HELP! Constipated bubba!

Dare I suggest lactose free? I don't really know if it would make any difference...

I rang health line a few weeks back and for babies not on solids yet the recommendation is extra cooled boiled water, 5mls fruit juice to 50mls cooled boiled water. Dare I say lactulose!?
What about having a bath with bubbah and feeding her in there (with a little bit of help from someone else of course) it is warm and relaxing and babies tend to go when they are feeding and warm. Cycling the legs, use a cotton ball with warm water to wipe their anus. Gentle tummy massage or tummy time with gentle pressure on the small of the back. Anything short of an enema!!
Olivia's bowels go really well on Karicare regular and Karicare gold.
Good Luck!

We tried all that too toni. We found though that Weleda Baby Colic Powder seemed to clear her out! I guess because she was burping and farting more so she was letting out all the gas instead of saving it in her tum and bum. You can get it from the pharmacy or Hardys. You just mix 1/4tsp with a tablespoonful of water or straight (so the jar says, but who wants to chew on powder?!)

Be very careful with Coloxyl! We tried that with Ashlee and found it actually gave her a sore tum, rather than cured it!! AND I never thought to look, but the ingredients in it is ethanol. That surely can't be great for a precious wee pure tum!

Thanks for the tips ladies!
Will definitely be swapping to Karicare (sho long do you think it should take before we see any improvement? I know all babies are different but one tin? two tins?)

Kirsten, Do you know if you can use that colic powder with Infacol? We've found that the Infacol (in the mouth, tried in the bottle-did nadda for her!) is the ONLY thing that will help her colic.

I remember everyone saying to us that the first 6 weeks are the hardest! I reckon it's the next 6 weeks after! Our first month was a breeze!

haha- just read through everyone elses posts- seems like karicare is pretty good

I guess it is safe to use the powder with Infacol. The powder is all natural and we used to alternate feeds with Infacol and the powder. We've stopped using it now because Ashlee is all cleared up.

We started on Karicare and switched to Heinz when her constipation wasn't getting any better!! Karicare is a heavier formula than Heinz. It may help Caitlin though.

And I agree! Our first month was a breeze too!!! Then we had a few nightmare-ish weeks in there after that with feeding and pooping so I know just how you feel

Sorry we haven't had too much problem with this but I hope you find somethign that works soon Toni Oh and I wouldnt try soy unless you talk with someone (GP, Plunket...) first as apparently soy is more difficult for little bubs tummies to break down.

I would say be very careful on lactulose.. for some it doesn't work.. My older sister's boy has had huge probs with constipation all his life.. he has been on a laxative since 4 months old and he is now 4 years old. He was admitted to hospital last year and they did a scan to find he was backed up right up his bowel all the way up to his chest. This is despite being on nearly 40 mls of lactulose a day coupled with prune jiuce and all that other stuff, you name it my sister has tried it. He had to go through hell to clear it with a heap of medical help, and he no longer actually has much muscle strength in his bowel to be able to get things moving, so it just happens time and time again.

The thing is, if you up the dosage of lactulose.. after a while it becomes less effective, so the dose is upped again, and again, and after a while the body looses it's own chemical ways of doing the same thing.. so it's all up to the meds.

This is the worst case scenario though, so don't freak out, just be aware that using some products early on can lead to having to use stronger things later.

I think the latest with him is that they are now thinking he may have to have surgery so that he can have a stoma thing formed for my sister to flush saline through from the outside each day. poor little guy.

Edited by mum2paris

Oh - and lactulose works by sucking water into the bowel - which means you really do have to make sure that there is enough fluid in her system. Instead of watering down the formula, try and get her to drink a little bit of water - even if it is only 5mls at a time regularly throughout the day. The extra water made the biggest difference for us.

After yet another day of painful pooping for my girl (at least she's going!) we have an appointment with a Homeopath which was recommended by the Karitane nurse at the Plunket Family Rooms. Will let you know how it goes. I've given up all hope with my new GP (changed GPs as my previous lovely GP doesn't do kiddies and I wanted us to have the same GP). So here starts the search for a GP that doesn't make me feel like a paranoid mum! I know when my girl is needing medical help and I don't take the decision lightly to take her to the GP 3 times in one week - this woman thinks all is solved by telling me what a good job I'm doing, patting me on the back and sending me away all in the allocated 10 mins appointment slot