My daughter has been screaming in pain every time she has a bowel movement. This has been going on since around 8 and 1/2 months and she in now 11 months. My doctor recommended adding pure bran to her food which I have been doing for 3 months now. It seemed a bit better for a few weeks, but seems to not be working anymore. I will discussing this at her 1 year check-up. But it is breaking my heart every time she goes...has anyone else ever heard of this before and if so what did you do to help this situation??
-Anonymous
16 comments:
What else are you feeing her? A lot of dairy can back a child up very easily. Is she a big fruit and veggie eater? I would try and get more of that into her if I were you. My kids love fruit smoothies, and they seem to keep them verrrry regular. lol
My son had this same problem and continues to struggle with it. He is 13 months now and some days are better then others. Our doctor told us to add lactulose to his milk to helop soften his stools. This i found works but I dont like to give to much of it. I agree try introducing lots of fruits into her diet!
Her diet is excellent. She is still breast feeding which contains a natural stool softener. She eats lots of veggies, fruits, lentils, the only dairy is a yogurt with her lunch which again is supposed to help. I don't know if it is her diet or not. But she gets so much fibre in her food it is hard to imagine that it is. I am hesitant about adding a colase or any other stool softener to her food as it won't solve the problem and her body may become dependant on it.
one thing is to be careful not too much apple juice or bananas and any white juices are good to keep regular such as pear juice or white grape.
Are you giving her extra fluids along with the bran? Extra fiber can have the opposite effect if you don't add in more fluids with it so make sure she's drinking lots too. And if she's on iron enriched formula plus iron enriched cereal you probably need to change one or the other (usually the cereal is easiest) because it can be constipating too.
What do her stools look like? Are the really hard or are they soft? If they're still really hard you may need to give a laxative for a little while or a stool softener (I'd go for the softener first...it's easier on them) but if they are soft and she's still screaming in pain, it may be a reactive thing and not actually her in pain. She could have had one painful bowel movement and never forgot it and now every time she has to go, she associates it with pain.
I went through the same thing with my little girl when she was around that age. I talked it over with my doctor and she said that she was getting to much iron and that I should switch her from formula to whole milk. All of the foods and formula have lots of iron and it was o much for her. I made the switch and never had the problem again.Good luck!!
My daughter had the same problem for about 6 mths. I tried more bran and even prunes. Neither seemed to help her. I started giving her apples, 2 a day (most days anyways) one with breakfast and one as a before bed snack. It has helped her so much. It took a few days to start working, but as long as she eats apples, she's fine. Hopefully it will work for you. I'm not sure if applesauce will work the same though...
I just wrote about the apples...I also had tried cutting back on dairy and using an infant laxative..neither seems to help.
Thanks everybody for your help. I was wondering myself maybe if it was iron. She is not getting any from formula as she is still exclusively breast feeding. But I think I will try cutting down her cereal from twice a day to once. I have never given her juice only water with her meals. Thanks again!! Any other suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Are you taking a multivitamin with Iron in it? That might be your culprit too. In the early months, it can be important for mom to have some extra iron but at this point you probably don't need it unless your doctor tells you otherwise.
also remember that all veggies are not the same. dark green veggies tend to be best at working their laxative magic, like brussel sprouts, romaine lettuce, green beans, etc. potatoes and turnip on the other hand dont work as well.
another thing you can try is to five her warm water.
I have never had a long term constipation issue with my dd but i do find that when she eats apple sauce, her poo is like she a little baby again.. not solid at all.
do you think she might be holding it? if she once had a hard poop and it hurt her, she might hold it to try and not go which could make it worse. i dont really know what you can do about it, but i have heard this happening before.
Actually, she goes almost everyday and it is usually quite hard. 90% of the time it is as she is eating her lunch. I reduced her cereal, started giving her apple pieces instead of apple puree and colase. So I'll cross my fingers and hope this makes things "smoother". Thanks for all your help!
AT this point just skip the cereal all together. I'm sure she's getting enough iron in her diet both from your breastmilk which is easier to absorb then the additives in the cereal.
Also make sure that since she is still under 12months that Breastmilk is still the majority of her food sources, and some oils might help as well olive oils or canola oils in her diet can help things move along. :)
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