11 Month Old Constipated from Iron supplement...help!

All three of my kids were constipated almost from day one. Becuase thier doc put them on cereal becuase they just wouldnt gain the weight. With all three thier doc said dark karo syrup. I do 2 tablespoons for every 8 onces, it can take a couple days to work, but it can give her the runs. Thats what it did with all my kids. Now my baby is off of cereal in the bottle, on babyfood and cereal, and some times gets constipated and I still do the Karo syrup. I wish you luck.

I started using a separate iron supplement when I was preg because the one in my pre-natal was not absorbable. I use the one from wish garden- you can order it online. The iron supplement is dissovled in an alcohol tincture, so you may not want to give it to your baby, but I would recommend a better iron supplement instead of worrying about constipation for the rest of her life.

My doctor put 2 of my kids on Miralax and that helped. Check with your doc to see what she thinks. Lots of water is also key.

I'd see about adding some magnesium, either in her diet or as supplements. In Europe they prescribe it to help pregnant moms combat constipation from all the iron in the prenatals. I'd check on what quantities are safe for little ones, as I'm not sure.

Maybe also probiotics. Or at least yogurt.

Best of luck!

This happened with my oldest boy and how horrible to watch your baby hurt like that. There were two things that worked for me. One was to put Karro Syrup (this is just white syrup) in everything he drank, then when it got real bad I did a baby suppository. I only had to do that twice, the syrup typically worked.

Our pediatrician suggested straight apple juice for constipation. It helped a lot. Don't water it down, but also don't give it in addition to her current diet. Replace some of the calories she is getting now with the apple juice. Also, blueberries are fantastic for helping get water into the bowels. That's what constipation is all about, not enough water in the bowels to move them. Good luck.

Go to Vitamin Cottage and talk to the an employee there. There are a couple of different types of Iron and the natural Iron does not cause constipation. I was on Iron when I was pregnant and my midwife told me to stay away from Iron Sulfate because it caused constipation.

We've done light Karo syrup and straight prunes a few times. The thing we found that helped the most and we did long term with 3 kids was flax seed oil. Just mix it in with any applesauce, cereal, yogurt (Doesn't work as well) anything with tomato sauce, etc. You do want to keep it cold, but we figure the food is cool enough by the time an 11 mo old can eat it. :) GL!

Dr. Christophers puts out a tincture called kid-e-reg. IT was what we had to use with my oldest. I love it. Good luck...constipation isn't fun especially when it is your child.

Try a pediatric chiropractor. It worked wonders for my daughter!

I give my 11 month old straight prune juice - 3 oz at first, then another 3 oz in 6 hours. Works like a charm. Good luck!

How anemic is she? My daughter was also anemic--are you giving her meat? Unless she's super anemic, I would cut back on how much of the supplement you're giving her and give her red meat and spinach a lot (we did spinach mixed with something sweet like mango or peaches--she loved it & still loves spinach at 2). We gave our daughter red meat almost every day at 11 months to get rid of the anemia and didn't suffer through the constipation because the oatmeal is a lot for their systems and that supplement is so harsh. We also did give her little pieces of unsulfered dried prunes & apricot--initially, they will come out as little pieces because her body will have to adjust, but we almost never dealt with constipation after her body got used to it. My daughter loved the ground meat--she got to dip it into ketchup & the anemia was gone within 3-6 months (can't remember anymore.) Hang in there & contact me if you have questions--I've been through it!

We give my son prunes and he loves them! They definitely help move things along. We also feed him apple sauce, which is helpful too. My doctor also recommended spinach, which he surprisingly likes as well. I have found that when I feed him more green veggies, he poops more. Good luck!

Also, I've started mixing in ground flax seed into his cereal and he's much more regular now, and his poop is softer. Flax seed is really healthy anyway, so it'd be worth a try!