1 year old with continued constipation

kwill3104 · January 2014

DS just turned one last month and has been struggling with constipation pretty much since we introduced solid foods around 6 months. We have been giving him milk of magnesia every day per our pediatricians suggestion, but lately this hasn't been helping like it used to. I plan on calling our physician about this, but wanted to get some real mom advice before I do. We have tried most everything for this issue in the past...juice, prunes, pears, apples, omitting foods, adding foods, etc. Nothing was working which is why they started him on the milk of mag, but now its way worse. He always strains when he has a BM and screams out most times as well. Lately he has even been woken up from a nap or in the night from a hard BM that caused him pain. Its heartbreaking and I feel that our pediatrician isn't the least bit concerned about it and will just continue to tell us to increase his milk of mag dose. He will sometimes have these larger poops that don't seem that hard but he still cries out with those as well. Have any of you experienced this as well? He is a great eater and mainly eats all table foods at daycare during the day now and drinks only a small amount of breast milk when he is there so could that be causing any of this too? Please help!

Stillharbor · January 2014

Does LO have a dairy allergy? The situation that you described is exactly what DD has been living with. It got so bad she would clench her cheeks and legs so she wouldn't poop because it hurt, thus getting impacted. So not fun... Once we eliminated the dairy most of the constipation stopped. We do still give her a small dose of MOM to keep things soft. (Our pedi prescribed Miralax.)

TheEditor · January 2014

We've had a similar problem. I agree with PP to eliminate a lot of dairy. Our LO would live on yogurt and cheese if we'd let him. So every time we back off the dairy, it helps quite a bit.

We also found success with having him eat fruit puree (purple grapes, plums w/skin, peaches w/skin, or pears w/skin) with adult oatmeal at night would help to get the BM... well, moving. The baby oatmeal didn't have the same effect--the adult oatmeal is basically ruffage. Once I understood how fiber worked, that helped me better see how the oatmeal was working to get his system moving again.

We also eliminated the BRAT foods from his diet, especially bananas and applesauce (and he loves both of those).

Lots of play time to keep the body systems moving helps, and our LO has had success with drinking sippy cups of 1/2 fruit juice, 1/2 water. Hydration is KEY to relieving constipation.

Good luck! I know how hard it is to see your LO in pain.

LSU628 · January 2014

When DD was that age she was also struggling. We had to do a daily sippy cup of 1/2 prunejuice mixed with 1/2 water. DS was also struggling and the allergist recommended putting a 1/2 tsp of flaxseed oil in every bottle. DD still struggles and was needing larger and larger doses of Miralax. Another poster reminded me of the flaxseed oil. We've switched back to the flaxseed oil and have seen improvements with DD as well. I'd rather give her flaxseed oil every day than Miralax.

mypeanut22 · January 2014

DD was the exact same way at 1. Pedi suggested we try miralax in her juice and that helped a lot. Now if she doesn't poop all day I give her miralax the next morning. Hope your lo gets better. It sucks knowing they are in pain.

TiffanyBerry · January 2014

What food intolerances have you looked into? Milk (cow dairy - specifically the milk protein casein)) can cause this sort of thing, and it does pass through breastmilk.

kwill3104 · January 2014

I cut out dairy for myself for awhile when he was a lot younger bc he was having a lot of gas issues but it didn't seem to help a ton and he eventually stopped having issues. I would gladly try that again but the problem is that he drinks thawed breast milk every day from my frozen stash so I have no way of knowing what I ate the day I froze it. I spoke to the nurse at my pediatricians office today and they really didn't help much at all. I don't think they are understanding exactly what is going on so they suggested we keep a food and poop diary for the next few days and regroup after that. I just keep feeling that this isn't just "normal" constipation since he will poop a lot but ends up screaming his head off every time even though his poops aren't very hard. Ugh...no fun

divajackie67 · January 2014

kwill3104 said:

I just keep feeling that this isn't just "normal" constipation since he will poop a lot but ends up screaming his head off every time even though his poops aren't very hard. Ugh...no fun

I don't think it is just constipation if his poops aren't very hard. Maybe his tummy is upset. I know this going to be TMI and I apologize, but I have IBS when Aunt Flo is in town. When I have to go it comes with really bad CRAMPS. If he is having stomach cramps while he is going that would explain why he's crying.

My son has a sensitive tummy too so when he has issues I go back to basics. I only feed him foods I know do not cause him issues until his bowel movements get back to normal for him. Now that he is on milk and not formula I give him Coconut milk and WCM. Whole milk alone causes him too many bowel issues. He can tolerate some dairy, but not a full 16oz of whole milk per day. Maybe you could cut back on dairy.

Personally I'd stop giving him the milk of magnesia if his poops are soft. It doesn't seem likes it is helping. Also, I'd take a video of him pooping and save the diaper and bring it to the pediatrician. I could be crazy, but is hard for them to diagnose things based on what we say. I show evidence of my concern in an attempt to get my sons issues addressed.

kwill3104 · January 2014

I am now considering stopping his milk of magnesia since he is having frequent, pretty soft bowel movements every day but I'm worried we will just add insult to injury and cause everything to turn hard now. Yesterday at daycare they said he woke up screaming during his nap and they immediately checked his diaper thinking he had pooped but he hadn't. They said he eventually pooped a little bit after that and cried out with all 4 of his poops that day. He cried out 2 times during dinner when he was pooping as well. The nurse suggested that I add pear juice to his oatmeal today (which I did) and also give him his milk of magnesia but now I am thinking that is just going to make him have diarrhea since hard bowel movements isn't really his issue now.

TiffanyBerry · January 2014

It sounds like something is going on internally, especially if the stool is soft enough. I'd be looking into digestive issues (and yeah, food sensitivies first).

Stillharbor · January 2014

If we noticed that LO's stools were getting super soft, we backed off the MOM. Days with harder stools or no poop, we would give her a little more. You just kind of gauge it day by day. She still doesn't like to poop, but at least now she's not screaming bloody murder.

mainesmichelle · January 2014

My story sounds identical to yours.. Long story short, my sister is a surgeon and her doctor friend also a surgeon told us to put her on 2 percent milk. All the fat in the breast milk and regular food combined is the issue. since she was well over 1yrs old I changed her to 2 percent Horizon milk with DHA and it did the trick. Like you, i did cut out the cheese, yogurt, etc and it didn't help. Only the milk trick worked.. No issues since and she eats plenty of yogurt, cheese, and drinks lots of milk. GL

DCBengalBelle · January 2014

My little one had a similar experience around the time he turned one. We tried prune juice as well as all sorts of dietary options to help. Finally, I spoke with our pediatrician and she prescribed miralax. We mix a teaspoon every evening in his milk. It took about 2-3 days to start working, and has worked wonderfully. We've been using it about three months now without any problems.

MommyAtty · January 2014

mainesmichelle said:

My story sounds identical to yours.. Long story short, my sister is a surgeon and her doctor friend also a surgeon told us to put her on 2 percent milk. All the fat in the breast milk and regular food combined is the issue. since she was well over 1yrs old I changed her to 2 percent Horizon milk with DHA and it did the trick. Like you, i did cut out the cheese, yogurt, etc and it didn't help. Only the milk trick worked.. No issues since and she eats plenty of yogurt, cheese, and drinks lots of milk. GL

DD's constipation was never this bad, but our ped did tell us to switch from whole to 2% milk and all her problems are now gone. And she eats cheese (full fat) at least once a day. Also, cutting down on bananas/apples and subbing in oranges and grapes helps. He also said to limit milk to 16 oz a day max.

earlyspring1 · January 2014

We saw a gastroenterologist for dd for the same thing. We had been doing prune juice for awhile and it stopped working. One thing he mentioned as far as the screaming and discomfort is that if she had had big hard poops in the past, she might have tiny tears in her anus that are re - opening every time she poops. He suggested putting aquaphor on her butt to not only heal any tears but also lubricate the way for future poops to prevent new tears.
We have also added one capsule of slippery elm to her yogurt every morning. It's an herb. It has worked when miralax, prune juice, and benefiber have not. Between the aquaphor and the slippery elm she's had much happier poops. Sometimes we don't even realize she's done it.
Good luck!

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