My Son Might Be Constipated

Soy milk? At 6 months? I don't think you are supposed to do that yet. Use breastmilk, or water. If he doesn't have a BM after 5-6 days then you can give him diluted prune juice (this works wonders for my 5 month old). She usually has a BM every 3-4 days. Weirdly, she seems to only have them the days she sees her nona. lol.

3 words! Prunes - Prunes - Prunes. My son had the same problem. The rice and the soy are very "binding" and may be the cause of the lack of BM's. The vegetables just arent enough...I give him prunes every morning (and he loves them) with his oatmeal. recently he came down with some kind of stomach "thing" where he was not interested in eating. All he wanted was his bottle, which I add Rice cereal to, and his system was a little off. As soon as we got him back on the prunes everything is working as it should. If he doesnt tolerate the prunes - try prune juice. Every child is different - but this works for us.

Good Luck!

They sell the baby jars of prunes. That should work! Worked for mine. Give a bit everyday until they are regular again.

Well my son is 6 months and he has the same problem.I tried water but he doesn't like it.so I massage his tummy and push his legs back couple times. Aslo I make him tea called chamomile it helps improve digestion bout 2oz it helps him.

I think you should contact your Dr. for advice. Different Drs. have different opinions on the matter. Mine suggested prune juice. I also used a q-tip or thermometer covered in vaseline in my little guy's tush, just to help get things moving. It is just a more dense poop, so he may need a little help. But, again, your doc may have a different idea of what to do.
Good luck.

My second son was constipate alittle often when we was little and now he's 2 1/2 yo. What I did for my boys if they had that problem and my seond son had the hardest time with BM. I gave a little bit of juice like juicy juice and made sure I gave them bananas. Some children and even adults find that bananas constipate them, but all three of my boys go with bananas....thank You, Jesus! :) Alittle bit of prune juice, just a little bit put into a cup of juice, whatever he drinks out of and have him try it and he will shows signs of pain from constipation if gone on a while. Breastfeeding goes right through the child, but feeding solids too can help the child to go BM regular or sometimes constipate them and try giving him fruits to get it going and constantly giving him water and I started all three of my boys on water starting about 6 months of age, unless they are infants in summer, I give them water in bottles at three and four months because I figure, if I thirst in summer, what about babies....but that is my opinion. I'll pray that Jesus will give you His Wisdom in this if you ask Him and I bet juice (like Juicey Juice or other 100% juice, you may not want to get cocktail juices that is only 10% juice). Let us know how it went and any questions ask us or even me via this Mamasource and I'll get back to you ASAP.

My pediatrician doesn't believe this works, but it worked like a charm for my son: About half an hour before I nursed him, I would drink 4-6 oz of prune juice. I only did that once or twice a day so that I wouldn't have problems, and I never did. Usually, though, one prune-influenced nursing was enough to get his system moving again.

Hope that helps.

L.,

How much is he eating actually? Do you keep track of ounces? Is he just having a few bites of solids?

When breastfeeding, the baby gets to a point where they can go up to 7 days without a BM, they are digesting the milk, and there is very little waste left over.

If your son is not eating very many solids, that may be the hold up. If he is eating 2-3 ounces each meal, then I would look at his water intake (if you aren't breastfeeding that much, though you say he is 'strictly'). If you can' get him to drink water, try a syringe - we had to do that for a while with my son, as he didn't take a bottle.

http://breastfeedingonline.com/newman.shtml
kellymom.com

As with anything, if you are truly concerned, call your/his doctor.

Good Luck!
M.

soy milk??? I am sure you are not supposed to give an infant soy milk (as well as cow's milk) Use breast milk, water or formula when making the cereal. I always give my breastfed 9 month old stage 1 gerber organic prunes when he is constipated. Have lots of wipes and a change of clothes handy- it will be messy a few hours later!

Hi L.,

My son is also 6 months old, exclusively breastfed and on solids for about 3 weeks AND constipated. He has a BM movement every 4 to 5 days. The dr. said it's okay that he doesn't go every day, funny though my daughter was also exclusively breastfed and she went every day. At this time I only give him oatmeal, NO rice, it will bind him even more. I also started him on prunes for the time being to help with the BM. The dr. also said you can give Pedia-Lax (liquid glycerin suppositories) completely safe, just sugar water. The dr. said as long as he doesn't go more than 7 days without a BM, no need for the Pedia-Lax.
Good luck,
C.

I used to give my son a couple ounces of organic prune juice mixed with double to triple the amount of water in a bottle. It worked great.

L., I would introduce prunes as his next food. It worked for us with my daughter. She gets constipated easily and every time, I give her some prunes, and it does the trick. Do it in the morning so you're not dealing with unnecessary poopy diapers in the middle of the night. I am not sure soy milk is helping the digestive track - it can be an allergy issue and perhaps you should try just mixing the cereal with water instead? Also, rice cereal is a major binder. We had to give our daughter oatmeal much more often than rice cereal and that has helped too. Good luck!

I'd talk to your doctor just so you feel more at ease. As first time moms, we have lots of concerns so pediatricians are used to that. You might want to check with your doctor, but flax seed oil or ground flax seeds are supposed to be a natural laxative. Also prune juice or apple juice.

Hi L.,

All I could say is water. Ask your doctor. My daugher was so constipated that I was told by my doctor to apply vasalin gently around the area. And to give water in small portions. This started when she was about 3 wks old. I would try water. Good Luck! :)

Give him prunes or spinich. He'll go for sure! It's probably just the change in diet that's causing the change in his body. Also, soy and rice are constipating foods. Consider cutting back on those. Use your breastmilk for his cereals.

try Gerbers baby food prunes. they are sweet so he should like them & it works. use half the container at forst to see if it helps.

B.

the spoon of prune juice might do the trick

A lot of people have suggested juice, especially prune. You might also want to skip the rice cereal and just do oatmeal for a while since rice tends to bind the bowels (great for the opposite problem than you are having right now).

Personal experience tells me that soy is generally constipating. Maybe you could try a non-soy alternative and see if that helps.

Have you given him any fruits yet? How about apple sauce? My doctor always had us start with apple sauce for a week or 2, then go to vegetables. Once I knew they didn't have any problems with a food I was able to feed my babies a spoonful each of cereal, fruits and vegetables at each meal. The apple sauce seemed to make everything taste better, too. And my babies didn't have any problems digesting either, nor did they have any constipation problems.

Hello- I have heard that "lack of BM" doesn't necessarily mean constipated, so it might not be that bad :) Anyway, it seems like your son has been introduced to a lot of different solids for such a short period of time. Maybe back off the solids for a week, then try again. Good luck!

hi L.,

my son also had the same issue and i went to my doctor about it. they said to feed him anything that starts with "P", such as pears and peas. you may also want to try apple prune juice - 2oz juice, 2 oz water mixed in. my son LOVED it and still does.

hope it works for you.

try some fruit... ie. prunes works great.. but other fruits work awesome too. good luck

Hi L.,
I'm not sure if this still holds but when i started my daughter on solids (she's 9 months now), she would get constipated sometimes- rice cereal, apple and banana were the culprits.... i did a few things-
1) I cut back on giving her solids till her stomach cleared- either i didnt give her any or gave her less quantity...
2) when you give the solids, try adding a little bit (quarter teaspoon) of purified butter... it acts as a laxative..
3)also try gripe water, 1 teaspoon twice a day is great! It prevents gas and helps digestion... make sure you get the one without alchohol- little remedies makes it...it herbal and completely safe for kids..
4) i also helped her excercise- basically held her feet and moved them in cycling position. I also masssaged her tummy for a bit...

finally i really don't think you should be giving him soy milk just yet- mix breastmilk with everything! Its healthy, helps breakdown solids better... and most importantly familiar tasting to the baby.. so he is more likely to enjoy new food...

I just went through the same thing.

I gave him prunes, peaches and pears (which are supposed to help them go). Also, my doc suggested a little bit of juice cut with water. I've been giving him pear juice - maybe an ounce and a half a day (and it takes him all day to drink that much). I've heard prune juice is good too.

Stay away from anything on the BRAT diet (banana, rice, apple, toast) as that's all binding.

How many times a day are you feeding him? I cut back to one bigger meal a day (lunch) and he's been going much better.

FYI when he did finally go when he was constipated it was the consistency of clay - really hard for the poor guy. My guy still has a little bit of problems (I assume it's just his digestive system learning to work) but his constipation has gotten much better.

Good luck!

Same thing happened to my daughter - and prunes did the trick. She didn't even need a lot of it for it to help. Try to keep up the water too because I did notice that that helped my daughter too. If you can't get him to eat the prunes, you could always just put a little prune juice into his cereal or water.

OMGGGG. I was just wondering the same thing myself, and I picked up one of my parenting books. She said "constipation is defined [as the stool being incredibly hard and difficulty to pass. You don't have a bm every day, and it's ok if your baby doesn't either. Leave the bowels alone and let them take care of themselves." It's not a direct quote, but the jist. I was relieved!! My DD is 7 months, exclusively breastfed up until a month ago, and going through the same thing. She's fine. Just watch for a really hard stool. He'll be fine too. If you want to contact me about the name of the book, you can. I dont' have it here in front of me, but it's about babies 0-5 by an english woman.

I would call the Dr....can't tell you the dosage but adding Karo syrup to the water or milk will help, and you can also use a suppository to help him. Again, for amounts/brands/dosages I can't help so I'd ask the Dr.
The first time my son did a "real" BM after starting solids he turned bright red and cried, the poor thing, it changes a bit! Good Luck!

not unusual. solids cahnge your bm's and the amount of them when first starting solids. add some more water to hte oatmeal and give baby a bit of water in a bottle during the day as well.
sometimes if you stick a glycerin suppository (you know where), and wiggle it around, it helps to move the bowels.