Problems with Number Twos

DS is 4 months old and is formula fed (not a Gold formula either). We are having some issues with poo.

His poos are not dry and hard, but they're certainly a lot firmer than what I would be expecting from a baby. They're well formed and he is having a lot of trouble getting them out. It's starting to distress him so I know he is in pain as he passes them.

So far I've done the following:

* Water & brown sugar mix to get him moving. This works, so we've diluted the mix and I give him some each day now as described below.
* Additional plain water during the day - he hardly drinks any of it though, so I'm putting a tiny bit of sugar in it and he seems to take more. I've been giving him 100ml of this each morning and he'd have a normal bowel movement at night.
* Tummy massage, foot massage and warm baths
* Diluted prune juice - we decided to try this last night, after we could tell he was blocked up again and trying really hard with no result. Hard to say if its helped yet or not.

I'm loathed to try the medicated options, I really want to fix the problem at the source, rather than just giving him stuff to expel his bowels IYKWIM? I'm wondering if the next step should be trying a different formula?

My other question - is this likely to get better or possibly worse when we introduce solids?

Any advice or suggestions would be helpful.

Hi lollybaby-

I feel for you, we had lots of poo issues too!

We ended up adding some extra water to DS's bottles- he was still drinking the whole thing, so he wasn't missing out, and it really helped his poor little bottom. The water/brown sugar thing never helped us, nor did prune juice- extra water was the best for us. I couldn't really get DS to drink plain water, so it worked best for us to add to the bottles.

We had to change from a non-gold formula, but you're already on a non-gold one, so you can't do that! I suppose you could try a different formula, but it really is a bit of a merry-go-round on the different formulas, so I would be a bit hesitant to go down that route. Its unlikely to be a dairy thing, as that usually causes diarreah.

As far as solids, yes, they probably will initially make the problem worse, but this is very common. Their little tummies and bottoms just have to learn to adjust. We found banana really blocked Peter up initially, so we limited that. We also stewed up some prunes and would add a little bit of that to his other fruit and that helped too, so keep that in mind when you start solids.

Good luck and HTH!

there is a formula u can get, specially for constipation. Its called Novalac (constipation). ALso making sure hes formula is Whey dominant not caisen (sp) dominant will help as Whey is much easier to digest.

Other things u can try is -

- Infants friend
- coloxyl drops for babies

ive had a blank and cant think of the rest atm.

heres a pic of the formula so u know what ur looking for. Usually can only buy it at chemists and if the chemist doesnt have it, they can order it in. Once he isnt constipated anymore, u can still still with this brand, just go the normal on. These heaps of different ones in this brand. HTH.

Picture - - - Novalac

Thanks for your replies Amber & Mumma Mia. Its really starting to distress us all, so hopefully we can find a solution.

Amber, how much additional water were you adding to the bottles? My MCHN said not to change the water / formula mix but its the one thing I haven't tried yet so maybe it might be worth giving it a go? I really don't want to have to start trying different formulas....he's been fine on this one up until now.

Mumma Mia, I've seen that Novalac formula at the chemist so I'll have a read on the tin when I'm there next. It might be our last resort if things don't improve.

Thanks again.

I think we started adding about 30-50ml extra water, depending on how big the bottle was. I think the reason the MCHNs don't recommend it is in case they do not drink their whole bottle and are then missing out on nutrients. If your LO drinks the whole bottle, extra water and all, I can't see that its a major issue, not really any different than them having extra water at another time- but a lot easier to get into them!