constipation

Lots of prune puree is really helpful, or pears, peaches and plums (all the P fruit!). Hydration is tricky - I found we had to just find a cup my LG liked (we use Sho bottles but she also likes tum tum), she got much better at drinking water when we figured that out.

Also people will recommend things with lots of fibre, but if she's not drinking water the fibre will make her more constipated as it needs water to help it move through the system. So maybe try to make sure she's not having too much fibre until you can get her water intake up a bit!

Regarding constipation my friend said to me to lay her down on back and do bicycle 🚴 legs 🦵 for a couple of mins. It helped my little one with wind 🌬️ x you might be able to Google video it but basically do the legs in a bicycle pattern as if she was riding one on her back x

Also try getting her to eat fruits that hydrate you if she’s not taking so well to drinking - eg watermelon, strawberries, pears etc. Oh and cucumber is a good one too! My daughter used to struggle like this, hope it eases x

Also, the Ella fruit pouches you can buy might help x

I used to sneak a oz or two of water in to foods such as purees or porridge when he wasn’t drinking enough, not sure if she would go for that?

If she takes calpol or similar use that syringe to get some water into her frequently. My lb suffers from constipation and fruits/veg along with water into between has helped. He’s still mastering the sippy cup so I use the syringe. X

Have you tried sitting her on the potty? Obviously it doesn’t solve the main issue but my little girl has been constipated since around the same age and as she was always sat down on her bum, there was no where for the poo to go. They’re always so solid!

Chamomile tea and prune puree always did the trick for us! Hope this helps

Prune puree, buy them slightly boil them and blend them. They will go within a day x

@Emma i was considering getting one for this reason but i find that nine times out of ten she’s finding it much easier to go when her legs are straight, whether that’s laying down or stood up not sure why but that’s mainly when she goes this was a rare video of her actually sitting down and pooing x

@Lorraine how did you serve the chamomile tea just in a cup or did you mix it in to food x

Get chia seeds in food or pears helped my child a lot

I gave my baby watered down apple juice as he didn’t like just water.

Has she any other symptoms to CMPA? My little one has CMPA we go prescribed milk and lactulose but didn’t really help either what did help was prune purées when she started solids from 17 weeks (dietician) and I got prescribed some movicol which was 10x better.

My son had/has similar symptoms. Water,water, water along with prune juice and Miralax has helped. However he’s 2, a little older than your daughter. Perhaps go to the ER and ask for an ultrasound? They would be able to see if she’s backed up and how much stool is trapped etc.

I strongly suggest the ultrasound. I rewatched the video. Baby girl shouldn’t be straining for a bowel movement- nor should adults ya know. Is her stomach distended?

We are finally coming out the other side of this! My daughter was on specialised formula for a milk allergy. She’s coming up to 15 months old and has struggled with constipation since starting the formula even though she doesn’t drink it any more. It was getting to the point where she’d physically strain to hold it in because she’d be shaking and crying and I’d have to lift her legs up to help her go as it was so painful! I rung 111 the other week as she’d gone 4 days without going to the toilet and they recommended speaking to a pharmacist. Pharmacist said ask doctor for movicol and also said too much fibre can cause constipation. Since starting movicol she has gone every day since and without issue and is also eating much better too! Also, even just a little tiny drop of cordial in her water might encourage her to drink more fluids, I’ve found this to be the case with my daughter. I’d definitely recommend asking her gp for movicol as it should massively help! ☺️

@Lubna i do put chia seeds in her food often hoping it would make a change but sadly not x

@Aaliyah i’ve been giving watered down orange but still not helping may be too sour though i’ll try apple this week x

@Paige i’ve tried prune purée once or twice but based on the comments ill try again, honestly she was combi fed for a few months, other than being really colicky at 4 weeks which led me to start ebf with the exception of a bottle every now and again, never had any symptoms of cmpa it was only when we started her on solids i can’t remember what caused the initial flare up but we tried greek yogurt and both times she flared up with hives

We used a breastfeeding friendly probiotic but once they are weaning you can put it in their food. It helped massively. And adding some fat into food can help (tallow for example)

@Layla i’ve seen on your profile you’re from the us, i highly doubt they would do that here in the uk, the doctors barely help as it is

@Layla think i’m going to ask for movicol based on these comments x

@Emily Yeah, we immediately got an ultrasound and x ray. My son had a lot of stool trapped. It was insane. Trying to get her to drink water will help, it’s important to get things flowing. I hope she has a nice soft BM soon

@Layla thank you!

@Emily You’re welcome! Does she have any other symptoms like vomiting or wetting less diapers? (Urine) I worked in medical for a decade. I couldn’t help but ask.

@Layla no but she’s never been one to have regular stools either

Back to the doctors and ask for laxatives. Show them this video. In the meantime try prune purées, pear puree, pea puree, diluted orange or apple juice x

Fruit and veg - in pouches of need be. My daughter is CMPA. She gets constipated. We introduced one pouch a day in the morning full of fruit and veg, and she's started to pass stools easier. She still has the odd day she struggles, though. She was also prescribed lactulose, but we found it wasn't great for her. X

@Emily Ahhh ok okay, I would definitely recommend going to an emergency room- tell them her symptoms and urge them for baby safe treatment to help soften her stool. Glycerin suppository, powdered laxative etc 🙏🏾

Magnesium citrate. Works wonderfully!

@Deb can you expand more on why it wasn’t good for her did it just not work? x

keep it simple, nothing processed, homemade if possible. dont over do it with different foods. be mindful of what you eat while breastfeeding and stick to breast milk and one pureé flavor while she stabilizes. spoonfuls of water when necessary or use suringe. rub tummy, soothe. try boiling mint and spoon fulls of mint tea. good luck xx

@Emily worked at first, and then it stopped working. Like she got used to it. My Dr said to bring her back, and he'd prescription movicol. The Dr did say the lactulose is better, but some babies don't work for them. X

@Deb feel like this could be my little girl as well, or it’s seemingly having the opposite effect as i forgot a dose yesterday (very rarely happens) and she pooed 4 times

You can also try a months worth of probiotics. Won't be a fast solution but it can help in the long term.

My doctor gave my little babs Movicol which works a treat. Go back to doctors!

Hi Emily, my 2 year old daughter has been suffering from constipation, since when she was born. She would poop only 3 times a month, and she was on breast milk then. It was a very strange experience, because I had 3 kids before her and they pooped multiple times a day and she pooped 3 times a month. We struggled with that for over a year trying all kinds of things that didn’t work for her. Long story short, her pediatrician prescribed laxative, I was reluctant to use it because I thought she was too young for that. Then I decided to give it a try. And guess what? That is the only thing that worked. She poops 2 to 3 times a day with going through the pain. Talk to your child’s doctor, they should be able to prescribe something. Good luck ❤️

Sorry, maybe a silly question, but if they have a possible dairy allergy, should they be on lactulose? It is made from dairy

Similar to above my son struggled since he was a month old and I went doctors countless times, we found movicol to be better than lactulose but then I had enough of giving him medicine so started giving him raisin juice that you make yourself and we’ve not had to use laxatives since! Just fill a cup with some raisins and pour boiling water double the amount of raisins you put in, leave it over night and give the liquid the next day. Doesn’t need a lot but I used to give him half one day put it in the fridge and do half the next day x

You can get glycerine suppositories on Amazon, just pop one up there and they’ll go within 30mins. Request to change to movicol if lactulose isn’t working. And strongly recommend a probiotic like biogaia or optibac is suitable for vegans therefore dairy free xx

@Emmo it’s not actually the lactose that bothers her it’s the proteins in the milk, as far as i’m aware she can have lactulose they wouldn’t have prescribed it if not as the doctors are aware of her suspected allergy x

I've not read every comment so may be duplicating but my son had some nasty periods of constipation after he started solids. He also was a terrible drinker, couldn't manage sippy cups and never had a bottle in any form. We did 1 part prune juice to 4 parts water and I just used a calpol syringe to try get him to take a little through out the day which helped the hydration and the constipation. Other times when he wasn't so backed up but hadn't pooped for longer than his usual I just watered down some prune puree slightly and he'd have a few mouthfuls of that with his meal and seemed to help keep things moving giving it to him just a little every few days until he started drinking better. He loved fruit pouches even though he was mostly blw so would give him one a day watered down a bit to try keep up his water intake.

Have you tried giving her gentle abdominal massages to help unblock any trapped waste in her body? You can find videos on YouTube to help guide you on how to do it. There are a couple of known places that poo can get blocked up in adults and infants/children. I first learned how to give this type of massage to myself to help with tummy issues. When my son was born, I noticed him fussing a lot, seemingly in discomfort, and slow to go poo. So, I tried these massages on him, and within 30 mins, he would poo every time and be relieved. It would help all his discomfort and relax him. He's 2.5 years old now, and it still works if he's having tummy troubles. I think some people are just more inclined to have blockages, but medicine is not always needed. I never used any medicine to help him. I hope this information can help you and your little one.

@Emmo lactose is the sugar in cows milk, cmpa is the actual proteins. I was told by a dietitian last week that it’s very rare for babies to be lactose intolerant so things with lactose in are fine. I was surprised!

@Lauryn thanks, I know that, but the main post said milk allergy, not cmpa, so I didn't know which allergy it was.

@Emmo ahh ok yeah, I just instantly assumed cmpa and then didn’t think of the wording of the op ☺️

I swear by chia seeds for constipation my daughter suffered awful until I started giving them to her. I would put some in a yoghurt or roll a banana in some lots of ways to use them. Diluted orange juice is good too

My girl was the same, I tried every potion and that going and nothing worked. All the baby massage etc, did nothing, even did a course. I changed her milk to SMA lactose free (it had lactose in it) got it from boots, trialed it for 2 weeks and she was a different baby. I then got the milk on prescription, I had to demand it though as doctors just kept fobbing me off and I had enough. I also went to an osteopath for cranial therapy for her, we only did 4/5 sessions, again not sure if it worked but we did these at the time milk was changing and it can only be these sessions or changing the milk that worked. I have a college near me that does treat patients for like £25 rather than the £60 a session as they are students but the teacher treats the baby. Worth having a look if you have one local and giving it ago. My girl went so red I thought her head was going to explode, she’d only poo once every 5-7 days. I found all the potions they gave me backed her up even more x