Baby constipated...HELP!

Kristina - posted on 01/22/2009

My son went through the same thing. I increased his veggies, and decreased his cereal feedings to 1-2 Tbsps, twice a day, mixed with veg or fruit. I also stick with oatmeal more than rice cereal. I was also worried that he was a little dehydrated (a cause for constipation), and started giving him a bottle or sippy cup with 3 oz of water in it plus a little splash of apple juice for taste that he sips from throughout the day and his poops went from hard, little nuggets to squishy logs (sorry for the gross description!). Maybe try to increase his water intake and decrease the formula to 4-6 oz per feed. He might be getting too much iron from the formula and cereals, which is also a cause for constipation. Good luck!

Jeanette - posted on 01/22/2009

we used karo on our little boy also julie , and it worked great . since his hernia has been repaired he no longer needs it though .

Janette - posted on 01/22/2009

My sister-in-law (who has 4 kids) told me that they become constipated when beginning cereal because their poop becomes more solid and they don't really know how to deal with it at first. Whenever we have that problem, I give her about an ounce or 2 of the baby apple juice (which is what I was told by my dr.) and everything's fine again. :)

Julie - posted on 01/22/2009

ok here is the magic potion for constipation.... I scrolled down to see if anybody suggested it and it doesnt look like anybody knows.  You put a teaspoon of Karo dark brown syrup in his bottle.  Yes the baking Karo syrup (hope I am spelling it right).  This will take care of the constipation problem.  Anytime he is constipated do this. 

Christina - posted on 01/22/2009

When Mycah hasn't pooped for a day I feed him prunes.  It works great on him and he likes it (never had to try anything else).  I've never heard of cereal causing consitpation but he's been on a little cereal in his bottle since he was just a couple weeks old due to reflux.  He won't eat rice cereal by itself (he spits it out).  So he gets oatmeal and a fruit mixed.  He loves it.

Good Luck

Kiri - posted on 01/22/2009

If it's really bad you could go to the chemist (or your doctor) and get some lactulose or whatever it is they recommend for babies. another way is to feed him a teaspoon of brown sugar (lactulose is a synthetic sugar anyway), or give him a teaspoon of prune juice diluted with about 20ml of water. I had problems with constipation with my bub as he has to be on formula and it was really the lactulose and then a maintenance program of prune juice that got him through it. have you considered mashing poop friendly fruit with the cereal? apple or plum, things like that?

Marnie - posted on 01/21/2009

My boy's diapers change everytime we change his food even in the slightest. He was down to diapers once every three days for a while, but now that we are giving him lots of veggies etc, he is pretty much back to once a day again. One time he was truly constipated (pushed and pushed with no results and was obviously uncomfortable) when we switched from breast to formula, so trust me you'll definitely know if it is a painful problem for them, because you can see it in their little faces. Good luck.

Lenni - posted on 01/21/2009

hi frances my daughter will be 6months on friday and we also deal with constipation I feed her barley cereal and she poops just fine now I hope this helps.