Best Formula For Constipation

Hi Girls

My DS is now 13w+4 and is happy, healthy and growing well. My only concern is his lack of pooing. He has been FF pretty much from day 1. We started bf, then halved and halved then ended up totally FF from around 1 week. He used to go every second day. From 4 weeks on I noticed that he was going every 3rd or 4th day. I have to take off his nappy and rub his tummy to get him to go. He seemed happy enough up until the days he needed to go. Slept well, ate well and thrived.

From 4 weeks on its all gone downhill. I had him on S26 Gold and my GP said to try the normal S26. So we did. Then we saw a chiro and got him realigned and as he is quite a spewy baby he said to put him on AR. Which of course bound him up even more. Now he started pooping once a week. I have tried colxyl drops, brown sugar (I didn't like giving him that, it felt so wrong), and water in between feeds. Nothing moves it. We saw a new chiro (she is the baby whisperer of chiros) and she said he is not refluxy but could be lactose intolerant as both my DH and I are. So we switched again. And added a probiotic. She said to try the Karicare Lactose Free one. He stopped spewing so much on this one. I hated changing again as I know that can worsen constipation. Still no poop, so off to the chemist. They recommend Novalac - Constipation formula. He has been on it since Friday and still nothing. His vomiting has greatly increased though.

The last four poos have been helped by a suppository. With two out of the four poos he basically pushed it straight back out again and then followes with a massive poo. Its green and looks like toothpaste being pushed out. Really long and a vast amount, probably enough to fill 2 nappies. No blood, and its not hard. Firm but not hard. He strains to push it out. Now I figure if he is pooping that much it probably takes him days to build up enough to poo out. I feel like I am in a vicious cycle. My DH keeps saying to me pick one formula and stick to it, but how do I know which one to pick?

I cant remember the last poopy nappy I have changed. I always have to take the nappy off and rub his tummy. We have even been to a baby massage course but even that didn't work.

My GP says to try Nan, so that may be my next try if the Novalac doesn't get him pooping by the end of the tin.

Any thoughts girls. Is he just a lazy pooper? Apart from that he is an angel of a baby. He sleeps through the night and is a happy soul. His tummy is soft most days and I can tell when he needs to go as his tummy gets tight and he gets a bit cranky and sooky, so I have been giving him the suppository simply to ease his pain. I hate giving them to him but think its the only thing I can do. My GP said to give him colxyl drops everyday until he is pooing every day then wean him off but when I started to do that by the second day he was rejecting his bottles and pulling his little legs up and crying while drinking them. I feel giving him a suppository when he needs it is better than giving him laxatives every day.

I feel so frustrated !!!

My dd1 had constipation really bad, the only thing that helped her was switching to goats milk formula. Expensive but was worth it. She also had silent reflux so I think it helped in that area too.

Neither of my kids pooped every day and they were both formula fed. Even though the tin said they should poop every day, they were happy, sleeping, playing, drinking well, and honestly it never really bothered me.. Yes, they strained a little when they did go, but they weren't showing signs of pain. DD was on Karicare, and DS was on Nan..

I found Nan HA was the best for my kids.

i think giving a suppository each time to poo, can weaken the poo muscles (or not allow them to learn to work properly if they are already weak), and so laxatives can be less damaging than constant suppositories.

perhaps you need further investigation just to check that anatomically everything is working ok.

We used to use Nan HA gold but they changed the recipe and it gave my son the worst constipation/runs so we swapped to Bellamy Organic and it was the best. A lot of my friend's also did the same. I did hear that any of the S26 products were know for giving constipation but every child is different xxx