Constipation woes: How to help a constipated baby become regular again
Today we’re gonna discuss baby constipation: what it is, why it happens, and how to solve it.
First of all, I just want to start this episode off by saying that this mostly applies to children and babies who have already started solids. Whether you started solids at four months, six months, or nine months (typically we don't have constipation issues with babies who are exclusively breastfed - they will poop anywhere from 10 times a day to once every seven days and that’s normal).
You know, I’m not a doctor.
Consult with your pediatrician for anything I've said today, I am not a doctor. I do not give medical advice, these are all just my opinion and other people's opinions that I've collected over the internet and over all of our experiences with our own babies. So, consult with your doctor if you have any questions and before doing any kind of medical treatment with your baby.
Do ECed babies get constipated?
Now that the disclaimer is done, I want to define constipation. But before that, I just want to say that babies who are ECed from whatever age usually suffer far less constipation, and a definite majority of them (99%) avoid any kind of medical constipation whatsoever. Medical constipation is very common if you toilet train after two or three years old.
With EC they're in a deep squat, which shortens the length of the colon and it definitely makes poops easier to pass. When they start to sit on their own and sit on their toilet seat reducer, they have more control over things in general and in life (like a young toddler, 12 to 18 months).
Sometimes we ECers can come across constipation because one hard poop, one experiment of “How long can I hold this?” or “Let me see how my bowels work?” can ruin everything. It causes the poop to become harder and dryer and then hurt when it comes out - even bleed - and that can ruin it all. That can start a battle with constipation as well as (with any kind of illness) possibly a potty pause.
What’s the definition of constipation for babies?
Let's quickly define constipation because it's important to know what it is and what it isn't. Constipation in children is a condition in which your child may have fewer than two bowel movements a week and some, say three. Stools that are hard, dry, or lumpy like little balls or little nuggets, and stools that are difficult or painful to pass. That’s all from The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Also, constipation can occur with stools that are wide and abnormally large - like adult or teen size - and you've got a baby pushing one of those out. Not good.
Reasons Babies Get Constipated
There are reasons that constipation happens.
Some of the reasons include diet - changes in diet like starting solids, for example, a change in the mom's diet (if we're doing breastfeeding), or if we've introduced new foods to the child's diet.
Any kind of illness can definitely cause constipation and this is usually related to the medication, if anything, that the child is taking.
Refusal - if you're going through a potty pause, please check out my potty pause resolution mini course. It's very short, very digestible (no pun intended), and we can very much get you out of a potty pause if you've had a refusal for more than one or two weeks out of nowhere.
Refusal can cause constipation because of the way your body works - I've learned this from working with my pelvic floor therapist after having my fifth baby (which if you haven't done that, please do, you learn so much). So if you wait too long because you've got a crying baby or you need to nurse or whatever, and if when you get that first urge to poop, you don't go right then and you just wait and you hold it, your body sucks it back in (for lack of prettier terms) and it's still there near the end, near the opening, and so it dries out and accumulates.
You've got this dryer, larger poop that's accumulated at the exit and then when you're really ready to poop it out, you've got to strain extra hard to get it out. It's really wide and difficult (especially if you have pelvic floor issues or you've never worked on it after having a baby) - you can have really painful poops that will cause you to have little capillaries pop and get a little bit of blood.
For a baby, the same thing happens if they wait too long. That accumulates, gets hard, gets dry, and it's very hard to pass. So, when they finally do stop refusing long enough to pass it, it hurts. Again, one hard and hurtful poop can ruin it all.
Not enough fluids can also cause constipation, obviously, and a good sign is to check your baby's fontanelle for dehydration (that’s the little soft thing on the top of their head and the back of their head that closes up as they get older). My pediatrician told us that you can tell if a baby is dehydrated when it's depressed and it's not plump and full. Not enough fluids can obviously cause constipation and that can happen after a child's been sick. If they're dehydrated and they're not getting fluids and absorbing them, they can get constipated.
Too many constipating foods - if you don't get a chance to Google it, I'm going to do it for you. “Alcohol, (no worries with that kids), gluten containing foods, processed grains, milk, and dairy products can constipate.” If you introduced milk or dairy to your child's diet, it could constipate. They also say that red meat, fried or fast foods, and persimmons also constipate. (Persimmons! Who knew that?)
Foods that can ease constipation, which we’ll cover when we talk about solutions here in a sec, include water, yogurt and kefir. So, something that is dairy that is fermented, clear soups, prunes, wheat bran, broccoli, apples, and pears can ease constipation.
Bananas are also known to constipate, and what do they start eating when they start eating solids? Babies love bananas, of course. We want to make sure that if we're having constipation, we limit those.
Another cause of constipation is to have that hard poop once and then just wanting to avoid pooping because you don't want to recreate that same situation for yourself.
We have poop refusal, which can cause more constipation. It's a vicious cycle and that in turn makes it dry, large, hard, and often harder to pass as well.
So, those are just a few causes of constipation for babies.
Let’s now discuss the side effects of constipation - they are fairly interesting.
Side effects of constipation in babies
Oftentimes people will come to me with their EC issues in my Q&A's or my book owners group and say, "Hey, we've got lots of small pees happening over a short period of time - why?" And my first instinct is to say, “because your baby might be constipated.”
Even if a baby is pooping every single day, they still might be constipated. They might not be letting all that go, they might have some poop that's just lodged in there and just won't come out. It's being stubborn because there is a big lump of it and that pushes against the bladder and causes less urine to come out in little spurts over a short period of time. Constipation can be something to rule out.
Resistance can be caused by constipation because I don't want to put myself through that again so I'm not going to potty willingly.
Constipation can cause children to get up and not stay seated on the mini potty or try to get off the toilet reducer. If your child has a sitting problem, maybe it's just because they really don't feel comfortable pooping since they started solids or had a diet change.
Another thing that constipation can cause is for your child to poop just a little and then 10 minutes later poop another little bit and poop another little bit. They're trying to let it out a little bit at a time to exercise control, maybe, but probably because there's some underlying constipation.
In that case, we want to soften the stools and make them happen daily, if possible, and help your baby relax so they can pass them easily. I do have some solutions for that, we'll get to those.
Sometimes constipation can cause your child to have blood in their stools or on the toilet paper, which might shock you and surprise you. The first time I saw that with my newborn, I was like, “Oh my gosh, what is this?” (It is normal, I was told, to have a speck here and there.)
However, when you've got a young toddler, a young baby, and there's a little bit of blood on the toilet paper stool after they've gone, it can often indicate that you have a constipated child. It's just tearing at those capillaries at the sides and popping them.
A hard stomach can be caused by constipation. If you push on their stomach and it's just rock hard, an infant massage can often resolve part of that. That's usually something caused by constipation - they’ve got a hard belly.
Constipation, believe it or not, can cause severe irritation in a baby. They could just not be themselves, just be irritable, and sometimes they won't sleep, etcetera.
On the same note, constipation can cause disruption in naps and sleep.
It can also cause toilet refusal - baby straight up won't use the toilet - and cause clinginess.
This is my daughter's last four months. She's 17 months now and she's been battling constipation for four months now because she had one hard poop that ruined it all, which is part of the reason why I'm doing this episode today. (But also, everybody's asking for all the options!)
She gets super clingy when she needs to poop and doesn't want to. There's a need here that's conflicting with another need.
I want to stay comfortable and safe in my body and I also don't feel safe, so I need you and I really need to poop but I don't want to.
Constipation can also, if it's serious, cause fever and changes in energy levels in your baby.
If you get a fever along with constipation, you should see a doctor or your pediatrician. Also, for any other thing that you feel iffy about, call them. Again, I'm not a medical doctor, this is just all my opinion.
Baby constipation remedies
Now for the solutions.
We can change their diet, we can add in those foods that can ease constipation. You can Google it, but I've got a few up here like water, yogurt, prunes and stuff like that.
We always add prune packs - the Just Prunes by Plum Organics is a really good one. Sometimes they outgrow those and they won't eat them, so you can mix that with yogurt.
Prunes (like the actual dried fruit) can be fed to your baby, the same way you do with raisins. Just chop them up and they often like those.
You can feed prune juice, which again, after a couple of times, they'll get smart - they'll be like, this doesn't taste good.
You can do apple juice or pear juice as my pediatrician recommended.
You can add more liquids to their diet and make sure they're absorbing the liquids if they've been sick recently. You may want to do something like Pedialyte.
Infant massage can often help. When you're looking at your baby, you go on the left side up to the right, down, and then over to the middle. You can look that up - I'm not a certified massage therapist so don't take my word for it. Do your own research.
Part of helping your baby relax is for you (mom, dad or caregiver) to chill out and relax yourself. There is typically no toilet fear or poop fear or any of that crazy stuff that three years of diapering would cause, if you’re ECing a 0-18 month baby. They haven't developed that same kind of, “I'm comfortable pooping in my diaper and now you're making me poop in a potty and I'm scared and I'm not going to do it.” This is different. This is withholding that is usually much more physical and much more related to the environment. So, you need to relax and they will relax.
Toddler suppositories - so, with our then-13 month old, I was told by the pharmacist that I could use these, and that I should just break it in half because they're made for ages two and up. Again, do your own research, make your own decision. I'm not responsible for you. We're all responsible for ourselves. Right? But this works for us, you guys.
We tried a baby enema first. I've had an enema and I personally thought it was the most terrifying thing I've ever done. My husband was like, I know she'll be fine. Our baby was miserable during the enema! So I wouldn't even try those. You break toddler suppositories in half, put the pointy part of it in, pop!, and then you wait about five minutes, then you get a poop. I just carry them around naked while that thing is in their butt and then when they start to get really squirmy, about five minutes later, I pop them on the potty and it produces a poop.
Oftentimes I'll also put them on the toilet seat reducer and I will walk away and once I give privacy. That's another cause of constipation, not giving your child privacy. Babies tend to want bathroom privacy starting at 6-8 months. That's why young toddlers hide behind a couch and do it in private. Babies are born really sensitive about this - it is not socially appropriate to poop in front of other people. So, when you're doing a solution like this - you have done the suppository, you've waited five minutes, they start to kick around and they need to go - set them on the potty, the toilet seat reducer as long as you feel safe doing that (they're not going to jump off), and say, “Oh, I just forgot something” and go grab your drink from the other room and come back. When you are gone, listen around the corner and you'll usually hear them start bearing down and pooping because they have privacy and they feel safe. After all, we are mammals.
That's what worked for us. That and the prune, apple, pear juice, actual prunes, and prune packs with yogurt. That all worked for us. When Twyla skips a day and then she's miserable again the next day and won't go poop, we are right on that suppository once again. Over the last few weeks (our pediatrician told us to use them for two weeks straight), after two weeks of doing that, we got her on a regular daily pooping pattern. We didn't need to use them again for another month, and then she was like, I'm going to wait again. Another day passed and on the third day there was no rising, and there was a suppository given. :)
Another solution: you can Google poop candy. If you mix coconut oil with peanut butter or chocolate and then freeze or refrigerate it, that coconut oil can really help a bowel movement to happen. I like to make homemade coconut cream ice cream with frozen bananas and frozen strawberries. You can Google that too, but that coconut oil is really good for lubing things up and combating constipation.
Magnesium powder - I've heard this from another mom. I haven't tried it but I did take Calm, a brand of magnesium powder, while I was pregnant for restless leg syndrome, to help me sleep, help me relax, and also to loosen my bowels. She's used it on her infant, but again, do your own research and see if you can do that.
Magnesium oil on the surface of the skin and on the belly is what another mom suggested on Instagram the other day, and a child sized dose of laxative. Consult with your pediatrician, but little doses of laxative could help as well, if you're facing this.
(Honestly, I usually don't just revert to my pediatrician for everything because I'm a pretty natural mama and I can handle stuff - I've had five kids. However, with Twyla I decided to ask her opinion, and the suppositories and the juices and everything were her first choice. Her second choice, if this doesn't work, was that we were going to give a child size dose of adult laxative.)
The other thing I really want you to do if you're working on a solution is keep a log (no pun intended). Write down on your calendar or on your phone: pooped, pooped, pooped - on which day they pooped, because you will lose track of what days that happened and you want to get on a regular rhythm.
Again, if you have a fever with this or changes in energy level and your child is not normal, you need to probably see a doctor right away.
But, that's everything I have about constipation.
Now I wanna hear from you! Please comment below:
Are you dealing with baby constipation? If so, what are you going to try from today's episode? If you've dealt with it before, what has worked for you and what hasn't?
I’ll look forward to seeing you in the comments below!
xx
PS - here’s the video version of this episode in case you prefer to YouTube it. ;)
My second just had huge poops. Starting about 3 months, when she was still exclusively breastfeed, I noticed she’d strain, but nothing. Not wanting to get involved in medical remedies on such a little person, I tried this strange thing I’d heard of and really wanted to try… EC! I worked beautifully.like you said, the squatty position is what she needed.
Now I just finished up with my third. He’s 25 months, in cloth undies day and night, and always tells me when he has to go. No diaper shortage here during stay at home!!
That’s wonderful Mary! I’m so glad EC helped her. Way to be diaper free!! xx Andrea
Every morning when Baby wakes we hold them in a squat on the potty (while we are still in bed). I gently tickle/massage their anus. Sometimes pressing gently with my finger tips around. I am patient and relaxed, and most days am rewarded with a satisfying poop. Rubbing their knees and/or belly in circular motion is also helpful. Steamed zucchini squash makes softer poop and steamed carrot is firming, so we eat some of both (along with breast milk).
Oatmeal with a tiny dose of bananas works like magic for my son…
Interesting. Sometimes bananas can be a constipating food. I’m glad you found something that worked! xx Andrea
Can you share your coconut cream ice cream recipe please? Thanks!
Stewed prunes worked great for us! Boil prunes in a little white grape juice with a little cinnamon & vanilla extract for 10-20 minutes. So delicious! I mixed in a prune with baby’s oatmeal to serve.
I’ve had to deal with constipation with one of my children and always have to be careful with another one. I actually kept a log for a long time including time of day and whether I had given anything to help (eg: laxative or probiotic). It stays with you though, you keep track mentally even when they’re regular because one off day throws everything…
You mentioned persimmons, I think they’d be constipating if they they’re not ripe enough, as they can be extremely astringent (I know because the first time I had one, it wasn’t soft and gooey… It was firm, and I regretted it).
Bananas: someone I know who had to avoid extra fibre was told by their gastroenterologist to avoid unripe bananas, so if you need fiber, go for the pretty yellow ones without brown spots.
Prunes: they’re very effective because they contain a sugar that isn’t absorbed by the gut and can create dependence so it’s a fix, not a solution, just be careful! You can check a website called Gutsense.
Fats in general are actually really helpful, not only coconut oil. I cook with very little fat, and five guts big and small work better when I’m more generous with fats!
Probiotics can be amazing, but I think they work in different ways for different people. My first child had bad enough eczema, and after doing some research, I took a pregnancy probiotic from a few weeks before my second baby was born until well after we started solids. There was bad constipation, but only mild eczema! With my third, I had been having kefir and taking a pregnancy probiotic before giving birth and for a few months afterwards. No eczema this time around! But I did notice a certain degree of constipation, so I quit the probiotic and things got better. Then I ran out of kefir and forgot to buy more and they got even better… So it’s worth trying, I’m definitely glad I did.
During the more difficult time with my second baby, the GP said to gently insert a cotton tip lubricated with soap in baby’s anus and it worked great quite a few times. I wasn’t sure at first, but all it does is create some irritation and get things moving. During that time I was inadvertently practising EC, holding baby over the toilet because I knew that position would be both more comfortable and more conducive. In spite of many painful poos, more than two years later there is no fear of going to the toilet! 😊
There, I’ve shared my experience too! Constipation can be very distressing for both parent and baby, so I hope it helps.
Thank you so much for sharing! It sounds like you have a lot of experience and figured out some great options. So interesting about the probiotics and kefir! xx Andrea
Thanks for sharing Izzy! That does sound delicious!! xx Andrea
When my son was little (under 12 mo) and couldn’t poop for some reason, we’d insert a little stick of butter into his butt. It sounds weird but it worked!
I imagine it only works for little babies but I figured it can’t be worse than suppository?! :)
I have heard of a q-tip with coconut oil, very similar. It gets things going! xx Andrea
With my daughter, when she hasn’t pooped, we mix half juice and half water for her and basically make her drink all day. I usually try to give her some pears or apples as well. She regularly has pretty hard poops, or nuggets, which I attribute to us introducing cow’s milk over the last two weeks. But, lots of fruit and juice water definitely seems to help her.
Hi Karen! Yes, switching to cow’s milk can cause some constipation. You may try cutting out apples, they are actually constipating. Apple juice is fine, but not apples to eat. xx Andrea
Karen did u try a pedialax enema or pedialax suppository glycerin daily rectally? Keep trying to massage her tummy.
I will help u if u if u need help to get your baby girls tummy feeling better .
Email me at joeydelgaudou@gmail.com
Constipation is so awful. I’ve tried quite a few things but when adding a few teaspoons per day of coconut oil to my almost 1 year old baby, I noticed it has an effect and seems to loosen up all that is gathered in his bowels. I tried different dosages but really had to give a few teaspoons or I noticed no effect. It’s still not the end of it as we’ve been dealing with it for quite a while now but at least we’ve had a few poops that came out without using suppositories, which was already a great improvement.
I’m so glad you found something that works! Coconut oil often does the trick. xx Andrea
Thanks so much! I just dealt with this yesterday- two days of not pooping- or just a dry nugget here and there- and when she did finally poop on day three- there was a little blood. It can definitely be frightening! And I was so reassured to hear you chat about it today! Super informative! Thanks so much!
I’m so glad this was timely Jo! And that baby finally managed to poop. xx Andrea
Did u try a pedialax enema or pedialax suppository glycerin daily rectally? Try tummy massage . Email me I will help u help your baby to poop 💩
My email is joeydelgaudou@gmail.com
Our cutie had a majorly constipated phase starting at 3 months (still exclusively breastfed, and even though EC’d) up until recently (10 months). We tried all kinds of different things and it always got better at first, but then worse again. Apparently some babies’ bowels are just a bit slower. It only got better now that she eats and drinks more substantial amounts of solid foods and still water. She always got bored with any one food that helped, so we tried all kinds. I’d also add beetroot (lacto-fermented juice or boiled and then added to smoothies, sauerkraut juice, and fresh, puréed pineapple to the list.
We tried l-glutamine powder for a while, which is supposed to help with the mucous membranes. Our baby had it mixed with a little bit of mashed fruit.
Especially after a c-section or if mum’s gut biome might not quite be “up to speed” either, a kids’ probiotic might be something to consider.
I also learned along the way that ties in the mouth (lip, tongue, or buccal ties) can majorly affect digestion, as tensions there are kind of “passed on”. Skilled lactation consultants or body workers (for example craniosacral therapists) might be able to diagnose and treat (in many cases, there are other treatment methods if operation is not desirable for your child and your family).
Great information!! Thank you for sharing. xx Andrea
My little one had constipation issues from 4 months to about 6.5 months. She would poop every Sunday. But it would be like a poop from a teenager (not joking it was traumatic for us and her) she would scream and tear and bleed. After trying so many other things out paediatrician had us give her 1/2 an oz if water 1/2 oz of prune juice and a tsp of restoralax every morning for a month. We are now on 1/2 oz of water 1/2 of prune juice phase and on Thursday will be taking away the prune juice. So far her poops are soft again. Hoping this does the trick.
He said some kids have pooping issues and it take them awhile to figure out.
We had sundays in my house shed start, we’d grab the coconut oil put it all over her bum and then stand her up to squat while my husband massaged her tummy. She would scream hysterically and my husband and I would try not to bawl. I’m so hoping those days are over! constipation is awful!
Oh poor baby!! I’m so glad you were able to get things going for her Samantha! xx Andrea
We went through a very similar struggle several months ago with our now 18-month old. It was an absolute nightmare. I felt horrible for him. He wouldn’t drink prune juice cuz he didn’t like the taste, poop chocolate worked for a while, but we discovered our favorite solution is Larabars! The dates in Larabars keep my little guy regular and he loves eating them almost every day!
After researching for a longer-term, more preventative approach I also decided to give him a daily probiotic with inulin, a prebiotic that passes through the small intestine whole and feeds good bacteria, supporting digestive health. They’re called YUM-V’s Probiotic for Kids for anyone who wants to try them! He’s been sooo much better since we’ve been doing these probiotics and Larabars :) #gratefulmama
That’s a great idea Savannah! Dates will definitely get things moving. Thank you for the suggestions! xx Andrea
i’ve seen gluten be the problem for young babies who don’t poop for days. my grandson had this problem & it turned out he has celiac disease and needs to avoid gluten completely. as a lactation consultant i always suggest that moms might want to consider trying out eliminating gluten from their diet, and it often has amazing results. .
That’s a great point Alice! Gluten can cause so many issues. xx Andrea
Alice, I would agree that if someone is celiac it’s definitely a good idea not to have gluten. The Celiac test requires someone to have lots of gluten before testing so that if someone has an allergy to gluten it’s picked up. Your grandson most likely had this test. However if a mum or bub have a test and they are not celiac- (and are breastfeeding) it’s important to have some gluten so bub is exposed to it. The reason I say this is because I’m gluten intolerant (not celiac) and I used to cut out most gluten from my diet while I was breastfeeding, until my dietician said I needed to have some so that my baby wouldn’t develop an allergy to it in the future. She recommended I have gluten products with soluble fibre and resistant starches (high fibre white bread, white rice, inside of potatoes, sweet potatoes, legumes) and that really helped me go, and my baby. There are three types of fibre: soluble, insoluble and resistant starches. Both soluble and resistant starches help retain water and help soften stool, insoluble (skins on vegetables, stalks on leafy vegetables, whole grain wheat/pasta etc) bulk up the stool and can also often make it hard to pass. While cutting out gluten may have amazing results initially I would be careful to tell this to your clients as the babys body may decide not to tolerate it in the future, which may result in more constipation. A little bit here and there still exposes the body to it and allows it to learn to process it.
Hi Nicole! You can always introduce gluten to baby when they start solids. Sometimes they are more sensitive until they are old enough for food, the digestive system is more mature. They do recommend that babies are exposed to high allergen foods before 1 year old unless there is a family history of allergy. Such interesting stuff! xx Andrea
When my bub started solids (rice cereal mixed with water) he wasn’t pooing as frequently- once every 3 days or so. The dietician said it’s not something to worry about unless it’s every 5 days. I did mix the rice cereal with breastmilk though and that made a difference, he started going about once a day again. Have also had success with pears and including soluble fibre (inside of sweet potato, potato, lentils)
This post has given me a major “aha” moment. My 12 month old had poops totally down, every morning like clockwork, and I always caught them. Then we did a 6 week overseas trip and since then she is irregular, sometimes going three times in a day, then not at all. And MOSTLY I would miss them because she was hiding to poop. So frustrating. But they have been hard, pebble poops, then sometimes a huge log. Sounds like constipation is the problem. I will be looking carefully at her diet. Thanks for the advice!
I’m so glad it helped Lucinda! Traveling can throw things off. Adjusting diet and maybe adding in a probiotic should do the trick! xx Andrea
You are right Nicole, as long as baby is comfortable and the poop is a normal consistency it is okay if they aren’t going every day. Especially if they are still primarily breastfed. xx Andrea
When baby boy started solids he went from 1 poo every 7 days to 1 a day, but it was painful for him. Prune puree makes all the difference and we try to limit bananas. Sweet potato seems better than normal potato at keeping constipation away.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed, when he’s lying on his tummy naked is when he usually starts pooing. Then we can get him straight into that potty. Maybe it’s the pressure on the tummy that helps, or maybe he is just happier doing it when he has a bit more personal space and isn’t being carried.
I’ve heard constipation is more common in boys once they start peeing standing up because they aren’t in that squat position as often.
Hi Liz! Yes, it is very common for tummy time to get things going. I’m go glad you found some foods to keep things going for him! xx Andrea
Just wanted to chime in here and say that constipation, even at such a young age isn’t normal. Speaking from extensive experience here, it’s likely due to some food sensitivity. Either solid food being introduces, or if you’re breastfeeding the baby can have reactions to what you eat. It may be a pain to try to figure out now, but if that’s what it is, it isn’t going away so figuring it out now will help!!!!
Good point Suzy! There’s usually something causing it. xx Andrea
Thank you for this podcast! I’ve had the same issues with my 11month old. At about 9 months she got really constipated and when she finally did go she was sitting on the potty and screamed out in pain. There was a small amount of blood ,of course I got super worried. After that she didnt want to poop on the potty. And it took me a month or so to get her regular again. I backed of soilds and mainly breastfeed. Got her back on track just a couple weeks ago with pooping on the potty. But now we just got moved in to a new place amd she fights me when I set her on the potty. A minute later she goes in the diaper or crawls away during diaper free time and goes. I have been so confused and frustrated. After I listened to this I understand it could be more constipation. She has had smaller poops , so not fully releasing her bowels. I hope we can get back on track and get her loving her potty again. It made me so sad to see her not want to sit on it and go, and just confused to why she wont sit.
Hi Sarah! I’m so sorry your little one is struggling with constipation. Moving into a new home will definitely throw things off. I would focus on resolving the constipation and settling into your new place. You can start up EC again in a few weeks or so. xx Andrea
Did u try a pedialax enema or pedialax suppository? Try a tummy massage
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I will help u help your baby girl to go poop try a tummy massage or a pedialax enema or pedialax suppository
i would think that since it got better again when you backed off of solids, that there might actually be something she’s eating that’s causing or affecting the problem. i would probably stop solids altogether for a while & see how it goes. & also stop trying to get her to use the potty for a while. if it gets better again, then you might try adding back just one solid food at a time & wait at least a few days before adding another. gluten is a common contributor to constipation but there could be others.
Hi Alice! Yes, sometimes it is what they are eating. Adjusting diet can usually fix the problem. Offering the potty actually helps make it easier for them to poop, so I wouldn’t stop offering. xx Andrea
Lynzey…Dr. Schulze (herbalist based in Marina del Rey, CA): Formula number 3 for constipation 👍
I had NO IDEA that constipation could cause fevers! My 13 mo just had her first ever fever, but she had no symptoms of any illness otherwise. I thought maybe it was from teething, but that still didn’t feel right because she has never had any trouble teething. BUT she has struggled with constipation since 7 mo. Now, I am almost certain the fever was from constipation, but the nurses We talked to while she was sick never once asked about her bowel movements, so I never connected the dots. We are just getting started with EC using the hybrid plan, so I am hopeful that will help us be more in tune with her digestion needs. We use prune juice, but will be adding more options! Question: you mentioned coconut oil, but could I give her coconut water instead? Will that be just as helpful? Thank you, thank you, thank you for this information!!
You can certainly try the coconut water, every body responds differently. However; I found a lot of coconut water has to be ingested to get the same effects of the coconut oil.
This podcast/ thread has been really helpful! I think we’re in a similar “one poop that ruined the whole thing” situation. Our 17 month old has been rocking EC from 3 weeks old, and does his regular daily 1-3 poops in the potty. Very predictable, and easy-going. Then, (I think it was cheese that did it), he got constipated, had one or two really painful poops couple and since then has been resisting the potty. Things got better over the course of a week or so (prunes and cutting dairy, etc) and he started going on the potty again. It almost like we were back to normal then the constipation returned (we let our guard down and started giving him bananas and milk again- at least that’s what I think brought it back). Now he cries whenever we enter the bathroom or try to take his pants off. He actually tries to hold his pants on, or put them BACK on (very cute seeing his attempts) but it also breaks my heart. It’s reassuring to know that his resistance, or this potty pause if you will, was triggered by his constipation, and that I just need to focus on getting his gut back on track. My mind started going to all the overwhelming mommy guilt places, like ‘he’ll never go on the potty again and it’s all my fault’. I do think we might be struggling through this phase for a while though….
Thank you for sharing your story. Don’t let that mom guilt get to you.💕
Keep up the continued love and support.😊 With more time things will get back on track! 👍
We are dealing with some constipation right now at 10 months (started EC little before 3 months old). Our son poops every day, sometimes multiple times and in the last week his poops have gotten harder and he’s resisting sitting on the potty even just to pee. I would try to hold him above the sink but he cries so much even though that helps the poop come out. He will stiffen his whole body to resist going. When I give up from trying to have him sit on the potty he will eventually go on the floor and it does come out in little bits and he’s also uncomfortable I can tell (today he even stood there with me and pooped two tiny hard poops while standing while crying). Good thing we went to doctor yesterday who told us he has a tiny fissure in his anus that caused the tiny amount of blood we noticed and we are now doing a tsp of miralax daily and 6 oz extra water a day on top of being EBF. Hoping he will soon be less stressed sitting down to poop!!!