My baby girl is 5 months old and is having problems with constipation. The poor thing just cries and cries when she tries to go. She is breast/formula fed and she does eat stage 1 vegetables and rice cereal. The doctor suggested baby prune juice and I have tried that but it doesn't seem to help. Does anyone have any other suggestions to relieve my poor baby's constipation? My other daughter has never been constipated a day in her life so this is new for me. Thanks!
I cut out the rice cereal and my baby has not had any more constipation. Thanks for your help!
we had the same problem, and it was due to too much rice cereal. That stuff is full of iron, and there's already plenty of iron in the formula. Once you eliminate the cereal, there should be an improvement.
The rice cereal could be contributing to her constipation. As others have suggested, lay off the bananas and applesauce. She doesn't NEED the solid foods right now.... so the breast milk would be just fine until you get her bowels under control. Then, once things are regular, go slow with the solids.
Prune juice will help. When my daughter had issues, I would dilute some regular prune juice with some water. Sometimes it took a good 6 ounces, but it would get things moving.
The thing with the constipation is ensure they are getting enough fluids to soften the stool and move it through the bowels.
You can also lay her on her back and gently rub her belly clockwise. The bowels move to the left .... so gently rubbing in that direction seems to help as well.
i would cut out the food--at least the ceral-- for a while... they don't really need cereal or baby food at 5 months... and it sounds like it's hard on her little body. if it's possible to breastfeed more and use less formula that could also help.
massaging her lower belly area with some oil and gentle strokes can help get things moving.
applesause or apple juice may also help. some people think this is drastic but it is an old fashion constipation remedy before they had medications and suppositories; a small sliver of bar soap makes a good suppository. Or you could try taking her temperature rectally using vaseoline on the thermomteter, this always made my children go when they were at the doctors. hope any of this helps. also my grandson infant was constipated and come to find out gas was causing alot of it. we gave him infant gas medication and he ended up going. i know constipated babies are not fun and cause us moms to have no sleep. good luck.
I have 2 boys and whenever that happend to my kids... a bottle of applejuice (add a lil bit of water) and a warm bath always got their bowels moving w/in an hour or so and they always felt so much better. Works everytime. You just can't keep them on applejuice all the time b/c its a bit acidic for young babies and will eventually give them acidic poop and then you will have a raw butt to deal with but every now and then is just fine
Like others have suggested, cut out the solid food. Your baby will survive on Breast milk for the first year of her life, with nothing else. My little girl was breastfeed until 18 months. Wait as long as possible to add solid foods. If you insist on solids, perhaps you might want to stick to just one thing for a few weeks, to see what may be causing the constipation.
My oldest was constantly constipated. It was awful! Like some of the other moms suggested, take out the cereal, or make it WAY thinner, almost like water. That stuff is like glue! HA! Prunes work great too. You can do the actual stage 1 prunes if you're not big on juice. More liquids will help too. Good luck! Take it from me, it's not fun! My daughter is still on Miralax for her bowel issues.
Been there, I am so sorry for your baby. My daughter had major problems also. I would try cutting out vegetables and maybe adding prune juice to mix with cereal. I would even add baby jar prunes and mix it with the cereal. Apple juice is another one that helped my kids go. Hang in there. I had to do the whole suppository thing with my daughter. Not fun. She was on Miralax until about 6. Massaging her belly will help too. My son is 3 and still has problems with bowel movements. We figured out he had a milk allergy. That may be something you want to check into as well. With the formula, you may need to switch to soy. My husband nor I have milk allergies so I was surprised when I figured out my son did. He was breastfed and I had to watch what I ate. Just some food for thought. Good luck!
Prune juice can help, but make sure that you lay off the bananas and applesauce for a while too...those things can keep a baby constipated!
Pears are good to try too.
We never had to try this, but I know it's worked for many - put a little bit of Karo syrup in the bottle. Mylicon has also worked for us too - it's supposed to relieve gas, but it always seemed to help a little with the constipation too.
Good luck!
Most doctors say baby food is ok at 4 months but really reccomend you wait till 6. I wish I had listened as my son is now 5 and still has bowel problems. Do like the other poster said. Cut out the food and stick to the breastmilk over the formula. Their tiny bellies aren't ready for food yet and it binds them up.
In the mean time if it gets worse or doesn't get better CHECK WITH YOUR PEDIATRICIAN FIRST but you can take a vaseline dipped qtip and kind of stimulate the rectum or use infant suppositories/enemas. I warn you that these options are not fun, not easy (with the suppository I had to hold his butt cheeks together so he didn't push it back out before it dissolved) and when they go it's an unholy mess!
Good luck!
