My 5 month old daughter is still having hard little turd/poo balls every other day. She is regular as this is her habit since birth, every other day. What should the consistency be, she has been on many different formulas the latest being soy. We have a lot of straining with bm and had one episode with a little bit of blood. The doctor said to keep giving her pear juice but increase from 2 to 4 oz every day, does this seem right? She also mentioned putting pureed prunes in her bottle with the formula since she just started food last week. She won't eat rice cereal at all but seemed o.k. with the green beans. HELP I feel like every decision I make is going to screw this sweet, beautiful, fantastic baby up.
(I had a breast reduction and was unable to breast feed, I know that breast milk is best but not an option)
It turns out my daughter is brand sensitive; right before all the issues started we switched to a store brand from the enfamil brand. Since switching back she had been fine, back on her schedule and no straining. We also haven't had to give any juice since the switch. Thank you to the mama who mentioned the corn starch sensitivity for some reason that is what triggered my memory about the brand change.
pear juice is fine.. prunes are fine too.. some kids are more prone to constipation.. others more prone to diahrrea. I would not feed her rice cereal it is very constipating..oatmeal baby cereal was better for my child who was prone to constipation.
your dr is giving you good advice.. pears prunes and peaches are good for constipation.
My daughter had this problem too. The little bit of blood was probably a tiny tear from pushing hard poops. The formulas have so much iron in them and that is usually the cause for the hard poops, at least once a day I would add water to my daughters formula and that also helped(she was on soy because of her milk allergy). Give a little prune juice or grape juice, just make sure you water them down. Do not give rice cereal or bananas they will also create hard poops. Keep giving veggies, they will help too.
I know this sound gross, but put Vaseline on her hiney (a generous amount on her butt hole) before she poops, this will help the poos slide out.
My daughter did this when she was on powdered formula. She had a cornstarch sensitivity so she had to be on the pre-mix, try that and see how she does, it's more expensive but she wouldn't poop unless she was on it so we didn't have a choice.
Yes, rice cereal is very constipating! Oatmeal is ok though if she wants it. I found that prune juice is best for constipation. Also, think about sprinking a tiny bit of child/baby probiotics in her bottle. Talk to your doctor about the formula though. It doesn't sound like it's the best one for her.
Something I was told to do for my twins with this problem was to add dark karo syrup to their bottles about a tablespoon. it seemed to help. You might check with your doctor and ask.. I wasnt fond of the idea but it beat whiney babies with rock hard bellies and tummy aches. Also we had to take a vaseline covered q-tip and just insert into the anus and rub it around just the edges when they got really bad or I could tell they were straining to go that always gave them relief.
Talk to your doc about Miralax (or the generic equivalent). I'm not sure at what age you can start. Basically, you add it to juice (could be pear or prune) and give 2 oz of the mixture to the little one a day. You can ramp it up or down, depending on how well it's working. It's pretty gentle. We use it, when needed, for my little one, but we started when she was around 1yo.
My daughter had this problem as well. I used to have to give her juices several times a day, and for my daughter, apple juice worked the best. I also used prune juice a lot. At some point, the doctor gave me a medication to add to her formula to help with the constipation, and that worked.
