my 3 m/o old constipated!! - Children's Health Message Board

LiLnuTTy · 05-12-2003, 05:29 PM

My (now) 3 mo old daughter, has had a problem with constipation since she was born .
She was a preemie ( 35 wk baby ) and i thought that maybe it was her little system just be quite developed yet, but now at 3 months shes still having the problem!
My doctor had me switch formulas from iron fortified, to no iron formula, and when that didnt work, to a soy formula...which shes on now. Which seemed to work...along with Karo syrup....and when i started her on rice cereal, she had the problem again, and my dr. switched her to oatmeal cereal , which again seemed to work along with some Karo syrup. Ive tried water, pedialyte (sp?) like dr. has said, but I'm running out of options, and now with no change in her diet in the last few weeks, shes starting to bind up again....
Shes sooo restless, and wont sleep good, and cries with tummy aches cuz she cant go...I'm at a loss at what to do next, any suggestions or old fashioned remedies I could suggest to my doc, for me to try?!?!

wattagirl · 05-12-2003, 08:31 PM

i had to give my daughter karo in a bottle a day to get her regular-before doing this she would cry for an hour trying to have a bowel movement-so once a day i would add karo to one of her bottles-helped alot

camden · 05-13-2003, 09:21 AM

When my son was a few weeks old we took him to the doctor because he was screaming and we didn't know why. We had to switch him to a formula that wasn't iron fortified. This seemed to help. He was also given suppositories. I found what worked best was a little sugar(half a tsp. or less)in his bottle worked wonders, but you have to be careful that you don't do it too often or they will become dependant on it to have a bowel movement.

I did a quick search on the internet. Have youever heard of anal stenosis? It is when the anal canal is too small. This causes the affected person to strain for a bowel movement and also causes constipation.

I am also looking at a site right now that says that babies on formula will be constipated much more often than the breastfed baby because formula is harder for them to break down and leaves more residue. It also suggests that soy formulas are even worse. The only formula that does not seem to leave that build up in the intestines is the new Similac(the copyright on the page is 1996-2000 so the Similac probably isn't new anymore). I'm curious to know if you have tried the Similac(not iron fortified). I used it for my son after he had been constipated and for my daughter and rarely had a problem.

LiLnuTTy · 05-13-2003, 03:34 PM

My doctor switched her to soy, thinking that she was allergic to dairy and thats what was causing the constipation. Also, I couldnt find ANY formula that wasnt iron fortified....just low iron products, because thats what my doctor first told me.
I had no idea Soy was constipating I will talk to him about it.
Also, what is the SImilac formula called? Is it Alimentum? I know my doc mentioned that but didnt want to do something drastic like that yet, unless we had to.
Please let me know if tahts what the formula is. I'm up to any suggestions at this point, I'm not sure where hes going to go with this next. She has an appointment next week... I would like to have a bunch of ideas by then and throw them at him.
She will be starting fruit in a few weeks too, usually first fruit is applesauce, but I heard apples are binding alos, what about starting her out on stage 1 prunes?

wattagirl · 05-13-2003, 08:20 PM

have you ever tried carnation formula-my friend had so much trouble with switching formulas for her son-after going on this she said he was like a different baby-just a thought-also apples were never binding to my daughter-as a matter of fact they had the exact opposite effect on her-