Constipation, bottle fed and now on solids.

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi all. Just wondering if your bubs have now become constipation as a result of starting solids. My girl has been on solids for about 3 weeks and now has become constipated. I have tried brown sugar in water recommended by child youth and health. Prune juice, nothing seems to work and she is just miserable as can't poo and if she does there is nothing of it and she will strain so much to she is red in the face. It is causing her a lot of pain as she trys to pass stools. Sorry for TMI, plus she has moved up to the next stage in formula which is probably also causing constipation. She is not keen on pears so trying to get them into her which may help is difficult.

[Mrs E]

Seriously watered down pear juice is what worked for my DD. Have you tried coloxyl? I didn't have to use it but the pediatrician told me to use it for DD.

[smallpotatoes]

Peaches and plums as well, though you probably won't be able to find any. I'm not sure on bottle-feeding, but can you add extra water to her formula, would that help? (hopefully some ff-ing mummies will be able to help you out).

Also avoid constipating foods such as bananas and rice cereal for the time being.

[Elijahs Mum]

How old is she and what solids has she tried?

[Suzana]

Poor Bubba, nothing worse than constipation! Maybe it's the change in formula combined with some of the solids? My boy is 5 months and has been FF since birth, I've found which formula to be a big factor on whether he is constipated or not. He gets an extra 10ml water in each bottle, plus once or twice a day Baby Biotic by Bioceuticals which seems great for his digestion. He's not real keen on solids so I am starting him very slowly. If i can get him to take a little Heinz Fruity Pear (4 - 6 month range) mixed with rice cereal and formula it's pretty easy on his tum; whereas apple / banana will cause harder poos straight away. Have had no luck with veggies yet, not interested! :( Good luck..:))

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi all. Thanks, she has had apple, pumpkin, pear and carrot so far. Avocado was a no go she wasn't interested in. She loves apple puree but maybe i will stop that for a while. Mind you she is not keen on pear so thats why she has apple with her farex of the morning. I also give water in a bottle extra. After speaking with the child health nurse today. She has no had a bowl of pureed prunes. LOL IF that don't work I don't know what will. They don't want to use any sort of supositry yet as that is likely to give her alot more discomfort with cramping. Poor little thing she is straining so much and cant get anything out. Heres cheers to prunes then. thanks all for your feed back:wave:

[kalgirl]

Our problem was solved by adding and small ice cube sized block of puréed prunes and half a teaspoon of flax seed oil to every solid feed.

[Suzana]

Hi all. Thanks, she has had apple, pumpkin, pear and carrot so far. Avocado was a no go she wasn't interested in. She loves apple puree but maybe i will stop that for a while. Mind you she is not keen on pear so thats why she has apple with her farex of the morning. I also give water in a bottle extra. After speaking with the child health nurse today. She has no had a bowl of pureed prunes. LOL IF that don't work I don't know what will. They don't want to use any sort of supositry yet as that is likely to give her alot more discomfort with cramping. Poor little thing she is straining so much and cant get anything out. Heres cheers to prunes then. thanks all for your feed back:wave:

wow any tips on how you get her to try so many flavours esp the veggies? I hope the prunes work, and good to know re the flax seed too :).

[ilovehats]

I would stop the Farex or rice cereal, its well know to cause constipation.

[French Pear]

I would also stop the rice cereal and give fruit (apple and pear) at each feed. So do the savoury carrot/pumpkin then follow with the sweet apple/pear and also give cool boiled water throughout the day.

I hope it clears up quickly the poor darling :(

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi all. Everything is moving again. After lots of hard poos the prunes kicked in along with the pears and boiled sugar water recommended by child youth. Hi French pear in relation to the vegetables. I mix pureed apple and in desperation to get her to eat pear I mixed it with pumpkin today. Farex and fruit is what she has for brekky. I don't know what I would feed other than straight fruit for brekky. But it seems things are moving for now:fingerscrossed:

[Babyduck77]

Rice cereal and apple puree are two of the worst for blocking up! If it happens again you can get lactulose a stool softner my gp recommended when my DD was a similar age. You can maybe start to try yoghurt and weetbix soon?

[ilovehats]

Farex and fruit is what she has for brekky. I don't know what I would feed other than straight fruit for brekky.

You could do plain fruit, veggies, yoghurt, porridge, toast with banana, eggs, french toast, crumpets, pancakes, weetbix... (some may be for slightly older bubs) but they don't need to have breakfast specific food they could have the same thing as you give for lunch or dinner.

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi All , well the prunes had worked but she is back to being back to hard stools again. If Farex is known for constipation WHY is it the first thing they recommend babies start on. Don't they need to have cereal though?
I tried apple and mango puree today apparantly mango can be good for loosing things as well. Today when i tried prunes she had obviously cottoned on. The other day she thought it was great today not so good. Although i think on top of being constipated she is either cutting teeth or getting sick.Today she grizzled all day and she is normally a very happy little bubba.

[2bubba]

Try dried apricots. Put them in water for a while blended them up they can be had just like that or mixed with other food, rice cereal was a good one to mix with. It worked with both of mine

[ilovehats]

If Farex is known for constipation WHY is it the first thing they recommend babies start on. Don't they need to have cereal though?

No, Farex is not necessary. It was recommended as a first food due to the blandness, (tastes like cardboard), its allergen free and has added iron. Iron is needed in bubs diet after 6 months as their natural reserves start to run low. You can give bubs iron rich foods without needing to give farex.

You might find these link interesting too.

"When flour is refined to make cereal, the grain’s most nutritious part is removed. The flour essentially becomes sugar.

As white rice or flour turns into sugar in the body, it raises blood sugar and insulin levels. Worse, babies who consume highly-processed white rice or flour may become accustomed to this unhealthy diet in their older years"


http://parentingsquad.com/first-foods-why-white-rice-cereal-is-bad-for-your-baby

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi there we had to get the doc out last night as she has been screaming, but I think that she is coming down with virus as she had a temp but being blocked up is not helping as she screamed as she did a poo last night whilst I massaged her tummy with legs bent up to her belly :( The doctor gave me a remedy to add to the sugar with water option, BUT he mentioned something called Maltogen to add to her bottles has anyone heard of this as I can't seem to find it. If i can't find that I am going to go with the coloxyl and I have a suppositry now if i really cant get things going. Which I hope I won't have to resort too.

[Elijahs Mum]

Poor bubba I hope she gets better soon, have you looked into a possible dairy intolerance ? What formula is she on ? Or just stop solids for a while and let her system repair itself

[Suzana]

I assume the doc could find no medical causes for the constipation? Just wondering as she has the fever too... Maltogen is just another form of sugar, I've not seen it here but perhaps your pharmacy can advise. Baby coloxyl and suppositories work well from what I've heard..I prefer remedies with a bit of magnesium as it draws water into the colon and gets things moving very gently. Infant's Friend and standard Mylanta come to mind, a few ml once or twice a day. Last night I gave bubba 3ml of Infant's Friend as no poo for two days. He had 3 between midnight and this morning! Yuck for us but I'm sure he feels better...:)) Hope your bubba is better soon...

[GrabbyCrabby]

Some 'Gold' formulas can cause constipation. Could it be an option to drop back to her Step 1 Formula, and see how she goes. DD was constipated from 6 months to 2 years, all the time, and seemed to come good when she stopped formula altogether. DS is on a different brand of formula, and his poos are totally different!
I was also told that apple is not great for a constipated baby. They recommend grated apple for people with diarhoea. Pear, prune juice and apricot are good to help get things moving, as well as water to drink. I hope you can get some answers, and she does a nice soft poo for you soon!!!

[GrabbyCrabby]

Head to your pharmacy and discuss what options they can recommend you too, they're really helpful! We were given 'Actilax' (lactulose solution). We only used it when desperate, but it worked well! Just need to keep up their fluids, as they're losing it out the other end.

[bluebutterfly74]

Hi all. Well things seem to have returned to normal.probably due to her being ill and I just didn't bother with solids as she wasn't even wanting bottles. So lots of small frequent feeds. I invested in some coloxyl drops and got suppositrys but have not used them. I thought Ive got them there if I ever get desperate. nestle got back to me and maltogen hasn't been on the market for 14 years but apparantly in the HA formulas they put it in. I am going to switch her back to the birth to 6mths tin. Apparantly there is no reason she has to be on the next stage up and she was on a HA before we shifted her. I find the new formula also produces alot of bubbles and I am wondering if it is causing alot of gas in her stomach. At least she is now coming good with pureed pear.I am trying to keep apple to a minimum even though she loves it.thanks all. Now that she is also feeling better after her bug she is back to sleeping and slowly feeding better so she is a much happier bubba.

[GrabbyCrabby]

I'm glad she's feeling better :hugs:

[bluebutterfly74]

Hmmm still blocked. Well coloxyl has not worked. We have resumed to being blocked I have backed right off on the solids. I am really starting to get concerned think another doctors visit in order. And I don't want to use it but maybe a suppositry as the other night she strained so much and cried so much afterwards she fell asleep on my shoulder she had exhausted herself that much.