check to see if he is lactose intolerant? I really hope he gets better, I know as a parent it is really hard to understand and you want to help them and ease their pain. I would ask your doctor about the things I mentioned above and see what they say. Good luck, I really hope one of them work for you!!

My daughter had reflux when she was a baby, I couldn't even let her cry without it acting up, but with time it did finally go away. My youngest use to have a problem with stool holding. All we did was change his formula, and we would hold him with his head resting on our knees and his feet at our stomach and just push his legs in and let him try and push them back. If that didn't work (it sounds aweful) but we would check his temp, it always seemed to helped loosen it up a little. Also I know he may only be 6 weeks old, but maybe try some watered down apple juice, very little. I hope your baby starts to feel better soon, I know the first few months with an unhappy baby is horrible, but hang it there it will get better. Hope this helped.

My son was a major stool holder, but not until he was a little older, around one. We put a very small dose of Miralax in his bottle, and that seemed to help a lot. It is available over the counter now, and basically just adds water to the stool, which makes it harder to hold in. You will have to talk to you doctor about giving it to your baby since he is so young. You will probably also have to play around with the dosage, if it is too high you will certainly know it! As for how long it lasts, my son is now four, and still takes a small dose of Miralax once a day. Potty training did really help though, and I am hoping we can wean him off of it completely before too much longer. Good luck.