Severe, chronic constipation - success stories needed

Hi,
Ds (nearly 11 months) has been suffering severe, chronic constipation for 5-6 months ( yes, THAT long, as noone would listen to me, and people kept telling me it wasn't 'true' constipation:rolleyes:)

Anyway, we finally go my GP to listen after he witnessed DS doin his 'thing' at the GP's surgery.
We were reffered to a pead, who we saw yesterday, and who has placed DS on a dairy free diet. Soy formula, and wants him to have a probiotic like Yakult ( as he thinks that due to DS being comp fed around 3-4 mnths of age, and then back to full time breastfeeding, that he has a bacterial imbalance in his bowel.)
So, we are hoping that doing the dairy free diet, will help his gut heal, and he will hopefully be back to normal within 2 months.

If this diet doesn't work, its then onto laxatives, to try and treat DS' anxiety.

So, I was wondering if there were any parents here that had/have/are going through something similar, and was wondering of the outcomes?

Do you know what the 'cause' was? Has it been treated? if so, how was it treated?

Did they just grow out of it?

I would really appreciate responses, as I am feeling very guilty due to the fact that I felt I HAD to comp feed with formula when he was 3-4 months of age, and now I feel that if I had just trusted in myself, that I wouldn't have had to do that, and we wouldn't be in this.

Thanks in advance.

this isnt an answer to your question but did the doctor say put him on a soy formula? or lactose free formula(yes there is a difference) cos every thing i have read has recommended not giving soy esp to boys.
are you still breast feeding him at all?? did the doctor say any thing about you also avoiding dairyif you are??
dont feel bad about giving formula when you did, i wouldnt think that was the issue. but giving him the probiotic should help lots any way.

hope it sorts out soon for your little man

Yeah the pead specifically said SOY formula.
I didn't know any different, but have heard a few thigns since.
Is it a huge problem? I am thinking it probably won't really cause any extra issues.... nothing worse than where we are at now anyway.
Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it:)

Anyone?

Nicky - thank goodness that they've finally believed you. Well done to Lach for timing his performance in front of the dr, clever little man!

I know nothing about any of this, but did want to say that you should flush any guilty feelings you might have right down the toilet to where the belong - you are an ACE mum, as evidenced by the fact that you've known for months that Lach had a problem. And heaps of people comp feed without any of the problems you've had, so there is no way you could have known that it would cause problems.

Thanks Jan. I know it's not technically my fault, but I really can't help but feel a bit of guilt.
Poor little man is in such agony.... It brings me to tears everytime.

I also don't have experience with severe prolonged constipation, though DD has gone through having constipation whe she went from comp. bf to full ff.
I agree with the pp that you shouldn't be feeling guilty, though I do totally understand it, mummy guilt sucks!!
Have you tried a naturopath, maybe they could help out with his diet?

I didn't even think about a natropath. I will see how this diet change goes over the next few weeks, and then it may be an option. I am not keen on giving DS laxatives for extended periods of time, but I really want him to be able to poo without screaming and bleeding:(

Thanks for your reply xxoo

Oh hun, it sounds horrible, it's bad enough for me when DD occaisionally has a bit of constipation, let alone so badly. Your poor little man.

Have you tried all of the natural ways- warm water to drink, plenty of water, prunes/prune juice (diluted- not suitable for chn under 9mths), pear juice, bran, lots of fibre-fruit/veggies, exercises to help move things (cycling his legs, touching his opposite toes to hands...), tummy massage, avoid rice cerials, rice, bananas- they can cause constipation, make formula correctly to specifications, 1/2-1 tsp brown sugar in 50mls water (always works for my DD).

I'm sure you have tried them....but thought I'd ask :)

My DH was severly consitpated from birth
he was prem and his bum hole was too small for him to poo it out- so we used to go up to 2 1/2 weeks in between motions
He would be screaming in pain until i came out and then it would stink like stagnent water
in the end we got his bum hole stretched- he was having an operation for something else so they did it whilst he was under- he was 11 months old
we tried the brown sugar, massage etc
the best thing that worked was putting him in jolly jumper and the pressure and standing upwards would sometimes works , that and a hard stomach massage in a L shape from his side downwards
now he is older, i am finding that he is having bowel blockage problems. So giving him benefibre everyday to bulk up his stools and parachoc to make it slide out easier. We also gave him Actilac when he was little - which is a natural laxative, with very little results.
its soo frustrating- i am looking into the natropath route now as well to balance everything up and help him out!
there are natural oils you can add to their foods and milk as wel, which can help with constipation so it slides out easier for them- check with your health food shop!
take care and goood luck
odette

Krystal is constipated, poor thing i feel so sorry for her, and so bad that i just cant get anything to work.
we had xrays a few months back which showed she is completely blocked up, we tried coloxyl drops, which helped a little, but she stands there holding her poo in, like, squeezes her legs shut. we also tried a few suppositries(sp) they didnt work as i expected them too.

how would i get in contact with a naturopath?? i dont really know much about them. butid like to speak to someone other than a GP about it if i can.

Hi Krystall Ball, My DS had X-Rays about 8 weeks ago and he was completely blocked too. Our Paedrictian put Jordy on Movicol and he had the Golytly Washout in Hospital last week. We are still on movicol half and have to go back to the Dr next month.
Movicol half is great but my Jordy didnt like it and we now put it in jelly and he can not tell its in it.

DS1 had chronic severe constipation for over a year, aged 1-2. We eventually went to the paed and he was on Parachoc for almost 12 months. I found parachoc to be effective BUT he didn't like the taste so I put it into his yogurt or sometimes icecream if that was the only option.

It took a good 2-3 months for him to clear out properly, and then get used to the idea that he had to go himself... during this time I changed his diet, upped the fruit (he HAS to have an apple and a pear EVERY day or he gets clogged up) and lessened the dairy. He now doesn't drink milk, or very little, but has yogurt and cheese instead. He also has porridge for breakfast, or weetbix, not anything like cocopops (which he used to get).

I also found pear juice/prune juice to be good but he doesn't like prune juice now.

Oh and loads and loads of water. And more water. And a little more water. Did I mention water?

He's fine now, had to wean him off the parachoc over about a 2 week period, but he's regular as.

Best wishes for you and DD.

ETA: Alex was full time FF from 6 months, so it's not likely to be this.

Nicky you've got some good advice here from the girls, so I'll just add this :hug: