Everybody Poops…or Do They?

Elijah wearing a Le Top "Zoo Kazoo" waffle weave shirt and stripe pant

Baby constipation may be a crappy subject to write about, but some things just need to be addressed. These past two weeks we started our 6-month-old on “solid” foods – really, I wouldn’t call rice cereal a solid, but let’s just go with it.  I read everything on starting babies on solids – from books the pediatricians handout to every source possible, but they each have a different opinion what to do. The main thing they did have in common was, start with rice cereal. Ok, easy enough I thought! 

My main concern for starting the “solids”, was watching for signs of allergic reaction (hives, fever, rash, bloody stool, etc.) and constipation. Well…we survived the allergic reaction part, but didn’t get but three days in to one feeding of rice cereal before we had the big C….and in the baby book C is for constipation! 

Our little trooper didn’t stay constipated for long, and we breathed a deep sigh of relief thinking, “Thank God, we didn’t have to deal with that.” I guess you could say we ate our words, as last week we upped the rice cereal to two feedings per day and in three days, we had a very constipated baby.  Ugh!

Being the overbearing, first-time mom that I am, I called the advice nurse on day two of number two.  The calming voice on the other side of the line said, “Dear, just wait four days and if he still hasn’t gone, then give him 2 oz. of prune juice and that will do the trick.” At day four I swung by the grocery store and picked up the prune juice, got it home, took a whiff and said to my husband, “I sure as heck wouldn’t drink this stuff!” Did I jinx myself again?! YES! This kid said ‘no way, Jose’ to that fowl smelling concoction. I managed to get about half an ounce in a bottle of milk down him, but still no poop after day four. 

My oh-so-wise husband did the unmentionable and gave the tyke an enema. It took about half a day, but we got the result we were looking for – POOP! I must say, I don’t think I have ever been so excited about a bowel movement in my life (wow that just sounds wrong!). 

I was telling my other, well-trained mommy friends about our week long fiasco and felt after our conversation, I should have known to call them first! They had all those remedies up their sleeve and more. Here are some of the other suggestions they gave me, for the next time our baby is constipated: 

• Switch to oatmeal or barley cereal- it is the least “binding” of the cereals  (we switched and it seems to be working)
• Try Pear juice instead of Prune juice
• Use a suppository

We are glad we made it through this first “episode” of baby problems, virtually unscathed. I can’t say that I am looking forward to the next one, but I think, at the very least I am a little wiser-for-the-wear about constipation.  If you have tips and tricks to get your little guy “going”, please share it with us in the comments field below.

VISIT OUR LE TOP HOME…
www.letop-usa.com