Formulas and constipation??

Hi my daughter is currently 4 weeks old has been on s26 gold since birth we have had a few problems with constipation which when she got clogged up the midwife told me to try brown sugar in her bottle which works but i dont really wanna be doing this method all the time we also have been having issues with wind.
I am thinking of changing formula as i have heard people say different formulas might help with the constipation
has anyone got any reccomendations to what formula worked for you? did your bub get constipated on it? etc etc.
Is it the right thing to change formula now?
any help would be greatly appreciated thankyou.

Congratulations on your new little daughter. Unfortunately formula often does cause constipation - and any brand can do this. Sometimes changing brands can help so it might be worth a try. Some mums find the gold formulas are more likely to cause constipation, although others say they cause diarrhoea, so I guess it's very much an individual baby thing.

I wonder if you are producing any breastmilk at all? Breastmilk has laxative properties, so if you have some expressed milk, or could express some milk, that might help as well. Otherwise, small quantities of cooled, boiled water in between feeds can sometimes help also.

Best of luck hun.

DD1 was constipated on every formula, but slightly better on goats milk formula, which is apparently closer to breastmilk than the cows milk formula. However, the Gold formulas also made DS constipated, but the normal ones were fine.

Miss B was constipated on S26 also but not the gold - so we put her on karicare and had no problems after that!

We used nan HA gold... No constipation, but he would only poo every 4 days. Haven't had any constipation issues at all with him until he was much older and eating solids and refusing to drink enough water.

BW

Mel, I know you had a lot of success with goats' milk formula. I do have to comment though that goats milk is actually quite different in composition to human milk (despite popular belief) and many paediatricians and paediatric dieticians strongly recommend against it's use for infants. At a Health Professionals' seminar recently there was a lot of information about it. I would be inclined to try different cows' milk formulas first, and seek medical advice before trying other options.

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Mel, I know you had a lot of success with goats' milk formula. I do have to comment though that goats milk is actually quite different in composition to human milk (despite popular belief) and many paediatricians and paediatric dieticians strongly recommend against it's use for infants. At a Health Professionals' seminar recently there was a lot of information about it. I would be inclined to try different cows' milk formulas first, and seek medical advice before trying other options.

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Really? Wow! I got that information (re it being closer to breastmilk composition that cows milk formula) from a naturopath on the sunshine coast. But then, she did think that nobody should be drinking cows milk in the first place. We just went that direction after trying 5 different cows milk formula, then soy - so goats milk was the only option available to us.

Mel, yes, it's amazing how much conflicting information there is around. I think you could study nutrition for years and not know it all!!

I know in your case you certainly tried everything and that helped, but knowing what I've heard and read since, I am wary of recommending it to others.

An unfortunate side effect of formula, poor bubba. Formulas all have added minerals/iron etc, which for some bubba's are to much, and just like us the extra iron can cause constipation. If it is really severe you can use coloxyl drops. You can try switching formulas to a softer one like karicare or even drop back to the regular s26, it will still provide adequate nutrition. My niece couldnt handle s26 gold but karicare was fine, but some other babies are different again.

When is it classified as constipation? DS was pooing once a day until 3 days ago, then he pooed once in 48 hours, and the poo seems to have gone missing again today. The GP recommended prune juice but I am wary of putting anything non formula related into his body. I have been massaging his tummy and back and giving him small amounts of water to move things along. He is on Nan Gold HA and was having no problems until 3 days ago.

DD1 was constipated in that her stool was very hard, and it tore her when she was doing a poo. I can't remember how many times a day she went, or the frequency during the week (its been a while!) but I do know that she was very constipated for most of her babyhood.

Hi Mel,

DS' poos are nothing like what you have described. They are very loose and wet - just taking longer to process. So maybe he is not constipated.

He's had fairly niggly days the past few days - very clingy and crying - so maybe he is going through something. He drank a substantial amont yesterday (over 900 mls - he only is supposed to have 750 mls) but he's cut back substantially today.

Palmer too was WAY constipated...we went through three or four different types of formula before we found one that didn't bind her up. It's horrible seeing such tiny things unable to poo. :-(

Palmer eventually went onto a soy formula - Karicare, not S26 - as the S26 just made her way worse. Seems to be a recurring (sp) theme with S26 products.

It's quite common for babies on formula to poo less then breastfed babies. Maybe your LO is having a growth spurt? Wonder week? Teething? DD would randomly have clingy periods then show me something new and she had growing pains at the start of the year from a massive growth spurt (3 inches in a month...) It's really only constipation if they're having hard poos that are hurting to pass or they can't pass them

HTH

Thanks that does help!

Synchronicity, might be worth keeping in mind that Sam, on the same formula as you are using would poo every 4 days like clockwork. He wasn't constipated, and we spent a lot of time giving him coloxyl trying to get him to poo... but he didn't need to until he hit that 4th day, and you could almost set your watch by it! Changed when we introduced solids, but he was like that for a very long time.

BW

We started on S26 as the supplement to EBM and the short BF month. Once we weren't BF young Riley would go a few days often up to four, without a pebble. He had some refulx on S26 Gold---> We had done the brown sugar thing (and stood up for ourselves often with MCHNs but who cares!) as a back up when he did become uncomfortable and unsettled for no reason and he went like a steam train. We switched to Karicare Gold Plus and have never looked back. He has had much more settled bowel habits.

The biggest guide I used was how bub seemed. If he was happy then fine don't worry. If he is clearly grizzly without a good indentifiable reason then consider intervening.

If you are moving beyond standard and plus formulas I would keep in touch with your doc. Many of them recommend this on the tin, but you change when your feel it's right. Give bub a week or two to get used to the change then reassess how she is.

Just wanted to add that in the information book we got from the hospital it says to either try half to 1 tsp of brown sugar in 30ml's of cooled boiled water, or try 30 mls of prune juice to relieve constipation. DS is given EBM plus formula and we have recently gone onto thickened formula and a thicknener in his EBM due to reflux issues. The thickened formula has made his poos quite hard and he has been straining to poo. I did the brown sugar in water thing last night and he did a big soft poo at 6am this morning.

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Just wanted to add that in the information book we got from the hospital it says to either try half to 1 tsp of brown sugar in 30ml's of cooled boiled water, or try 30 mls of prune juice to relieve constipation. DS is given EBM plus formula and we have recently gone onto thickened formula and a thicknener in his EBM due to reflux issues. The thickened formula has made his poos quite hard and he has been straining to poo. I did the brown sugar in water thing last night and he did a big soft poo at 6am this morning.

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Not sure why the hospital would suggest this, it's an old wives tale and doesn't have any effectiveness in easing constipation. I would suggest getting a second opinion.

If you are referring to brown sugar, it isn't an old wives tale. Sugar based laxatives like the synthetic lactulose increase the water absorbed back into the stools, softening them. Brown sugar has the same effect. Health services and hospitals recommend it as does an emergency pediatrician I work with.
The thing to remember is if brown sugar/ lactulose is used, it's important to ensure baby is hydrated, as water lost is potentially dehydrating baby if used too often. Ensuring baby is hydrated is one way of ensuring constipation risk is reduced.

Prune juice is ok, but diluted 1:1 with water up to 1:3 with water depending on who you read.

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Not sure why the hospital would suggest this, it's an old wives tale and doesn't have any effectiveness in easing constipation. I would suggest getting a second opinion.

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Hmm, it is definately in the Pregnancy, Birth and parenting Information Book we got from the Hospital. And as per Stretcher bearers post above, our paed actually told us something similar when we were having issues with DD. I also remember him mentioning that a few years back one of the formula brands increased the sugar content specifically to reduce the incidence of constipation.