Constipation of a 10 Mth Old and a 2 Year Old

For the baby you can use 1 tsp of sugar for ever 2 oz of water. Just give her 2oz of the sugar water. If you notice it's still hard, give her more. That always worked for my kids and it's a lot less harmful than miralax. My son was doing miralax when we were trying to potty train and I believe it was a tsp in their drink.

I would try Geoge's Aloe Vera sold at most health food stores for constipation. You can add it to anything (formula, water, or juice) and has no taste. It is much easier on a child's delicate system than Miralax.
It works great for children with constipation issues.
Good luck!

Call your local pharmacist with their ages and weight and they will be able to best guide you. In addition to that I would give the girls apple juice and any other kinds of citric food you have (applesauce, mandrin oranges, fresh apples, etc.) All of it will help with getting things moving...if push comes to shove (sorry for the bad pun), you may have to look at getting a glycerin suppository...Walmart has them and they are really inexpensive.

Please don't give them miralax if they are just constipated this one time. It's "safe" and all, but that kind of intense intervention is not necessary. Give them prune juice. Give them fresh fruit. Give them mineral oil, even, but please don't give them a laxative. They need to be able to go on their own. Make sure their regular diet includes lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, high fiber foods, and water, or this will keep happening.

I am not sure about the miralax. My advice is to increase their water intake and make sure they get plenty of fiber loaded foods. I hope they get better soon.

First, I'd make sure they are getting a LOT of fluids. then if the dosage is not listed on the Miralax bottle for their ages, I'd call the pediatrician to give advice. I would think they'd want to know what is going on & to give different 'levels' (sorry I can't think of a better word...mommy brain) of suggestions.

But from what I understand Mirilax is very safe, but just give your pediatrician's office a call to see what they suggest.

Good luck!

J.

Hi G.,

My 8 mth old son has a bad constipation issue. I have tried EVERYTHING natural that the dr. has recommended and nothing works. I have used prune juice, caro syrup, fruits, etc, and it's the same result. I finally called the dr. again this past Monday and they told me to give him Miralax since nothing else has worked. They told me to give him 1 tbsp daily in his bottle. I have given it to him for 2 days and nothing yet. They said to give it a couple days to work, and then call them back if still nothing. I am just waiting for the explosion! I hope this helps.

Skip the medical stuff and give your children more water,apple juice is great too. Lots of vegetables help this situation. Try that for around 4 days and then if you don't see any improvment then call your doctor. Keep them out of candy and move away from the bread and potatoes a bit also no bananas during that time-it really blocks them up. LOTS OF WATER-YOU CAN ADD COOL-AID TO FLAVOR IF NEEDED BUT NOT THE WHOLE THING.

Trust me from someone who has tried EVERYTHING for 2 of my kiddo's - Miralax is the answer. I would start with 1/4 capful and see if that does the trick and up it from there. Good luck!!!

Personally, after having my son on miralax for close to 2 years and finally getting him off it at 5 1/2 years old (he is now 7), I would try something other than this right off the bat. When we took it it was prescription only. Although it is now over the counter it is still a drug.

I guess it works great for some kids but for my son it was a long term deal. It wasn't something that you gave to him and it worked immediately - not an easy fix. It wasn't effective even after several weeks and continuously upping the dose. Per the doctor's suggestion we continuously upped the dose but it didn't really increase the frequency that he was having bowel movements. However, it did become something that he became dependent on. When we tried to reduce the amount he took his constipation worsened. So since his frequency of bowel movements didn't increase there was a lot of miralax that was stored in his gut. During this time he had a horrible temperament and was very irritable. I do not know if it was from the constipation or the drug. One study that I looked at showed miralax was no more effective after one month than milk of magnesia. They were similarly effective longer term. Since miralax is tasteless it is more palatible. Again, I am sure some have had great results. I would try diet, exercise, fluid intake, and behavior modification first. My friend swears by smoothies with cherries and flax seeds.

Good luck

I had to give both of my daughters Miralax when they were little (we finally found out one had a hernia & the other was just always constipated). Depending on how constipated they are will really determine how much to give them at first. But if you give them too much it can obviously give them diarrhea...but I would always rather have had that than the constipation. I would just start with about a 1/2 of the measuring cup that they give you, then if it doesn't work I would increase it to a full cup the next day...but I wouldn't go over that! Each of them could be different given their different weights, amount they eat, etc. I have also used Benefiber as well - it works just keep the extra fiber in them to keep them more regular. We also switched to skim milk because the whole milk constipated them so much. Unfortunately, prunes or prune juice never worked for my girls...so that's why we needed to use the alternatives to help them. I'm sure you have a great mommy-instinct to know what YOUR babies need...good luck - it's such a hard thing to see them go through!

Hi G.. My daughter started having this trouble when she started milk with more solids at about 9 month. My ped was very slow to intervene past juice and the occassional glycerin suppository until she was very close to 1 year. At over 11 mons., we decided to put her on Miralax. However, I don't know if I'd use that for your 10 month old--at least call the docs. My daughter's first dose was 1/2 cap-ful and she was only 17.5 pounds.

Applesauce is actually not recommended for constipation--but peaches, pears, prunes, peas are all good.

Best of luck!

Pineapple is also a great natural laxative. Fresh is always stronger but canned will work well too.

G., Karo syrup. My son had a constipation problem from very early on, 6 weeks. His doctor recommended 1 tsp of Karo (light or dark) in a bottle. I works great and rather quickly.

M.

If this is a new issue for both girls, I would ask what caused it in both of them a the same time.

If it is a chronic issue, I would use miralax. We started our daughter on it when she was under 12 months old. We did a teaspoon ( of the prescription) in juice. We put a little bit of juice in a cup, microwave for 10 seconds to help disolve the juice. She is 6 now and still takes the same amount every day.

Took her to a pediatric gastroenterologist and it was the best thing I ever did. Had to fight the pediatrician for a long time before we found help. But, when that doctor told me "no one should hurt when they poop" I felt like someone was finally listening to this mommy :)

When I switched my son from formula to whole milk he had this issue. I switched him to 2%, which is all thats recommended now a days, and I give him a cup of fruit juice everyday. It doesn't have to be prune juice, any sugary juice, like apple juice or white grape juice will work.

G., My son is suppose to take Miralax daiily for his issues. Miralax is actually very safe if they are really bad I'd give them a full cap full the first few times. Then after that I'd just do 1/2 a cap full. I normally just put it in his chocolate milk and he doesn't even notice.

You can try flax seed if you would like something natural. Just put a spoonful in a pudding cup or yogurt, or bake it into some bread or something. The bag should have some recipes on it.

My two year old just went through this. The doctor told me to give her half a cap of miralax mixed in water...you might call your pediatrician just to double check. That's what they're there for.
Also, I had a friend recommend tummy massage and I really think that's been helping. On the right side of the tummy rub down, I, on the left side go down and across the ab (like an L for Love) and then going left to right make a U so you'd do down the left side sort of across the ab and then up the right side and say I Love U while doing it.

We always used apple juice, apple sauce, yogurt and oatmeal. They are natural and the body will regulate itself and won't be dependent on the medicine to cause a bowel movement.