When should my baby start poohing on his own?

Question

My baby has been drinking prune apple juice for 3 months now, He is 6 months old. I was wondering when he will start poohing on his own? He relies on it to pooh, if he doesn't drink his 2 portions of juice in a day his stool's are hard.. When does he start poohing on his own without the juice? Is this something to be concerned about He is almost 7 months old and i just starting giving him the juice twice a day, because once a day wasn't working. im afraid there's something wrong with his stomach.. but his doctor keeps telling me there's nothing wrong.. just keep giving him the juice, but it doesn't make any sense why my baby would have to relie on juice inorder for him too pooh?!?!

He is on lactose free formula, because he had problems with all the other formula, his doctor told me start him on the juice... I know it was early but i can't really argue with the doctor.. she's suppose to know what shes talking about. His pooh comes out in a circle.. its not rock hard, but its not really soft either. He was eating rice cereal but i notice his poohs were getting harder so i stopped that, and as for foods, he only like sweet potatoes.. and for fruits he eats strawberry's and apple's. thats the only thing he likes also. He's a very pickey eater

Also she did check him, and said nothing is wrong with him, he just has problems poohing, and that the juice should work.. If not once a day then twice.. and she told me not to water it down either!!?!? My baby is almost 7 months now, Should i be giving him plain water too>

Answer 1

Hi. I understand your pain. I had to actually give my baby suppositories until she was 7 months old to get her to poo.

She is now 21 months and fine with her pooing.

I also have a 3 year old who has had major bowel problems and was in hospital last weekend for major constipation pains..I'll try and remember everything we have done and what was recommended....

Sometimes the bowel is just immature. All of the specialists I have seen have told me to wait until they are one (unless they are having major issues - eg, tearing, bleeding etc) before worrying too much. As their food intakes begins to change, with texture as well as variety, and their reliance on formula diminishes, their bowel movements should become better...(it did for my little one)

Good on you for taking him off the rice cereal - its notorious for hard stools. Have you tried him on wheat cereal? He still needs fibre. Milk unfortunately is another thing that can harden stools. (My daughter was also on the lactose free formula and there aren't too many brands to change)

Maybe change the formula now he is 6 months old.. He's a little older and may actually tolerate what he couldn't tolerate before??

Pumpkin is great for loosening stools.. can you trick him into having that instead of sweet potatos??

Also, try and get as much water into him as possible. Eg, before a bottle, give him a couple of sips of water..

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about the juice. At least its working!! Its when you have to start giving laxatives and suppositories it starts to get worrying as the bowel begins to get a bit lazy (although my doctor said that as long as we gave the suppositories etc up by her first birthday, she shouldn't start to rely on them)

Um, what else? Have you tried belly massages? Rub firmly clockwise over his belly a couple of times a day.

There are drops you can get from the chemist, that aren't laxatives persay...My doctor was quite happy with giving our daughter them for a few months...They are just over the counter, I can't remember what they were called though I'm sorry.

I am trying to remember what else...Try and stay away from potatos, too much bread/rice etc...

I'm sorry I'm not much help!! My brain has gone to mush.

Answer 2

I'm assuming that he has been eating fruits and vegetables and cereal and still having problems. Many times this clears up on its own when they are off formula or breast milk. If he is not straining and the doctor has examined him and feels that noting is physically wrong then dont worry. If it continues as he gets older, perhaps it may be time for the doctor to run tests to see if there are internal problems. Most of these things clear up in time. Until then, keep giving him watered down juice to help out.

Answer 3

You didn't mention if he's on formula or breastfed. either way it sounds like what you're feeding him is causing an allergic reaction. He shouldn't have constipation like that and starting juice at 3 months is definately not advised. Definately consult your pediatrician. It may be as simple as switching formulas.

Answer 4

Babies shouldn't have juice that young....crazy that a doctor would tell you that. We changed formula and it helped.

Also, my child was breastfed for the first 8 months, and still had constipation issues.

Answer 5

His formula may have too much iron for his digestive system, My daughter had the same problem with her son..she switched to formula with no iron and he was able to poop on his own within a week.

Answer 6

If his poo is hard and pebbly he is constipated. If that is the case he needs to drink more water... and less sugary drinks. My son had a problem pooing but he was not constipated. At 6moths we gave him rice cereal and then he was able to push it out on his own.
Good luck.

Answer 7

If you ate junk food, you'd have trouble "poohing," right? You need a reasonably healthy and balanced diet or you run into problems taking a dump.

Formula = not very nutritious; lacking plenty of things babies require for optimal health...

So, yeah, you're going to run into problems.

Answer 8

give your baby an enema. it will help him to learn how to use though mussels.