My Child Seems to Be Developing Chronic Constipation

My daughter, who is now 2 1/2 has had the same problem since birth. We tried everything and the only thing that works for her is Gerber Pear Juice. It is in the baby food section. She drinks about 12-16 oz a day (2 sippy cups full). If she misses even one day of the juice she is constipated. It's crazy that it could happen so fast, but it does. Sometimes I dilute it with a little water and sometimes not. Good luck!

My thinking is that she's too young for an enema. My son is 3 now but our Pediatrician has always recommended an equal mixture of 7-up or Sprite with some prune juice. Have you asked your doctor or referenced books like What to Expect When your're expecting?

Hi K.,
My son had a similar problem, and my 88 year old grandmother gave me the answer. Add 1/4 teaspoon of corn syrup to the 8 oz. of formula until the constipation stops. Then you can cut back to 1/8 teaspoon. The idea is to counteract the constipating effect of the milk calcium, because formulas have more calcium than mother's natural milk, and no sugar from the mother's natural diet. It is better to be consistent with the tiny bit of sugar than to wait until the little one is so plugged up that it takes a laxative to break things loose. Baby intestines are very delicate, and cannot even handle much roughage at all without serious consequences. I read that one baby was eating canned green beans as a toddler snack food at 2 years old, and that caused intestinal bleeding due to too much fiber for him. Corn syrup is very gentle, and does not carry the possible baby health risks of honey, which is what was used back when my grandmother was a baby. Another thing I would try is adding more liquids to the baby's diet - maybe filtered or purified water mixed half and half with apple juice. Maybe give this instead of more solid or semi solid fruits for now until things get consistent.

The Best to you,
D.

Hi Kathy-
I would recommend Juice plus Gummies. Our pediatrician recommend them and my daughter started taking them when she was almost 10 months. She was a late teether, so I had to cut them up. Grace wasn't regular or pooping every day..and the Gummies did the trick. I could really tell that she just felt better...not to mention the fact that she was getting 17 different fuits and vegetables everyday! feel free to email me with any questions or further information! ____@____.com

My son has had GI issues since birth. I would suggest seeing a pediatric GI specialist. You want to nip this in the bud now, before it causes other issues.

It could be just an allergy to food or something more serious.

Also, check out this interesting article on food allergies:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6046862.stm?lsf

Hi K.,

You need to get your daughter into the doctor. The black stool could be a sign of blood.

Good Luck,
A.

HI K.,
Constipation is the #1 problem in children today! There are natural supplements that you can give your baby that might help with constipation. My elderly grandmother had chronic constipation her whole life and the doctors talked about surgery when she was a child, but she decided to live with it, until she began taking a natural product. She hardly had any problems after that.
Call or email me for more information @ ____@____.com or ###-###-####.
Blessings & Hope,
A.
(SAHM with 3 beautiful children and a wonderful husband and our newest addition, a 7 week old terrier (she's so cute)

My daughter was like that but it started at about 6 months and we should have given her alot of water, but I didn't know at the time. She started getting impackted. And I was sooo tired of giving her enema's. I finally had to change Dr and the new one reccomended that we put her on Myralax, now she's 8 and still on it. All the trama when she was a baby made her think that everytime she poops it will hurt. So to this day if she doesn't take it she will hold in her poop for 4-6 days, until we make her sit on the potty. So we cann't get her off it!!! So learn from my bad experience get it fixed ASAP before it makes her believe that everytime she poops it will hurt!! Good Luck!!

My daughter has had this same problem since she was born. She is now 2 years old and it is still going on. Her doctor gave her some perscription that is a laxitive. she is doing better. When she was about 10 months old I took her to 5 doctors and they did not know what was wrong with her. The best thing to do is to give her citrus fruits. and Juice do not give her any apples or apple juice or applesauce it will make the constipation worse.

Hi K.,
Well, my 8 month old has some issues with this....we now only feed her cereal once a day. She eats fruits (limited bananas), veggies, and chicken or turkey during the day, but only cereal with it one meal. I also give her prune/apple juice by Gerber. If she has not pooped the day before, I start her off with some juice in the morning. She now usually goes by mid day. For some reason prunes has not helped her...but the juice does. White grape juice seems to help too. The one time she would not go potty I ended up doing a supossitory...they seem more gentle than an enema. I also alternate between green and orange veggies...with my 22 month old I learned that green stopped her up and orange made her go. I am still trying to learn my 8 month old, but maybe that would help too. You may also want to keep her on a probiotic...this may be why we are not having issues any longer. I give it to both of my kids everyday. I love the Life Start by Natren, but it is hard to find somewhere to keep it in stock. I am currently using one by Nature's Way. I get them at Market Street or Health Collection.

Hang in there
K.