Thursday, February 7, 2013

Dealing with newborn constipation

Never did I think that the bulk of my topic of conversations would be about newborn poop! My poor friends and family! All they have heard about for the past few weeks are the bowel motions, or lack of, of our Little Mr 0.

Little Miss 4 never had issues with pooping - she had other issues, reflux (at least I think it was reflux) and was just basically a screamer for the first few months as soon as she gasped that first breath of sweet air.

However, our Little Mr 0 has trouble pooping. More than likely due to the fact that he is bottle-fed and not breast-fed (check out my When breastfeeding is hard post if you want to read all about that story) but who the hell knows. Maybe he would have the same issue if he was breast-fed.

Newborns are a complete enigma to me, I have no idea why they do the things they do - does anyone?

I have taken Little Mr 0 to the doctor twice about his pooping situation (and am headed back tomorrow) and thought I would share our experience - because doesn't everyone need to know the pooping habits of my 4 week old.

Clearly I am no doctor so it is best to seek medical advice!

  • 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar in each bottle - we tried this for over a week and he still needed assistance to poop.

  • 4 drops of Coloxyl in each bottle - we then moved onto Coloxyl and he has done a couple of poops himself, however the majority of the time still needs help.

  • Tummy massage in a clockwise direction - sometimes he likes this and sometimes he really does not!

  • Bicycle legs when they are lying on their back - sometimes he likes this and sometimes he really does not!

  • Lying on their tummies on your legs - he really likes this.

  • Holding them upright or sitting in a bouncer upright for a while - apparently it is easier to poop when upright than lying down.

  • Putting a cotton bud with a lot of Vaseline just in the tip of their little bum - this really helps him to start the pooping process....and I really hope he never finds out that we did this to him.

  • Using gylercerol suppositories - we haven't got to this stage yet....and hopefully we won't.
Presuming the doctor will give me some more tips tomorrow, or tell me to keep on keeping on.

Do you have any tips on newborn constipation?

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