Karo Syrup

I used a few drops of Karo syrup in a 4 oz bottle of warm water. the karo syrup is just to flavor the water. warm water helps with constipation. I used it on all 3 of my kids when they were newborns.

At that age don't give him anything without talking to the ped! If he is breastfed it is normal to take a poop pause. If he is bf and doesn't go for a week or bottle fed and doesn't go for 4 days call the ped. If he doesn't seem unhappy, isn't vomitting or passing blood I wouldn't worrytoo much. Some things that have worked for my 2 boys: a warm bath. holding their kness to their belly (squatting position), moving their legs in a bicycle motion, tummy massage (google baby massage), a vibrating seat (the kind that play music and have a toy bar are great). Any combination of these always seems to get things moving again.

When we did Karo Syrup it was from a test the baby had that constipated him. It was a very small amount of Karo Syrup to an entire bottle and we did that every other feeding, since I was nursing and didn't want to loose milk, until it worked. Karo Syrup can have the same problem as honey for infants, so you want to check with your doctor and make sure he's okay and get how much to use before giving it to such a little guy. At a week old, I wouldn't worry yet. Both my boys went about a week after all the meconium got out of their system. When they did go, it was the normal mustardy poop, not hard like constipation.

Hi,
my daughter was the same age and became constipated as well. Did the Karo syrup mixed with formula in her bottle. She hated it, but it did what it was supose to! A little bit goes a long way. Also, try giving him any juices that begin with the letter "p" (pear, plum...) as the "P" juices make you poop! Because he is so young, dilute the juice. Good luck.
C.

I had a midwife once who told me to give my infant a little molasses. Just dip your finger in it and let him suck it off your finger. You can do that a few times during the day. I think that is a better choice than corn syrup. Also, if you are breastfeeding, don't worry, he will poop and if you are giving formula or supplementing with formula, that sometimes stops babies up. Also if you are formula-feeding, you might need to change the formula. Soy can be much easier to digest than dairy. ... And if you have already given him corn syrup, don't worry. Some others mention that he is too young for it, but corn syrup is one of the top ingredients in formula. I personally avoid corn syrup in anything in our household when possible, but it shouldn't harm him.

CALL YOUR DOCTOR!

What works for a 1 year old may not be appropriate for a newborn.
What was suggested last year may not be suggested this year.
Stay in contact w/ your doctor... get age-appropriate suggestions... and followup as needed.

J.,
Call the Dr. Your baby shouldn't be having this kind of problem at such a young age.
C. B.

glysern suppasotorys{sp} work great also, I used them on my 2nd daughter. you can buy them at Wal Mart. If that dosent work, I advise you to take him to the doc and see what he had to say!!!

Hi J.,

Your little one is too young to have anything in his tummy besides breast milk or formula. I breast fed and my son would go several days without a bm. The doctor said it was normal. He even went 7 days after we left the hospital without a bm. I would take him in to see the Doctor immediately and let them evaluate him. He's too little for Karo Syrup. I wish you all the best!

J.,

No need to go to the ER. This is a very typical situation especially with breastfed babies. My daughter had infrequent bowel movements up till she was 6 months and we started with solids. If you are breastfeeding, he can actually go up to two weeks with no pooping and be fine. If you are giving him formula, check with your dr. I know from a very recent experience that the "issue" is bothering the parents but not the baby. If he has gas, that might be bothering him, Mylicon is safe to give (you can check with your dr about this as well). My doctor said Karo syrup will work, I think the amount was a teaspoon to ounce of water. But Karo is nothing but sugar, which he does not need any extra. By the way, when the poop comes, there is then plenty of it :-) so if he has not gone for a long time and you go out of the house with him, be sure to pack an extra outfit with you....
Good luck and well, at least you save a bit with the diapers!

I would call the doctor- and have your baby checked out- make sure he is getting enough to eat.. actually- I would take him to the ER immediatly. And DO NOT give him karo syrup he is way to little for that.

My son still has occasional constipation problems. And let me tell you...when you wake up at 2am from a crying infant who is in pain, you don't want to wait 'till 8am to call the Dr.

I did this when they were older, to clarify.
You can use a lubed (vaseline) rectal thermometer (GENTLY!) to work the stool into easier pieces for him to push out. It is a bit odd, but they will be so thankfull when they have pooped. You will too!!! You can also buy pediatric sized suppositories. Even for an infant, they maybe too big, so cut them in half. I used these techniques when mine were about 6 weeks though. If he isn't complaining, I wouldn't do anything above yet.

Another question to ask..is he eating??? If he isn't eating much, then his tummy is probably bothering him.

These suggestions are obviously not cures for the deeper problem, but more of an instant relief. The Karo syrup worked for a little while. I never experienced any shaking with mine.

If you are nursing, drink prune juice yourself. You have to drink alot for him to get the affects of it so you will be going alot too.

Good luck!!

J.- He is much too young to have anything other than doctor recommended. Take him to the doc and have him checked out. Please don't use home remedies unless they are coming straight from your doc. I don't know where people come up with things like that, but it's beyond ridiculous.

You need to have your baby seen by a doctor especially in one so young. I wouldn't screw around with home remedies in an infant of this age.

J.,

i'm going to guess that you are talking about pooping, not just pee'ing. if he hasn't pee'd in 4 days you had better get yourselves to the ER now. no poop for 4 days is nothing to worry about.

constipation in babies is not judged by how often they go or how much work it seems to be when they go. it is judged solely on the consistency of the poop itself.

constipation in babies is hard poop. like little pebbles.

in breastfed babies it is perfectly normal for them to go up to 10 days (and i've heard even longer) without pooping. breastmilk is so easily digested by babies that they often will not have any bi-products to poop out for days. esp if they are growing rapidly as they do in the beginning.

my son was a 4-day pooper from the very beginning. one time he went his usual 4 days had the smallest spot (think skid mark) on his diaper, and went another 4 days before doing any more pooping.

formula fed babies will more than likely go much more often than breastfed babies because there are more bi-products (undigestible stuff) in formula than in breastmilk.

and don't worry if it seems like your little guy is trying to move a mountain when he's actually pooping. babies grunt and seem to work hard pooping not because the poop is hard but because they are actually working to coordinate the muscles that make pooping possible. it is perfectly normal for them to grunt and turn red in the face and even cry a bit when pooping. it is all a matter of coordination, of which they have none.

stay away from the karo syrup. besides that it isn't supposed to be straight karo. it is supposed to be karo and water (i don't know the ratio of one to the other, but you can ask your doctor that question). the shakiness is probably a result of an intense sugar high. karo is high fructose corn syrup.

if you are worried about constipation (actual hard poops) then talk to your doctor or just call the nurse.

fyi: there is also a trick with a rectal thermometer, but again, ASK YOUR DOCTOR.

i doubt he is actually constipated. just relax.

I used Karo syrup on my one week old son. This is what my pediatrician recommended to me. 1 tsp for every 2 fl. Oz. Within 3 hours he had a bowel movement. He had not had one in 3 days ! I would deff try this but would absolutely talk to your pediatrician first !

Hi J.,
My son had similar issues (for many weeks) and the doctor was the one who recommended the karo syrup for him, but he was 2 months old at the time - and that was almost 17 years ago. Please call your Dr. today. I wouldn't give him any more of the syrup, especially since he seems to be reacting to it. My son never had any problems with it.

Ok, so I had the same issues you are having when my daughter was born. (11 months ago) She is formula fed and she had bad constipation issues. First of all make sure it is dark Karo Syrup and not the clear one. We gave it to her every other feeding and it seemed to help. It did not get better with her until she started on baby food (at 5 months) I kept asking the doctor to see if it was normal and they told me that is was. I also used little tummies laxitive drops. However I did not use the whole dosage. I only gave her maybe 3-4 drops and that seemed to help as well. I am not sure if you should try the laxitives at a week old but maybe it would be something you could try later. For my daughter it never went away until she started fool. I also did infant supositories that you can get at walgreens. Make sure to only give a small piece of one and not the whole thing at first. These were a last resort because I was told their bodies could get used to the supositories helping them to go to the bathroom and it is harder for them in the long run when they get older. Let me know what works!

J. S

You just mean that the bab hasn't pooped, right? He's is peeing? If he's just not pooping, is your baby exclusively breastfed? My oldest (now 5 years) used to go 3-5 days between poops from when she was a newborn until I started her on solids. Then, my youngest (now 15 months) went two whole weeks without pooping when she was a newborn. Even after my experience with the older one, I was very worried and spoke to her Dr several times. She assured me that some exclusively breastfed babies are able to assimilate their mother's milk so efficiently that they don't have to poop for long periods of time. She said that as long as the baby wasn't acting uncomfortable (bloated, constipated, tender tummy, etc), it's fine. Both kids were infrequent poopers for the whole time that they were only breastfed. Which, BTW, was nice because I didn't have many diapers to change!

Do not give your infant Karo Syrup without checking with your Dr. I personally never did that because that's pretty much straight sugar. If you are breastfeeding sometimes babies will only poop about once a week. One time my son went 10 days and was fine. He wasn't constipated - he just wen awhile in between going.

I wouldnt give a newborn anything without talking to a ped. first. You need to call the Dr.! I am sure they will be happy to answer any questions regarding the health of your infant.
Take Care!!
Heidi

Do you nurse? At this young age 4 days really isn't too far from being normal. Breast fed babies sometimes go a few days in between BM's. I would definatly not give him anything other than his milk or formula, and do call the ped, this is what they are there for. Good luck, I hope everything "comes out" okay!! :)