My One Month Old Is Constipated Again

Even though I breast fed, my daughter has had problems with constipation since she was about 2 months old. Every time she needed to have a bowel movement she would shriek in agony. The pediatrican recommended 2 ounces of prune juice with 1 ounce of water. Once in the morning and once at night. This helped tremendously. At about 8 months old I was able to reduce it to once daily (same ratio). She is just over 10 months old now and doing much better. She usually has a movement every day that is soft and easily passed. A HUGE improvement to the shrieking. Good luck.

S.

Is he formula fed? If so, it may be the iron content in the formula. My son suffered from it when he was an infant and I had to give him stool softners the Pediatrician recommended. Good luck!

If you were breastfeeding I would recommend that you yourself drink or eat prunes, this would help your baby absorb the properties that would help him to go. But with formula fed babies this is another question. As I am sure that the doctor would have already recommended prune juice instead of apple, but since he is only a month old, I would imagine this might be a little too tough for his youg degestive system. Try the bicycle with his legs and a little belly massage just near the pelvis bones, to try and help work out the built up gas. You might also need to change formula.

Hope this helps.

My Pedi also told me Karo syrup. About a teaspoon in the bottle. It worked WONDERS! I now keep it on hand just in case!

wow you got some great advice. everyone told you what i was going to say try it all. my daughter is 2 now and still has trouble going. she is on the prescripiton glycolax and if i try to stop it she will have so much trouble going.
i have to say when she was an infant she was on enfimal with iron and the pedi says that is not why she is having trouble. if i could have redone it i would have switched formuals cause i swear that was the problem but pedi said not to switch.
i am almost positive that the culprit now is whole milk. if she gets too much and even on the glycolax she will have lots of trouble. so she get very little whole milk.

i would try everthing the ladies suggestion cause i pretty much did all those things too and some stuff help. every baby is different.

Hi S.,
my first born son had constipation most of his infancy. We found that an ounce of pear juice in his formula or with water really did the trick. Good luck, I know how difficult it can be. It's something he will most likely out grow.

When my son was an infant, I had this similar issue with him. At one month his system was to small to handle prune juice or senecot (veggie fruit based laxative).

We figured out not to long after first seeing the dr that my son was having difficulties with foods I was eating and then passing on to him through breast milk.
Check your diet if you are breastfeeding. Babies can have sensitivities to cows milk (are you using it in your drinks, or cereal? or drinking staight?), caffine... are you drinking coffee?, wheat (found in tons of foods!) For my son it was milk and we only discovered it after I became ill with gallbladder disease and ended up hospitalized and putting him on formula. He broke out in a terrible raised welt looking rash with gas and more costipation!
If you think this may be it, try eliminating these foods for a week or two and then slowly add them back in one week at a time to see which is causing the problem.
As my son got older, I found I could feed him rice cereal with prunes and pears mixed in and these didn't bind him.
Good luck to you.

Hi S., When my son was like that I used the anal thermomater and vaseline. All you do it put the vaseline on the thermomater like you are going to take his temp and then just go in a circle around and around for a little while and he should poop I had to do that for 1 week 2 times a day but it works and it doesn't hurt them at all. ~S.~
ps my doctor told me to do it.

Hi!

I would recommend some gentle baby massage to the abdomen area in addition to your doctor's recommendation. I wonder is there is pain associated with the constipation and if there is you might consider requesting an ultra sound to make sure there isn't a blockage of some kind.

A little about me: I'm a mom of an 11 year old boy and a 2 year old girl.

I've found that it's formula with iron in it that causes the constipation. You should ask the doctor to try switching to a low iron or no iron type to see if that makes a difference. The simple change can make for a much happier mom and baby. In the meantime, Using a warm bath or placing a warm cloth on the abdomen could help. You can lightly massage the area in a clockwise motion after using the heat to help facilitate the natural movements of the waste process. With five children, I've been through enough trial and error and suggestions to know that in the end, just trust what you feel is best for your child. That's usually what's going to be the best.

I used babies magic tea for my constipated baby and he is now good with poop time.

Hi
My daughter had a similar problem (constipation with a hard stool, it would feel like she had rocks in her diaper). My ped. recommended either children's senokot or prune juice. I went with the prune juice (didn't want to give her meds if I didn't have to). I watered it down and well it worked wonders. Only thing was if I didn't give it to her, she'd have problems. She eventually out grew it and things are fine now.
Good luck.
C.

Hi,

My older son had this problem and our pediatrician told us to add a teaspoon of Karo syrup to his bottle once daily and it worked great! Since your little one is only a month old you might start with half a teaspoon. We used it quite often and it kept him regular and happy.

Barb

S.,
If you are breastfeeding, it is normal for your little one to occasionally not poo for up to a week, and that's ok. But if you are bottlefeeding, you may be using a formula with too much ron for your baby's needs. Your ped. can do a test, or you can just continue to occasionally give the baby juice to loosen the stool. Good luck, hope this helps!

My first child did not poop often. At first the doctor recommended Karo Syrup (1tsp in an ounce of water, if memory serves, my son is now 10), but we later discovered he was not actually constipated, he was not as frequent a pooper. He was breastfed and apparently digested it all. the doctor was not too concerned, and he didn't increase to more than once a week or so until he was 6 month old and started on solids.

I breast feed for the first 3 months with my daughter and when I switched her to formula she began getting constipated and having a hard time going when she wasnt. My doctor suggested putting a teaspoon of karo syrup in her bottle regularly to keep her regulated. It does work I am just not sure how old they need to be. I had to do this till she was off formula. Good luck!

Is he formula or breastfed. If it's formula it could be the iron in the formula that is making him constipated. You may want to consider switching him to a different formula with less iron. If he's breastfed, start watching what your eating. Are you eating anything high in iron or I know breastfed babies can be affected by the amount of dairy you eat. Usually it's the other direction (diahrrea) of course, but you never know.

S.,
My son went through the same thing, but accompanied by terrible gas. My ped. said to use pear juice.. it worked wonders, much better than the apple. Let me know if you do this, and how it works. I have turned many of my girlfriends on to this and it has been successful! Also scrunching his legs up towards his beely a few times a day, as well as tracing heart shapes with your thumbs from his sternum down to his pelvis also helps!

wow, Ive never heard of a 1 year old being constipated, maybe because i breastfed both my babes, but i knew plenty of formula fed babies too...anyways... I'm assuming you are formula feeding...has you doctor thought of maybe a different formula? Also, warm baths help relax babies (even if they poop in there its ok, as long as its out amd the tub is scrubbed) and gentle massaging/ rubbing in a clockwise direction may help getting things going. Have you tried the thermometer in the bum? I would think that 1 months olds may have a problem with the apple juice...not sure if suppositories are worse, but the worked when my oldest started cereal at 5months... Just some ideas, good luck

You may need to change the formula your baby is on. Maybe it does not agree with him.

I raised two boys and found them to be very different in what they ate and how it affected their bodies. My youngest had bowwl problems that lasted into his teens. At one point they put him on a type of Mineral Oil (not the regular stuff it had a special name) to help him be more regular.

As an adult I have always had irregular bowels so when he was a baby and didn't go every day I never knew there was an issue until he got older and then finally adoctor said he was impacted and thats when the did that daily mineral oil thing.

Now I understand the difference and especailly know when I am irregular (which is most of the time) and I have not found what works right for me.

Do be consious of this with you baby so it does not continue when he is older.

the thing that worked best for my son was little tummys laxative drops. its all natural vegetables and stuff.. so it isnt bad for babies. you can find it in any grocery store.. and it is only like 4 or 5 dollars.

I had the same problem with my son. First of all, he was on Enfamil, which is really binding for alot of children because of all of the iron. I then switch to soy formula, which did help a little bit. My pediatrician had me mix 1 ounce of prune juice with 3 ounces of water. Sometimes I would just add the ounce to his formula. He liked it either way and it definitely did the trick. Just remember to make a habit of whatever you decide to do to keep him regular. If I missed a day I felt completely horrible! When your son starts to eat cereal, I highly recommend DO NOT feed him rice cereal. Go straight to the oatmeal cereal as rice is also binding. I found this out the hard way. I would also mix baby prunes in with his cereal and that helped as well. I also found that bananas were binding, too. I know that every child is different but these are some things that you may want to try to avoid.

Is he on formula? if so what kind? My oldest duaghter had the same problem when she was a month old... and She was on the Enfamil with Iron, and i had to switch her to Prosobee... Once i switched her she never had a problem.

I had the same problem with both of my kids - try karo syrup mixed with water.. bicycle his legs... try a rectal thermometer (be prepared, the poop flies right out with this method), prune juice, apple juice. Sometimes, their little bodies need a little help with doing what should be normal.. remember, not every baby poops every day .. it'll straighten out and if you are worried, then talk to your ped... good luck