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   oneplusone  
   
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     Topic: Any tips on relieving constipation?     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:01am | 
 
 
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   Jonathan is nearly 6 months and has never had regular bowel movements.   While exclusively breast fed he would go 1-2 weeks before poo-ing with an alltime record of 3 weeks once.   He didn't seem to be uncomfortable and poos came out normally (when they finally arrived).  However he is now on solids and I do not want him going that long again.  I am including kiwicrush and fennel tea in my diet to assist and as he's only been on solids for just over a week, I've only just introduced fruits for him.  Any other tips to keep things moving?  I mentioned my concern to the Doctor and he said he could prescribe some bowel stimulant if it comes to that but I would rather avoid drugs if I can.
    
   
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   Bizzy  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:08am | 
 
 
  
   
   
   irregular bowel motions are normal.  lots of kids can go weeks in between, so be careful you dont make him too loose!     
    
   
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   peachy  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:08am | 
 
 
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   Boil up a couple of prunes and give him the juice, thats what I do when Lauren hasn't been in a couple of days and it keeps her fairly regular!
    
   
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   popcorn  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:10am | 
 
 
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   prune juice or i know of a lady who puts prunes in with her babies mashed veges, the baby loves them! to make the juice i think you boil the prunes and then use the liquid? can anyone confirm that? 
 
 warm brown sugar and water but thats probably for an older child 
 
 avoid too much apples in his diet they can clog babies up, learnt that one the hard way!
    
   
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   kebakat  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:17am | 
 
 
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   We give watered down prune juice every day to Daniel and have done for months. He looooves it. If you buy a 2L container of it (for about $5 from memory) and it lasts for ages and I just give him 50/50 of prune juice/water and it always keeps him regular.
    
   
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   oneplusone  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 11:41am | 
 
 
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   Wow, great advice so quickly.  Thanks heaps - prune juice it is.  Assume this is Ok for his age?
    
   
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   peachy  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 11:43am | 
 
 
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   Yep, my girl is only 6 months old and she is fine on it!
 
 
    
   
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   peachy  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 11:45am | 
 
 
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   Oh and yep SimoneF, I use the liquid from the boiled prunes, I just put it in her sipper cup diluted with water, I assume you would do the same with putting it in with the veges!
 
 
    
   
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   popcorn  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 11:53am | 
 
 
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   yeah it turns her veges a lovely colour though, so i am guessing there are actual prunes in there as well! thomas is overly regular! so havent had the need to experiment with that just yet bar the apple saga that was a pooless week
    
   
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   MrsMojo  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 12:07pm | 
 
 
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   Some babies don't have bowel motions as regularly as we expect.  If he seems comfortable and hasn't got swollen bowels I wouldn't worry too much but you could buy (or make your own) baby food with prunes, apricots etc in them and mix prune juice into baby rice. Avoid bananas as these will actually harden things up.
 
 Michaela got severely constipated when she was one year old.  It was so hard when it finally came out she got and anal fissure (a tear in her anus) and because it hurt so much to poo she would hold it in which in turn would cause constipation.  She was diagnosed as anal retentive (which isn't as funny as it sounds).  
 
 For several months we had to give her diorhea (sp?) to make her go poos.  We gave her a combination of remedies to keep her soft and runny.  These included Kiwicrush (which you can find in your supermarket freezer) this is extremely powerful stuff so no more than one bottle per day (maybe less since he's so young),  Watered down Prune Juice, watered down Apple Juice (which can also stunt the apetite so be careful with this one), brown sugar dissolved in water, Lactulose (prescribed by our doctor), prunes, apricots and raisins.  Luckily she has always loved fruit and veges so she was eating heaps of those.
    
   
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   sally belly  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 12:24pm | 
 
 
  
   
   
   
  peachy wrote:
  Boil up a couple of prunes and give him the juice, thats what I do when Lauren hasn't been in a couple of days and it keeps her fairly regular! |   
This is what we did on the advice of someone at the Plunket 0800 line.  Liam hadn't been for over a week & within about 30 mins of giving him the juice voila!!  In the end, I don't think he was constipated b/c what came out wasn't sheep pellet-like or hard.  We have just started solids so he's still getting used to it I guess.
     
   
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   kabe  
   
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     Posted: 16 May 2008 at 1:22pm | 
 
 
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   Eva has been on solids for just over a month now and was quite constipated initially. Has only had nomal BM's over the past 2 weeks. Like Peachy, I cooked up prunes and gave her a tspn with her brekkie & dinner. Giving lots of water is important too. I avoided apples & carrots as they can be constipation causing. I also reduced the baby rice, as I think that was contributing to the problem. 
    
   
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