My 11 Month Old Is Suffering from Regualr Constipation.

My son was that way when he was 6 months old. i was so anxious about his movements, it made me crazy. I used 1 teaspoon of Karo syrup (clear only) in every bottle. It worked great. he went to the bathroom that night. Also, you might want to change formulas

My oldest son had severe constipation when he was young also and I was told to mix Kyro syrup with water and give it to him and it always helped him pass his bowel movements.. good luck..

My daughter had the same thing at about 12 months. I took her to a gastro doctor and he said that it is a common problem at that age. Since my daughter was in horrible pain and dietary changes did not make a difference, the doctor put her on Miralax. She was on it for about 10 months at different dosages, and now she is completely off it and everything is working fine.

D.,

Hi! My son also suffered from extreme constipation for an extended length of time (i don't remember how long, but it was months). He would have BMs everyday but they were always hard like rabbit poop. The pediatrician said to keep away from bananas and apples (I questioned that too, but it seemed to work). We gave Juan prunes and spinach everyday and sometimes peaches or pears. Occasionally we had to give him glycerin suppositories (the dr. recommended it). We also gave him white grape juice like your dr. recommended. We've also tried taking his temp rectally. That didn't seem to help as much, tho. My son started to poop regularly around 15 months (although he still occasionally has really hard stools, but nowhere close to what it was. I just hold off on the bananas for a few days when that happens). I just think his digestive system needed to catchup. I hope your daughter resumes her normal self soon. I personally think it is worse for us parents than for them. ;(

Best Wishes,
K.

Hello,

I had the same problem with my daughter. I just gave her lots of prunes. It's in the baby section I think the Gerber # 2's. I would give her 1 or 2 jars a day. It did help with the constipation. She eventually got over the problem, but it was for a few months.

Good luck

apple juice and pear juice works well too

My daughter went through this when she was around 1 1/2. It was awful. It got really bad around potty training time because she "couldn't get it out" as she would say. So my pediatrician suggested giving her a tablespoon of mineral oil each morning & evening. It worked beautifully!!! We kept that up for almost a year until her system regulated itself, but there we a lot less constipation issues.

Cut out any constipating foods (like bananas or rice cereal) for a few days. Try regular fruit (not baby food) pureed in the blender & yogurt. The thing that really worked for my son was flax oil (in the organic section at Dominic's or any health food store -- it is kept cold, so the fridge section, not the shelf). I would put the oil on toast instead of butter.

What about raisins?? My pediatrician said they have a lot of natural sugars so you don't want to give too many, but they are conviently packaged and fun to pick up by your new little eater! One thing that surprised me was when I would see the raisins come through they were rehydrated so they looked like grapes! I wonder if they is how they gently push things along. I also make sure my guy gets apple juice cut with 1/2 water everyday.

Good luck, it's not a nice thing for ANYONE to have to deal with!

J.

Stay at home Mom to 18 month old and 6 year old boys!

I dont know if your 11 mo old can chew (i guess not to big pieces) but at whole foods they have small pieces of dried fig. they look a little white from the outside as if there is poweder suger on them. you might want to try these. they are very concentrated and my son eats them but i have to be careful because they are so laxative. i guess more than a regular fig because of the drying process. if she cant chew you might try pureeing them into another fruit. my son always has a little looser stool after eating this.

My son just turned 1 and would have so much trouble he'd be screaming with the grunting. I felt so bad that it hurt him so much. Even when he was a tiny baby he'd have trouble, but it got worse and worse when he was 11 months. I asked the peds at the 1 year checkup. He said to stop doing rice cereal altogether, that i would still do periodically. And to try prune juice or apple juice. I'm not a big fan of juice, but was willing to try for that reason. Now that he has no more rice cereal at all (just oatmeal or barley cereal at breakfast), he's doing MUCH better. I gave him mandarin oranges today and that loosens up a lot too. I tried the juice and he didn't like it really, but we don't need it now anyway. I'm just making sure he has peaches, mandarin oranges, stuff like that and not doing rice cereal or banana anymore since he is prone to constipation. Hope that helps.

Dear D.,

Everyone gave good advice. But for my daughter no food helped. It was as soon as I put her on milk she started doing this. So her dr. told me to put her on soy milk. $3.56 for a half a gallan. So I took her to my dr. and he referred me to a neonatal gastral entrol alagist (Rockfrod). I don't know if the spelling is right. We went to that doctor and he gave her a laxative for the time being, which really helped. I couldn't stand watching her go through the pain. She would go every couple of days. When she did go she would go straight as a board and her face was bright red. She would scream and cry tears. She always had to hold someone's hand. some times I would have to put her in the bath tub with warm water to help. I remember this one time that she tried to poop for 3 hours. I was so hard that it stuck inside of her and out. I tried to wipe it but it was a solid mass. She always bled and her but would be tore open. I tried switching her food. Her bread went to the kids fiber bread. I tried applesauce, pears, every food any one told me. We had the x-rays and other test done. After working with the Dr. in Rockford for about 4 months she is doing a lot better and doesn't take laxative anymore. What we had to do is slowly introduce her to the milk. So we took the soy milk 7 oz and 1oz of milk for a 3 days then did 6oz of soy and 2oz of soy for 3 days and kept doing it until she was back on regular milk. If this keeps happening tell her dr. that you want to be referred to a gastral entral alagist for infants. I can get you the one I used if needed.
B.
Good luck

When things get backed up, try baby suppositories (sp?) they do sell them at jewel and at walmart. I would sometimes have to put one in and then another about an hour later when things got backed up real badly for our son. They help to soften the hard bm and to get it out. I would do this every so often when I would see that things were starting to get backed up. Don't let the child go days and suffer.

As someone else wrote, baby prunes by gerber. I can usually find them at walmart. Get things moving and then give him one or two baby prunes a day to keep things going.

Our son is now over 2 and a half, and there and eats baby prunes once or twice a week as needed.

Hope that helps. S.

I can relate! When my son was 4 months old he only went once a week. My ped. recommended half water half prune/apple. I got a bottle of prune juice and a bottle of apple and mixed them. It tastes better than just prune and works great! I also switched off Rice cereal. I use Oatmeal or when he needs to "go" I give him Barley--it works like a charm. Good Luck!

I gave my daughter Prune/Apple juice daily and it helped.

Good luck!

Ha there fellow mom!
So my advice is Miralax. Given by prescription from the Dr.. My son has had a horrible time doing #2 his whole life (he's 4 1/2 now). It was so bad he'd cry in pain and not do #2 for days. I had tried juices and fruits I finally asked the Dr. if there was any medication he could take and there was.
Complete life saver. It's a powder you mix in with juice. Odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Even when we went to the Dr. in Sep. for school shots she refilled the prescription saying it's not uncommon for children to be on it for years. Sometimes the natural way (fruits & juices) don't work. Plus I don't know how severe it is with your child. Good Luck & Hope I helped.

I am sorry your daughter is going through this. My daughter was about 2-1/2 (she is now 5) when she became constipated and we all lived a nightmare. Hers lasted for over 1/2 a year almost close to a whole year. I ran the hospitals bills so high b/c not one doctor was able to help us. We went to Children's Memorial, Loyola, Lutheran General, Resurrection, Glenbrook Hospital and Cook Cty. Hospital (no joke). She would always cry out a high pitch scream and start dancing. I would cry every time with her because of the pain she was in. There were times when I literally had her lay on her back while I grabbed q-tips and tried to help her get it out and sometimes her bowel movements were black. She would always bleed and there were times when she'd wake up vomitting around 3 am for a couple days straigt it became a routine. Doctors x-rayed her and had her go through cat scans to see if maybe she had cancer or whatever (which thank goodness she didn't have). All these doctors and not one was able to help her out. The only thing each one would say was to avoid solid foods, bananas, rice, etc. and to not feed her past 6pm. Oh, and to give her prune or plum juice. I always did what the doctors instructions were but not one of these worked. A couple doctors did prescribe her Mineral Oil & Colace for her constipation which seemed to help but not much. Finally, when my mother in law came back from greece she mentioned that her side of the family had all suffered from constipation including my husband when he was a yr. old and up to this date his cousin (who is 29 and still gets constipated on and off throughout the years). She says that it's hereditary. Since having learned that and about his cousin I now watch what my daughter is allowed to eat. She eats nothing but healthy food and she cannot drink milk past 6pm nor can she have more than 1 banana a week. With my daughter time was her medication. We all suffered with her and are all glad to know that it's over. I would suggest for you to try the mineral oil and/or colace it might actually help your daughter. I wish you, your family and your daughter the best of luck.

Sincerely,
M.

Hi D. -

I have a suggestion...not sure if you would be open to it...I work full time but I never gave my son any processed baby foods. Only the real deal...pears, apples, mango, bananas, oranges, grapes, and carrots, squash, zuchini (sp?), peas, etc. ...maybe the chemicals in the baby foods are making your daughter constipated?? Not sure but you may want to just try the real thing instead of baby food. Also there's a Polish deli in Round Lake Beach...see if they carry a juice called Kubus. It's a carrot based juice with other fruits added...pretty pure stuff....tons of vitamins and great for keeping your child regular not a lot of sugar either. It's thick stuff...and tastes pretty good cold. Hope these suggestions help. Oh yeah, my son couldn't drink whole milk either...2% works much better for him. See if that could be the problem. Good Luck!!!

Give your child water at least 2 times a day.

I have a 6 yr. old that had trouble with this. but, he is a very picky eatter so I always blames it on that.he loves fruits and some vegi's. his dr. said it was something that he had to work on. I had to but him on the toilet with a book and train him to take his time in there. there is med. out there 4 him! (fiber stuff) do you think your child is getting enough fiber? check into it! hope this helped!!!!!!!

Hi, My name is Dee and I'm a nutritionist and a mom. My daughter use to be same. Try giving her fresh pear every day and lots of water through out the day. The pear will really help her pass her bowel w/o any strain. It did miracle for my child, ever since she started pear she is not costipated anymore. Her pedritician also recommended white grape juice but it didn't help. I hope pear works for your daughter.

Dee

I had the same problem with my 11 month old girl too! She would wake up screaming every night because she was so uncomfortable. Since you said she's a good eater, make sure she isn't getting too much protein. I switched brands of tofu and my daughter loved it so much she would eat it two fisted!! That and too much cheese. She still eats fruits/vegggies every day anyway, and loves purreed prunes, but the protein was too much. I took away the protein and cheese completely, and she was fine in two days. I just doubled up on veggies and fruit (at every meal) Blueberries work great too. And make sure she has PLENTY of water. Good luck!

My daughter had a similar problem. The doc said to avoid constipators - bananas, rice, apples - and push foods like pears and prunes. He also said if that didn't help to give her a teaspoon of Karo syrup (found in the baking aisle of the grocery store). It's concentrated corn syrup (heavy sugar) and helps to push through the system. It's apparently recommended by lots of docs and pharmacists as a way to help the system get going again. It helped her. I also made sure to give her lots of water afterward.

Hi there D., my son was also suffering from constant constipation then one day I decided to give him cut up in little pieces with the skin still on red seedless grapes, I use to peel the grapes not anymore, kid you not he pooped the skins out easy like never before a half hour after I gave him the grapes, please try it and let me know what happens, ever since I give him grapes every other day , know he poops twice a day with no problem...good luck..red seedless grapes is the key...

A.

PEARS....enough said :) Pears really work with my son. I didn't realize it had the same "abilities" as prunes, but they do for us! Good Luck.

Hi D.,
You know I found that as soon as I took my daughter off of formula and introduced her to whole milk that's when the constipation started. My sister suggested that I use 2% milk and dilute it with some water. Well, it worked! The other thing was making sure she got the right kinds of foods at daycare. Even if they had one fruit or veggie at daycare, I still made sure there was a veggie at nightime. So if she had chicken nuggets, I would also give her green beans instead of french fries. My aunt thought that wasn't a fun meal but I had to keep her little system functioning properly!

~M.

My son had/has the same problem. It started as soon as we put him on whole milk. The doctor put him on miralax (as many others have suggested). A very small does goes a long way (though you may want to do the full dose that your doctor suggests to get started and then gradually cut back). My son still cannot handle whole milk so we use 2% and that is fine. Give your daughter full fat yogurt (YoBaby is good) to make up for using low fat milk.

I also give my son a mix of prune and apple juice every day. Also give her plenty of fresh pears/watermelon. It helps. Cut back on bananas, bread and apples/applesauce (apple juice is good though). And if you are giving her lots of fiber, make sure she drinks plenty of water or else she will be in even more discomfort.

Good luck. I know how tough this can be.
aarti.

Hi D., in my daycare applesauce was a natural laxative for all of the little ones. Try regular(natural) applesauce (not baby food) and you should see a big difference!!

good luck

P.

I know everyone if different but apple juice did it for my son. Also, is there a specific food that would soften the bowel movements while still breastfeeding?

My 4 year old has the same problem, her doctor put her on miralax, which is just a poweder that you can mix with any drink and it helps loosen up the stool, it has helped her tremendously, she used to cry when she would have to go to the bathroom b/c it would hurt. Talk to your pediatrician, also push foods like applesauce, it is a natural cure, we used that on her when she was a baby, stay away from bananas they are a binding food and will make it harder.
M.

I had this problem with my daughter when she was around the same age and the doctor recommended prune juice. I would dilute it, but she hated the taste of it so I would add a little bit to what juice/water combo I would give her. She is now almost two and I still give her a little bit of prune juice with her juice/water and she hasn't had a problem since. Good luck!

D.:

My son had this problem when he was younger ( and still does if he is not given the medicine). He would bleed, scream and cry. After the pediatrician told us for about 6 months to try different things.....prunes, prune juice, pears, no rice, white grape juice, karo syrup (none of it worked) we saw a pediatric GI doctor at Lutheran (not my favorite hospital, but oh well). The doc put him on Miralax. He is on a VERY small dose and we are all much happier! Hope that helps!

My daughter would with hold her poop. Try Ben-a-fiber. You can use 1 to 2 tablespoons a day, and mix it with her juice. It is odorless and tasteless.
Good Luck
J.

Hi D.,

My son had constipation too. The prune juice really worked best from my experience, but you have to play around to see how much your child needs. Maybe you need to double the serving size, or just give her a little more. You also might need to do it for a few days consistently before you see results. If she's constipated, her system might take a while to process it. Also, the vegetables seem to work well for my little guy. Maybe you can incorporate an extra vegetable with her meals.

Good luck,
Denise