My daughter is 7 months old is goes 5-6 days without a bowel movement. What can I do?

Question

I give her apple-prune juice and the baby fruits to help, but they dont seem to help...I have been giving her supporties after a few days and then she will have one, but it is really hard and she cries and strains when she passes it...what can i do to get her more regular and softer stools?

Answer 1

You really need to talk to her pediatrician about this...that is WAY too long for a bm. I am speaking from experience because I have a disabled toddler with severe constipation issues. If it didn't happen after 5 days she would be in the ER. You can't keep giving her suppositories to make it happen..this will make her dependent on them to go and her intestines will get more "lazy". There are medicated powders (Miralax) that you Dr. could prescribe or milk of magnesia is better to start on and is over the counter. Of course you should add lots of fibre like pears, prunes and juices. Bananas will make it worse. Make sure she gets LOTs of water but don't let her go more than 2 days without a bm!

Answer 2

Recently my two month old was constipated and straining to have a bowel movement. She was extremely fussy and uncomfortable, so I called our pediatrician to find out what I could do to help. The nurse called me back and reccomend an ounce of prune juice for every four ounces she drinks. Then she said that it's actually very normal for babies under 6 months old to go as much as seven days without a BM. She said that if my daughter is straining, then to go with the prune juice, but if she isn't straining then just wait it out. I'd say your son is normal. Don't worry too much about it, unless he seems obviously uncomfortable. Good luck!

Answer 3

I've been there. Here's what I did and my dd never had that problem again. Try pear juice instead. (2-3 oz diluted with 2 oz of water every day.) It's MUCH gentler on the stomach and works just as good if not better. Also consider eliminating rice cereal if your are feeding that to her and switch to and oatmeal apple blend or an oatmeal pear blend for breakfast. Also try to cut back or eliminate bananas until she is more regular. Make sure she is having balanced dinner (protein, carbohydrate/ fruit or veggie)
Dinner ideas: Pick 1 stage 2 jar from each list.

Contains a Protein:
Apples and chicken blend
Turkey/veg blend
Chicken noodle
Beef and carrots

Vegetable:
peas
carrots
sweet potatoes

And if your daughter is on a formula which is iron fortified, you may choose to eliminate cereal all together or feed it to her every other day until she builds up a tolerance to oatmeal. Be sure she has gentle formula like Nestle Goodstart Easy to Digest. And try a bottle and 1 jar of fruit for breakfast on the alternating days or eliminate all cereal every day until she is back to normal. Be sure to count how many ounces of formula she is getting to ensure she has an appropriate iron level. approx. 28 - 32 oz formula per day is good.

Good luck:)

Answer 4

my son had the same problem first i inserted an infant suppository I then gave him 2oz of water n 2oz of prune juice. Soon after he began his bowel movement. u should try this it really works take it from a mom who couldn't sleep at night just watching her newborn cry. Its really sad to see them constipate. just keep in mind that u must give her water at least once a day. n its ok to give her the prune juice every 4hrs n the suppository once a day, also try rubbing her tummy go down and around. good luck and best wishes

Answer 5

my son has hard bowels and the only formula he can handle is formula with iron and soo he has to have Karo in every bottle.his doc wants him to go 2-3 times a day cuz he has a belly button hernia. Karo syrup helps.. put some in her bottles.. is she breatfeed? if not then try a no-low iron formula.or low-no iron cereal... does she drink water? water helps too! apples mess with my son`s tummy so he gets white grape juice and it seems to help you can try that..remimber to only do 1 new thing every 4-5 days soo you know if it`ll keep her regular and make sure to start after her next bowel soo you know the exact days it takes to work.. plz check with her doctor.. and keep a close eye on her for allergies or irritability.. good luck

Answer 6

I would give her straight prune juice, if she wont have it straight try mixing in her bottle of milk, like every feed til things get moving, then you can decrease it and just put a bit in each bottle to keep her regular. I used to do 1/3 prune juice with 2/3 's formula. You can also try 1 heaped teaspoon of brown sugar in each bottle for 3 days.

Answer 7

try a spoonful of dark karo syrup or a q tip with vasoline around her rectum helps ease some of the straining and makes it easier lots of water we also used to give our daughter the baby prunes daily she ate them like candy but they really helped the juice is mostly sugar and can make matters worse

Answer 8

My doctor had me use Dark Karo in her formula. Then some other stuff that was dark too but I forget the name. I bet a pharmacist would know though.

I sure hope you've discussed this with her doctor. it is normal and does happen but her doctor needs to be advised of this happening.

Here, read the advice of Dr. Greene or Web MD.

Answer 9

My daughter had a similar problem at around that age and her pediatrician told me to mix some dark sugar with water and let her drink it instead of juice for about three days and that helped...(it has to be sweet)

Answer 10

I would look for her to poop everyday. if she had not gone by dinner time each night, I would probably give her a slice of a glycerin suppository. My little girl couldn't go good at first either, but if you wait a few days, that's not fair to her, makes her booty hurt, and you know that she doesn't understand. Maybe try giving her more water in her diet. I gave Maecy dark Karo syrup in water in her bottle, I think that it helped. I know at this point, you just want her to go with ease. Good luck, just make sure she goes every day.