Help with Constipation

You can put a tablespoon of Karo syrup in her bottle. You can also buy some glycerin suppositories. You have to cut them in half or thirds. Then change her diaper and put the new one under her. Insert it in and hold it there for about 10 seconds or so (sometimes it slides out).She should go in about 10 -30 minutes if it goes all the way in . If it comes out it will make it less painful when she does go. Some people insert a rectal thermometer for a few seconds.The suppositories worked the best for us if they were really constipated.Hang in there!Hope this helps!

Hi J.,
My son was a lot like your daughter at that age, please check with your doctor before trying these suggestions!! I gave him water in a bottle once a day, I gave him fruits & vegies only for awhile (no meats or cereal) along with his usual formula. I gave him 3/4 water & 1/4 apple juice. When all else failed, we used suppositories. Not fun but they worked! My heart goes out out you, it's very hard to watch your little one be uncomfortable! Good luck!

Hi J.,

Has anything else changed besides adding the baby food? Is it organic baby food? Have you switched from breast milk to formula? How much water does your baby drink a day? I think you have to become a detective. Dr. Doris Rapp in her book "Is this your child?" says constipation is sometimes a clue that strongly suggests a milk and dairy allergy. If it were me, I would first stop the baby food completely for 4 days and see if the problem stops. If constipation is still there, it's not the baby food. I would focus on dairy and eliminate that. I would also consider giving a probiotic for intestinal health. I have a recommendation for one that works very well for my infant grandaughter if you are interested. Hope you can solve this problem quickly.

I'd stop the solids for at least a few weeks. It sounds as though her system just can't handle it yet. Adding a laxative into her system may provide a solution, but it doesn't solve the problem. (And do you really want to be giving your 5 month old a laxative?)
Also, please keep in mind that at this age, 90%+ off all your baby's nutrition is coming from breastmilk or formula. Their digestive system has to learn how to pass foods, then it starts to learn how to actually break them down & use them. But this takes months. (Which is why things like blueberries & peas come out looking almost the same as they did when they went in! LOL)
Take your time. Remember, they're only this small once! :)

I hope this helps you as it did for me with my children. I have 5 and the olderst is 19 the youngest is 6 . whenever we had a constipation situation I gave them a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. A half or full baby teaspoon. Good Luck.

Miralax is great but I would consult with your peditrician & would ask how much to give. My 4 year old has Down syndrome so we are always battleing constipation & the Miralax works better than anything I have ever tried.
Good luck!
R.

that's so funny that you asked that. Not because she's in pain but because I just called the doctor today for my almost 5 month old with the same problem. they said 1 tsp light Kyro syrup in 3 bottles a day. My problem is I nurse and she doesn't get bottles when I'm not working. So they said to just give her the 1 tsp and 1 or 2 oz. of water 3x a day.

Sometimes a little water does the trick. With the hot weather lately, maybe she's a little dehydrated? Our neighbor had the same problem with her little girl in the summer and she started giving her 2-3 oz of water over the course of the day, not more than 1 oz at a time, and it took care of the problem. Good luck!

Dear J.,

I'm with Judy T on this one. I think you should start with stopping the solids and see if there is a change. Your lttle girl is only 5 months and can wait a bit longer for stage 1 foods.

My son too is 5 months (breastfed) and I started him on rice and oatmeal baby ceral at 4 months. Just a tablespoon a day mixed with breast milk and he was doing fine. When he turned 5 months I started to introduce him to stage 1 orange veggies and he had the opposite effect; loose mucusy stools. We stopped all solids and he's back to normal. He's just been tested yesterday for a milk alergy (blood in stools and fussy after I eat diary, since birth). I've been dairy free for 4 months now and I need to know if he has a milk alergy or just intolerant. Every time I try to reintroduce dairy into my diet the same thing happens with the fussiness and blood streaks.

Now with my daughter who is now almost 4 (was formula fed), and when introduced to solids she was constipated like your daughter. What our ped recommeded was to give her one jar of prunes a day; either by spoon or if desperate in her bottle mixed with formula. Also a couple of ounces a day of Gerber Pear Juice. We did this to keep her regular for MANY months. Every now and then I would stop the pear juice and prunes to see if she would get constipated. I did this until she wasn't anymore (close to her 1st birthday). With constipation always think P's; Prunes and Pears. And when she gets older, always keep fruits and fiber in her daily diet.

Good Luck!

5 months is still a bit young for baby food. I generally wait until 6 months. Check out kellymom.com about delaying solids.

I'm thinking that maybe you should pull back on the food a little bit. About half of all pediatricians are now saying wait until 6 months to even start cereal-and even longer for the baby food. Her little tummy might not be ready for all of this yet. The constipation might be your clue. I would hate to see you start giving her 'poop' aids when she is so small.

There are reasons why we wait to give solid food, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the bowels are not ready for it yet. I think you should wait until the doctor tells you she is ready for solids.