I get a lot of comments on my post, Baby Poop, What’s Normal from parents concerned about their baby‘s bowel movements.  Many are concerned that their infant may be constipated.  Constipation in infants, especially very young infants can be very nerve-wracking for parents.  Parents often have an expectation of what their baby “should” be doing in the poop department based on what others have told them, what they have read, etc.  However, the most important thing that a parent can do is remember that no two babies are the same.  Some babies will go every day, many times a day while others may go several days between bowel movements, both are perfectly normal.  Your baby will set his or her own schedule and once you know what that schedule is you’ll be better able to determine when something isn’t right, such as constipation.

Your baby may be constipated if he or she is having large, very hard bowel movements and seems to be struggling painfully to pass his or her stool.  If you believe your child is constipated you will want to take steps to help relieve that constipation.  For babies who are old enough to eat jarred baby food or drink juice it will be a lot easier to help them relieve the constipation, for those too young for baby food and juice you’ll need to enlist the help of your pediatrician.

For very young babies contact your child’s pediatrician to see what he or she recommends, they may recommend fruit juice to see if that gets things moving or they may prescribe a laxative or stool softener.  Your child’s doctor may want you to bring the baby in for a quick exam before determining the best course of action.

Once your baby is old enough to eat  jarred baby foods and can drink fruit juice try giving him or her pureed prunes or prune juice to see if that helps get things moving a long.  You could also try pears as they are high in fiber and can help with constipation as well.  If your baby is eating cereal try switching to oatmeal or barley cereal instead of rice cereal as rice cereal can cause constipation.

If your child, no matter how old, continues to be constipated for several days or has a lot of discomfort while trying to take a bowel movement then contact their pediatrician to see what you should do next, ie stool softener, etc.

I’ve been lucky, my daughter has been pretty regular with her bowel movements from the beginning.  However, every now and then she’ll get a little bound up and I always find that prunes or prune juice does the trick for her, and it tends to work quickly.

It can be scary when your baby is so tiny and you just can’t figure out what is bothering them or how to help them.  If you are at all worried call your child’s pediatrician, they don’t mind, that’s what they are there for.