I read the other BM question on this page but my baby is 14 days old today and she is constipated it started yesterday and she is on NeoSure so she does have more iron in her formula (I did try to breastfeed but she is a premie and was in the NICU for the first 10 days of her life and they made it really difficult to do so) but the doctor says she needs the iron and they are closed today and I don't know if this counts as an emergency. It seems like she's lost some of her appitite too, she ate 3 oz at 3 feeding 2 days ago and now I'm having trouble getting her to eat her normal 2 oz. I have taken her out of the house the past 2 days she visited Grandma yesterday and the day before I took her in to see my co-workers but she wasn't out long. I just don't like seeing my little girl in pain, this is the first time she's cried while having a BM and it just killed me. I looked in my hospital discharge papers but it didn't say anything about being constipated, I just want to get other people's advice before I go and call the emergency line for my Ped.
You can give her a little prune juice-- water it down if it makes you feel better. That always helped the Zoemeister when she was constipated.
I never wanted to give my baby juice when she was constipated, and I still don't. You can get this stuff at Walgreens called babylax, and it's liquid glycerin supositories. They REALLY help Kayla. You can also get ones that aren't solid, and they help too, but it takes a while for them to melt whereas the liquid effect is almost instant. If you use the solid ones only use half. I've used half for Kayla since I brought her home from the hospital, and it works pretty well.
I would give 1 oz of prune juice and dilute it with 1 or 2 oz of water. Also, try letting her soak in a warm bath, this will relax the muscles and make it easier.
Is that safe for a baby that little? My ped said no juice for any reason before 6 months...
Yeah, thats what I was wondering about the juice thing. A warm bath can help. Whenever Jenna would get constipated she would end up pooping in the bath. lol Kinda gross, but effective.
Thank you guys, Im going to call my ped about the juice tomorrow cause then they'll be open, but if they have laxxies for a baby as young as mine I might just want to do that for her. Thanks again ^___^
Just a note Chloefer, you can still breastfeed. It may be a little harder at first, but she's not that old and you can work on building up your supply and teaching her how to latch properly (and then the constipation should clear up). See if there's a La Leche League in your area or lactation consultants from the hospital that can help you, it's still pretty early, and if you want to breastfeed you definitely still can. Nothing compares to mama's milk, if you want I'll email you some of the disturbances of formula. After reading up so much on the subject, I've always really regretted that I didn't try to the 9's to keep breastfeeding Trey.
Even if your Doc is closed, they always have someone on call. They work for you. If you have a question it is always okay to call. I don't think it is normal for a newborn to go a day without pooping. That ususally happens a little fit later on , if at all.
My friend always used to give her baby water when he was constipated, her doctor told her to boil the water and then let it cool right down so it was luke warm and then give it to the baby in a bottle. This always used to help the baby. I don't know what all of your peds say about this but thats what doctors here say that you can do.
If you do give water though, don't give much. Babies can 'overdose' on water pretty easily, it misbalances the electrolytes in their system (which is why pedialyte has electrolytes) :)
i would not recommend giving anything but formula or breastmilk...perhaps changing her formula?? that one may not agree with her???
water and juice is most definately a nono as far as i am aware....most likely give her diareah which is much more dangerous for a newborn then constipation, they can dehydrate so very fast
good luck! your doing a great job! sounds like your a very caring younng mama...your daughter is a lucky little girl
good luck with breastfeeding if you try again!