MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 2

BadlyWrittenPoem

mrs_B wrote: »

Having some issues here with George being a bit constipated :-( Apparently they sometimes try to increase feeds or feed for longer to try to push it through, and he seems to have one long feed about this time but the problem is he feeds for about an hour but brings quite a bit back up like he's eaten way too much :-( The HV said to give him a bottle with about 1oz of cooled, boiled water bit when I mentioned it to the breastfeeding support worker, she said he shouldn't need anything but milk & seemed to think water was bad advice :-( I really don't know what to do to ease it for him, I'm tempted to take some lactulose myself because I know once that works it's way into my milk it'll help him out (& me a bit too for that matter!). Massage & cycling his legs helps him to settle a bit but other than that we have no other ideas, can anyone help us out with some suggestions?

I don't know how old your LO is but assuming he's under six months, I would imagine giving water would interfere with breastfeeding (though I know water is advised to help with constipation for FF babies). Lactulose stays in your gut and is not absorbed (that is how it works - it draws extra water into the intestine to make stuff softer) so you taking it won't do anything for him. I would probably consult your GP if I were you - I have heard of babies needing lactulose or movicol but it would obviously be something for a medical professional to assess. The only other thing I can think of is massaging/cycling legs in a warm bath?

savageHK wrote: »

poem - very interesting about the EC. I'd have to spend quite a while getting used to when he wees though. And being a he, I presume I'd need to point his willy into the toilet bowl too - hmmm not enough hands - two to hold him up, another to aim his wee... Might try it with poos though although babygrows are not the greatest for ease of whipping off. Plus we are using fitted reusable nappies so that's a wrap and a nappy to whip off, nevermind the liner and the booster! Still, worth a think anyway

Mine are both girls so I don't have boy experience but from what I can tell it is harder at first but people develop a knack for it. There's a FB group here which is useful: https://www.facebook.com/groups/18129126922/ If the link doesnt work, the group is called "EC UK".

mrs_B_5

Gillyx wrote: »

What age is he again? I found from 6-10 most nights A was like that when he was younger, very windy, irritable, feeding a lot. I think it's an age thing.

If I was you I'd offer the water before going down the laxative route. Water is natural, you can syringe it in if you don't want him to have a bottle.

Before you know it there will be poo everywhere

He'll be 5wks on Monday He seems to be settling a bit now after some time cycling his legs & a bit of time rubbing his legs & feet. I'm hoping it is just an age thing, he'll settle back put of it & there'll be poo everywhere again! It's not that I don't want him to have a bottle, we're actually introducing odd bottles from the weekend so we can express & go out occasionally, it's more the fact we've had conflicting advice with one telling is water is ok & another saying its not necessary :-/

It certainly sounds like we may have progress because his belly is making some interesting noises

mrs_B_5

BadlyWrittenPoem wrote: »

I don't know how old your LO is but assuming he's under six months, I would imagine giving water would interfere with breastfeeding (though I know water is advised to help with constipation for FF babies). Lactulose stays in your gut and is not absorbed (that is how it works - it draws extra water into the intestine to make stuff softer) so you taking it won't do anything for him. I would probably consult your GP if I were you - I have heard of babies needing lactulose or movicol but it would obviously be something for a medical professional to assess. The only other thing I can think of is massaging/cycling legs in a warm bath?

He'll be 5wks on Monday :-) The health visitor seemed to think that if I'm constipated it could impact on George & that it might help with his constipation if I took lactulose but only to take it if I need it personally, although I am confused because I thought it worked how you explained it so can't see how that would help George!

Gillyx

mrs_B wrote: »

He'll be 5wks on Monday He seems to be settling a bit now after some time cycling his legs & a bit of time rubbing his legs & feet. I'm hoping it is just an age thing, he'll settle back put of it & there'll be poo everywhere again! It's not that I don't want him to have a bottle, we're actually introducing odd bottles from the weekend so we can express & go out occasionally, it's more the fact we've had conflicting advice with one telling is water is ok & another saying its not necessary :-/

It certainly sounds like we may have progress because his belly is making some interesting noises

I'd wait to see what happens. Sometimes they just store it up, and with breastmilk there is very little waste, as the body can find a use for it all, so its common not to go so often. Fingers crossed he goes soon xx

missbunbury

We had a period of poo-related struggles with A, at 15 weeks she seems to have got much better at just doing the poo when she's ready, although she still takes aaaaages over it, she doesn't get distressed anymore. When she was having the seeming-bunged-up symptoms she would scream, stretch her legs out straight, clench her fists. The things I found helped were warm baths, a vibrating chair and also putting her in her sling, facing my chest, legs up in the M position. This last one worked best but had to be done before she got to the leg stiffening stage, so I used to feed her until she was sleepy then stick her in the sling, a Close carrier. I think being in that position and having her tummy pressed against mine helped encourage the poo!

fluffnutter

mrs_B wrote: »

We have a fisher price chair that's a bit like a car & that vibrates sort of but that's not helping :-( It doesn't seem to bother him all day but he gets to about 7-8pm & then wants a monster feed of about an hour, rests for a little while, then sicks quite a bit back up & then struggles to settle & is really windy (bottom end!) like he's trying to poo :-(

I think I'll get on the lactulose & see if that helps him a bit.

Sounds totally normal. Most babies from about three weeks to three or four months do just as you describe. Evening colic, innit.

sunshine_1988

Morning all

My day off today :j

Hope everyone is well. Our sleeping has improved lots in the last few days...dont want to jinx it though so Ill shut up! How is your LO at nights now nutella?

We are meeting a friend and her new baby later in starbucks. She was born on Aidens bday so exactly a year younger. Im thinking its his potential future gf

xx

fluffnutter

mrs_B wrote: »

He'll be 5wks on Monday He seems to be settling a bit now after some time cycling his legs & a bit of time rubbing his legs & feet. I'm hoping it is just an age thing, he'll settle back put of it & there'll be poo everywhere again! It's not that I don't want him to have a bottle, we're actually introducing odd bottles from the weekend so we can express & go out occasionally, it's more the fact we've had conflicting advice with one telling is water is ok & another saying its not necessary :-/

Are you combination feeding or just the breast? The standard advice is that an exclusively breastfed baby doesn't need water.

Are you sure he's constipated? Don't confuse not pooing very often with being constipated. BF babies can go for days without pooing. Plus all small babies strain when they go - this is NOT a sign that they're constipated. They just don't know what muscles to use so their whole body gets involved. Freddie used to go bright red in the face.

When he does poo, is it runny? If it is, then he's probably fine.

mrs_B_5

fluffnutter wrote: »

Sounds totally normal. Most babies from about three weeks to three or four months do just as you describe. Evening colic, innit.

I had thought about colic :-/ Maybe we should start back using infacol to see if it gives him any relief.

mrs_B_5

fluffnutter wrote: »

Are you combination feeding or just the breast? The standard advice is that an exclusively breastfed baby doesn't need water.

Are you sure he's constipated? Don't confuse not pooing very often with being constipated. BF babies can go for days without pooing. Plus all small babies strain when they go - this is NOT a sign that they're constipated. They just don't know what muscles to use so their whole body gets involved. Freddie used to go bright red in the face.

When he does poo, is it runny? If it is, then he's probably fine.

He's exclusively breastfed at the moment but we're looking to introduce the odd bottle using expressed breast milk early next week I did think it was odd having been encouraged that exclusively breastfed babies don't need water or anything else.

It's definitely runny when he poos, quite explosive at times too Perhaps colic is the more likely issue, I know from my dad that I suffered terribly with it as a LO. Noone had explained they can go days without pooing, everyone (HV, bfs etc) seemed to expect a good few poos a day when they ask about his nappies but now it seems to be turning out that missing a day is normal!

Thankyou everyone for being so helpful I love this place!