My baby was born prematurely and he just came home from the NICU on Monday. They gave me ready to eat formula. I fed him all of it. Then they also gave me some more formula, which I thought was ready to eat, and I gave it to him, and it wasnt. I was supposed to refrigorate it, and I didnt. Then I went and bought him some powder formula, and I let my fiance's mom watch him and she didnt heat up the formula. Could this cause him to be consipated? HE hasnt pooped in two days. He has been grunting and crying. I have called his prediatrician, and all he said was he can go 3 to 4 days without pooping and to give him an ounce of apple juice. What do I do? Have I hurt my baby?
2007-07-15 05:39:38 · 18 answers · asked by jessinay2007 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
K McCo has the right idea - another thing you can do is use a tiny sliver of soap (glycerin or ivory) as a suppository - it'll make him do a do in 10 minutes.
2007-07-16 08:27:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
omg, DON'T give him apple juice. i cannot believe the dr. suggested that. when he's that young. don't give your kid that sugar!!
my oldest was in the nicu for 3 months (he's 4 now and still itty bitty!). anyhow, he had problems with constipation and i gave him glycerin suppositories. they were fleet brand. don't get the enemas on accident!!
the suppositories come in a little round tub only about 1 1/2 inches high. typically they're on the bottom shelf usually too so they're easy to miss. i think they come on a pack of like 8. what you'll do is cut it in half lengthwise and then i half widthwise. ....shove it up his little behind...if he doesn't poo in like 4 hours give him another little bitty one.
i'd do that every 4 hours until i went through one whole suppository (so 4 little sticks).
i'm sure he'll go by the time you get to the second one. if he goes once but, it doesn't seem to be "enough" go ahead and wait awhile and give him one more.
we went through a lot of these when my little one came home till he was about 7 months old.
he wasn't even given formula..it was breast milk through a bottle and he was still consitpated. i think it was more related to other health issues he had from his premature birth and such.
so yeah, try the fleet suppositories of babies/toddlers....they come in a blue and white tub on the bottom shelf at wal-marts and other drugstores. they only cost like $2-3 and last a long time!
i really hope this helps!
2007-07-15 05:57:40 · answer #2 · answered by K. McCo 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You know, esp with premature babies (I had one) you worry over every little thing. But really, the babies are babies, just like all the rest. They're tough. If they're constipated, they let you know. He drank formula that hadn't been heated, so now you know he doesn't care about cold or hot formula. Apple juice is a natural laxative. Baby will be fine in no time.
Take a look at your formula. Does it have iron in it? Iron makes kids constipated.
You really don't have to know that much to raise a baby because they will tell you if you're not doing it right. If you had hurt your baby, he'd be howling his head off. But he's not, right? He's fine. You're doing a great job as a mother, and you have a great pediatrician backing you up. You're doing great!!
2007-07-15 05:54:22 · answer #3 · answered by TX Mom 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I am sorry but I have to ask: Why on earth aren't you breastfeeding your baby? You would not be having ANY of these problems if you were breastfeeding. Your baby would not be constipated and there would not be a problem with how you mixed the "formula" or whether or not it was supposed to be refrigerated. Breastmilk is always the perfect temperature and you do not have to mix anything. You don't say how old your baby is but I am sure that you could still produce milk. Get in touch with the lactation consultant at the hospital where he was born and tell her what you want to do. It will take time and effort but you could still give your baby the ultimate gift of his mothers milk. Why would you deprive him of it in the first place? If he was premature he needed it more than a full term baby. Didn't anyone in the hospital explain all this to you? Didn't anyone tell you any of these things?
I am saying this because you sound like a loving mother, you sound like you really love your little baby. So why aren't you breast feeding him? Did you know that just your colostrum alone protects your newborn against 7 potentially FATAL diseases? And that is just the colostrum! Your milk continues to do the same thing as he grows. You do not want your baby to get sick when he is still so fragile and breastfeeding is the very best way to protect him from that. I am just so surprised that you are not breastfeeding him. I would have thought that someone in the hospital would have encouraged you to breastfeed and explained the huge benefits to you. The fact that your baby is premature makes him that much more fragile. He really needs the protection of your milk!
What you should do, right now, the very next time he wakes up, is to put him to your breast and see if he will suckle. If he will that is fantastic. That means that he still has that instinct to nurse! If he will nurse at all, make sure that you let him nurse for as long as he will, when he gets fussy you will have to go ahead and let him have the bottle. Everytime that you think he will suckle, let him, every time that he is fussy, nurse him, and before you let him have a bottle always try to get him to nurse! If you keep doing this, and if you get a pump from the hospital to use when the baby is not interested you will be able to relactate. Every single drop that you can get will be like magic to your sweet baby, Just think, if you had been breastfeeding him all along none of this would be going on. Breastfeeding takes all the guess work out of feeding a baby. You just pick him up and put him to your breast. Then you let nature take its course. It is so easy. At night all you have to do is snuggle the baby down next to you and he will eat when he is hungry and both of you will sleep all night. You change sides and diapers once in awhile and there is nothing more to do. You will get a good nights sleep every night and so will your precious baby. Night time feedings are so important because your baby will nurse more often when you are right there next to him. He will feel you next to him and it will encourage him to breastfeed. You will be surprised the huge difference that a few nights nursing him will make.
I know that you will probably not listen to me and probably not take my advice and that makes me sad. Your baby needs your milk more than most babies do, yet he will probably be deprived of it. If you had it in your heart to breastfeed him you probably would have already been doing it. I have helped so many mothers in your situation nurse their premature babies, nurse premature twins, nurse under all kinds of difficult circumstances but most important of all there has to be that determination to breast feed your baby. Evidently you did not want to do it.
If I am wrong and you DO want to nurse your baby ( and I will pray that I am wrong) then please contact your hospital's Lactation Consultant or contact La Leche League. Either one will be a tremendous source of information. They will help you get started. I am sure that it is not too late.
I will be thinking about you and hoping that you and your baby will be alright.
Love and Blessings
Lady Trinity~
2007-07-15 06:22:05 · answer #4 · answered by Lady Trinity 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
i am a new mommy too... my son when he came home I was breastfeeding but he wasnt getting enough milk so I had to supplement with formula. it caused him to get constipated. get the apple prune juice....for very 1oz of juice mix it with 2oz of water...it works great. You didnt hurt your baby for being new moms we all make mistakes....you dont have to heat the formula everytime as long as it is room temperature cause really cold stuff will give them a belly ache! Good luck and Congratulations!
2007-07-15 06:07:46 · answer #5 · answered by Mommy0607 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ok... the formula mix up isn't great, but it won't hurt him. Just becareful in the future. The warm bottles are easier on his tummy. Cold bottles will leave him with upset tummies so just continue to warm them in the future. Pooping, you can add about an ounce of Karo Syrup to his bottles and that should help move his bowels along. Apple juice works to, but I always found that Karo worked better with my kids and day care kids. You have not hurt your baby and by all means if this is the worst you've done, you've beaten me by far... LOL Keep up the good work mom!
2007-07-15 05:45:35 · answer #6 · answered by Kishauna_P 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Odds are your baby is going to be just fine. Just make sure from now on you read the instructions carefully. How early was your preemie? I had premies twice and if you just need to talk to somebody thats been there Feel free to email me. Good luck and congrats on maling it home from the NICU.
2007-07-15 07:26:05 · answer #7 · answered by thumpergirl_1979 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually I had this happen with my son when he went from ready made to powder formula. Its normal for a baby to become constipated when switching to powdered formula. I noticed a big difference in my childrens bowl movements when I used powdered vs. ready made. Make sure it is being mixed properly with accurate measuring equipment.
2007-07-15 05:44:05 · answer #8 · answered by Indiana Raven 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
first of congrats on the little one:)
actually its very normal for a newborn to not stool for a few days, his little body isn't wasting anything.
try switching formulas,maybe a soy based will work for him something that's not that heavy on his tummy.
also room temperature formula doesn't constipate the baby
(so i was told by my pediatrician)
try giving your baby some massages with petroleum jelly
this will help him go
if he doesn't pass a stool after that take him in
good luck :)
2007-07-15 05:49:20 · answer #9 · answered by m 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
dont worry yet it happenes alot if the juice dont work u will probably have to help it out sounds gross i know but little vaseline on the end of a qtip works wonders if u r afraid to do it have someone who knows how (ur mom) do it i was scared the first time but by the time u get to # 4 its nothing lol good luck and congrats on your new addition
2007-07-15 05:44:34 · answer #10 · answered by Tiffany M 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋