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Once you have a baby poop becomes a fairly common topic of conversation between you and your spouse, you and your parent friends, you and your child’s pediatrician. We are always checking diapers, examining the contents, fretting about too much or not enough poop. Suddenly this topic that was rarely, if ever, discussed is now ever present.
One of the most common worries when it comes to your baby’s bowel movements, or in this case, lack there of, is constipation. Constipation is common in babies when solid foods are introduced. As their bodies adjust to digesting the new foods they can easily become backed up. Some babies require higher amounts of fiber in their diets to keep them regular and can’t handle low fiber foods such as bananas and potatoes. While others will be fine and go their whole babyhood without any constipation trouble.
When your baby is constipated it can be very worrisome for the parent. When a baby gets too constipated it can be uncomfortable, and even painful, as they try to move their bowels. Watching your little one strain and cry as they try to poop is definitely not fun. There are a few things you can do to help your little one get things moving along.
- Sometimes giving your little one prunes or pears will help things along.
- Prune juice and pear juice can also help.
- Gently massaging your baby’s tummy, below the belly button, can help.
- Exercise can stimulate the bowels. There are a couple of exercises that often help including moving their legs in a bicycle motion while they are lying on their back or holding them in a standing position and letting them bounce.
- Applying some vasoline around their anus can be helpful as they try to pass harder stool.
- Inserting a rectal thermometer for a minute if often helpful to get things moving.
- If nothing seems to help you should call your child’s pediatrician as they may recommend using a suppository to help relieve your baby’s constipation.
Be sure to contact your child’s pediatrician immediately if your newborn is constipated or if constipation persists in your 6 month+ baby for more than 3 days.
If constipation is a persistent problem for your baby it will be important to ensure their diet is rich in fiber. Giving them a serving of prunes or pears everyday can help keep them regular. Offering a small amount of water in a sippy cup to a 6 month+ baby can be helpful as well, but be sure to consult your doctor first.
Once babies beginning moving around on their own constipation often becomes less of an issue as the exercise they get every day helps keep things moving. With little ones who aren’t yet mobile be sure to do daily exercises with them, like the bicycle legs and bouncing to help them stay regular.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of constipation issue with Anna. She has a very sensitive system and doesn’t tolerant low fiber foods at all. In fact, I even had to call the pediatrician today since she had gone 4 days without a bowel movement and was definitely suffering. Luckily I was able to help her pass some of the backed up stool and she is feeling quite a bit better. I guess we’ll have to continue skipping the bananas (too bad since she LOVES them) and stick with pears and prunes.
Constipation is no picnic, but luckily, in most cases, with a little help your baby will get things moving and be happy again before too long.
What tricks did you find worked for your little one when they were constipated? Were there any foods in particular that you had to avoid giving them? Any foods that always seemed to help keep them regular?
Babies have sensitive, still maturing, digestive systems during their first months of life. Their sensitive digestive systems can pose a bit of a challenge for the breastfeeding mother. The things a mom takes into her body can cause tummy upset, gas and spitting up in their baby. These symptoms can lead to sleeplessness for baby and for mom, extra crying and fussiness and gas pain. We parents hate to see our little ones suffering and we often feel extra guilty if we know that what we ate for dinner caused the gas pain that is keeping our baby up and crying in pain.
Luckily, most of the food we eat doesn’t cause trouble for our little one’s tummies, and some babies are never affected by anything their mamas eat. However, some foods can cause tummy troubles for your little one. Some of the more common foods babies can be sensitive to include:
- Dairy
- Gassy vegetables
- Spicy food
- Soy
- Beans
- Chocolate
- Caffeine
These days I spend a lot of time doing laundry, like seriously A LOT. Some days I’m doing at least a load every day, it is a bit ridiculous. Why, exactly, am I doing so much laundry, you ask? Well, you see, I’m the proud parent of a “Happy Spitter”. I know I’m so lucky, right 
So, what is a “Happy Spitter”, or as our pediatrician likes to refer to it “The Laundry Maker”? A “happy spitter” is a baby who spits up frequently but is still eating well, gaining weight and otherwise happy. Basically, it is when spitting up isn’t necessarily the sign of a problem or causing the baby any distress, but is just more of a nuisance. And, boy is it ever a nuisance!
Anna is a “happy spitter”. She has been spitting up on a regular basis, and by regular basis I mean almost every feeding, since she was born. We go through a lot of burp cloths, receiving blankets, and clothing (both hers and mine) every day. I have purchased an insane number of burp cloths (I have at least a dozen) and receiving blankets to help avoid having to do laundry every day. It has helped a bit, most of the time I only find myself needing to do baby laundry every other day. Kind of sad when you consider every other day laundry an improvement.
There isn’t anything I can do to stop this annoying habit of my wee one, it’s just something she does. It is probably caused by a combination of a few different things like my overactive letdown, her immature digestive system and the very rapid way in which she consumes her food. There isn’t really anything I can do to stop the constant vomiting. I burp her a lot, and keep her upright for a while after she eats, but really other than that I’m just kind of stuck with it until she out grows it.
Any other parents out there dealing with happy spitters? What tricks have you discovered? Have you found any ways to keep the spitting up to a minimum?
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go fold another load of baby laundry.
It has been 2 years.
2 years since a Mom and Dad lost the most amazing thing in their lives, their daughter.
2 years since the world lost the light and life of an incredible little girl.
2 years.
For 2 years we’ve been missing Madeline Spohr. We’ve been supporting her family in every way we can. Lifting them up when the weight of a world without her seems too much to bear. 2 years.
On this April day, 2 years ago, we said good-bye to Maddie.
On this April day we remember the beauty, light, love and strength beyond her years that was the Amazing Maddie.
We love you. We miss you. We will remember you always.
Please stop by Heather’s blog and let Heather, Mike and Annie know that you are thinking about them today. They need love on this day. Please consider making a donation today in memory of one truly awesome little girl. Heather and Mike are raising money for the March of Dimes this year in preparation for walking in Maddie’s honor again this year or you can make a donation to the charity set up in Maddie’s name, Friends of Maddie.
The long standing warning from pediatricians and other health care professionals to avoid introducing nuts into your child’s diet until they are 3 years old has recently been changed. Studies have found that it could be that waiting to introduce nuts into your child’s diet may actually increase their chances of developing a nut allergy. Only about 1-2 percent of children are predisposed to nut allergies because of a family history. By introducing nuts earlier children without a predisposition may be much less likely to develop the an allergy.
Recently the AAP (Amercian Academy of Pediatrics) changed it’s long standing policy regarding nuts and is now recommending introducing nuts into a child’s diet as early as 6 months of age if the child has shown no signs of other food allergies and there is no family history of nut allergies. For many parents, especially those with older children who had to avoid nuts for so long it may be hard to accept the new recommendations. Nut allergies are scary to many parents and taking that first step and giving your child something that contains nuts for the first time is very nerve-wracking.
When introducing nuts parents should be sure to give their child a very small amount the first time and be careful to watch for signs of an allergic reaction. Common symptoms of an allergic reaction include: wheezing, stomachache, vomiting, diarrhea, hives and swelling. If you suspect an allergic reaction contact your child’s doctor and if the symptoms are severe seek medical treatment immediately.
Be sure to talk to your child’s pediatrician about these new recommendations and make sure you have all the facts and information before beginning to introduce nuts into your child’s diet.
Remember it is not safe for children until the age of 5 to have whole nuts. Any nuts your child consumes before the age of 5 should be in spread form, or ground into other foods.