Dear Hetal & Friends,

My Baby boy whose is exactly 5 and half months old is suffering from severe constipation. As I am living in Ireland, far away from my family members in India ,I feel very left alone and worried, especially wen he is grunting and crying unable to pass poop.

So dear hetal and friends plz suggest me ur valuable advice.

Below is the detailed summary of my baby boy’s development right from the birth , his food intake and the doctor’s prescribed medications for constipation.

1.My baby boy was born exactly on my due date, weighing 3.3 kgs, normal delivery.

2.As he couldn’t latch on bcoz of my flat nipple, I breastfeed him using a nipple shield.

3.Until 4 months, he was mixedfeed, both breastfeeding and 2-3 formula feedings.

4.After 4 months, I started with the traditional ragi kangi (7 – 8 oz) afternoon, mixed with little brown sugar(dermara sugar- which my doc suggested) and formula 1 scoop (SMA brand, as I didn’t prefer cow’s milk)

5. He accepted ragi kangi, and his bowels where regular.

6. I continued ragi kangi and at five months, my milk supply was reduced and hardly no milk.

7. Due to this issue, I forced to substitute with other liquid diets, so I started light moong dal water (5- 6 0z).

7. He was gaining good weight and my doc suggested to start semi solids and asked me to give him one feed of 1- 2 tablespn baby rice (gluten free-commerical brand) mixed with 1 scoop formula.

8. So I started with it, he accepted and his bowels where regular.

9. It was only wen, I wanted to add some vegetables to his diet, I fed him carrot and sweet potato puree (commercial baby food),he liked it very much,he kept on asking for more,so I didn’t mind and gave him 2-3 tablespns. And below was his diet schedule:

6.00am : Formula (8 oz)
9.00 am: Moong dhal water (5 – 6 oz)
11.30am: Formula (8 0z)
3.00pm: Ragi Kangi (7- 8 0z)
6.00pm: Carrot and sweet potato puree (2-3 tablespoons)
8.30pm:Baby rice(1 tablespoon)
11.00pm: Formula (8 0z)
4.00am: Formula(8 oz)

10. Right from then he was severely constipated, kept grunting and crying wen passing motion, so I stopped carrot and potato puree and took him to the doctor.

11. My doctor here advised laxtose syrup – 5mls at night, and for the extreme grunting she prescribed BABYENEMA. I know u would all b surprised to hear,same with me. I thought stupid, I was against it and hoped to cure it with some alternating liquid diets.

12. But all in vein, as soon as I came home from the doctor’s visit, he started crying extremely and grunting with pain, I haven’t heard him cry so badly right from his birth, I was left alone, so at last I was forced to use the BABYENEMA. He passed poop and felt very relived.

13. I know it was all my fault, to feed him 2-3 tblspns of carrot and potato at a stretch. I felt very guilty and worried, although my husband was very supportive, he was held up with his tight work schedule.

14. Tat night I gave him the laxtose syrup, and from next morning I alternated his diet with liquids. Since my mom said raisins r good to relieve constipation, I soaked 6-7 golden raisins in hot water, strained the pulp, mixed with equal amount of water and little of brown sugar.

15. He accepted and had 6- 7 oz of the raisins juice. And below was his diet schedule:

Current weight: 7.6kgs

6.00 am: Formula(8oz)
10.30am:Raisins juice(6-7 oz)
12.30pm:Formula(8oz)
3.00pm: Ragi kangi(6-7 oz)
6.00pm:Pear juice(8 oz commercial baby brand diluted in the ratio 4:1)
8.30pm: Concentrated whole Moong dal water(7-8 0z) (note: I thought since there is no semi solid food in his diet,I overcooked the moong dhal in a cooker for 2 whistles,and strained thick dhal(pasty) and fed him.)
11.00pm:Formula(8oz)
rarely sometimes in between one 4-5 oz formula feed.

16. Even after changing his diet to liquids, he grunts and cries and then passes poop. Hardly once in a day. So I kept him on the laxtose syrup.

17. I thought may be the concentrated whole moon dhal pasty water would be the culprit,so for the past two days,I alternated with a vegetable soup(8 0z) made with 1 small baby carrot,7 trimmed green beans and 15 peas. I boiled them all for 15mins in a microwave, then blended it to paste, then strained the soup alone and mixed equal amounts of water. As green beans would b little gastric , so I added a pinch of hing

18. Still his bowels aren’t regular.I read in the board, tat prune juice helps to relieve constipation. So I got some organic prunes(black color). Can I alternate the raisins juice to prune??? If so,how to prepare it??? How much to fed him?? Or is there anything tat I need to change his diet?? If so,plz advice me.

19. He also seems to not gaining weight, so by 6 months, I wanted to introduce some other semisolid foods that doesn’t constipates. So can u plz suggest me with the diet that doesn’t constipates??? Can I start with ripe bananas, how many spoons??? My mom told me tat doctors in India suggest the following for 6 months old baby:

a. washed split moong dhal overcooked with spinach and with little ghee.
b. Ripe banana with little honey( and sometimes grounded almonds too,to gain weight)
c. Vegetable stock

20. Can I start with that??? Will tat constipate??? I read in the board tat hetal suggested for khicidi to start for 6 months old baby. May I know how to prepare it???

21 Or can I again start with the baby rice mixed with water or vegetable stock instead of formula???

22. And how can I introduce fruits and vegetables to his diet tat doesn’t constipate???
Apple puree constipates, how about apple juice???

I know it’s really a very long mail, I am really confused and very much worried about wat to feed him on this situation. So hetal and friends plz do suggest me ur valuable advise,I am very much relied on ur response. Thanking u in advance.

Regards,
Sruthi


Hetal replied. sry abt delay in reply.looks like i will deliver b4 my due date....
nways,,
now about ur issue,,,
at first, thanks for complte details,,very few people gv that...
upto point no 8, all looks good and okay. !
from 9onwards, some comments:

9.sweet potato is the culprit here.
instead you should have started your baby with one fruit,,boiled apple with skin, mashed, strained and pureed.
if you are givng carrot as the vegie. and avoid offerng ne food together when introducng them for first time..

also the othr culprit i see in the first diet chart/point no 9, you offerd it in wrong order,,,
6.00am : Formula (8 oz) ///okay
9.00 am: Moong dhal water (5 – 6 oz)///this should be around 6pm
11.30am: Formula (8 0z)///okay
3.00pm: Ragi Kangi (7- 8 0z)///this should replace moong dhal water in the morning.
6.00pm-Carrot and sweet potato puree ///only one vegetable should be started with,,and not at this time,,instead you could have alternated the moong dal water with carrot or boiled apple !(2-3 tablespoons)
8.30pm:Baby rice(1 tablespoon) ////this is iron fortified,,this should be ideally offerd as either lunch time,,as you are already givng raagi kanji in

morning,,or in later noons when you are offerng raagi kanji...
11.00pm: Formula (8 0z)///okay
4.00am: Formula(8 oz)//// okay.

point no 10-14,,,okay...

from 15-17,,,kk,,but i see lack of fibr in your baby diet,,and if the lack of fibr is culprit,no matter whatever laxative you will give, your baby will continue to have bowels irregularities and not only that, he will not be able to absorb the nutrients,,instead laxatives or high fibr offerng like raisins or prunes will be jst clearng his bowels and he wont get ne good out of it...
also to mention the colour of raisins does not matter,,,lemme give you an interestng link for that :
http(:)//www(.)raisins(.)org/var_nutrit(.)html

howver, it has curative properties..and what you were asked to give could have cured your baby..also note that the remedy of raisins goes as follows :
1. Six to ten raisins or more, depending on the child's age, can be soaked in boiling water and set aside for a while. When cool/dont leave it too long though,for small children,the liquid could be strained and given so that the skin of the raisins does not upset the stomach further..this is
irrespective of ne type of raisin you offer..the nutritional value of all raisins and so is the fibr content,,same !!! since you have tried this,,its quite possble that your baby needs an added fibr wid proper diet..and its quite pssble that he needs a drs attentn !

now from 15th point onwards,,,your baby needs to alter his diet, diet order,,,introduce your child with a fibr food and thn go by regular diet..right now let the medication be onn as he requires..
i will let youknow the foods in the end of this post.

17. about the vegetable soup,,can you pressure cook them all at once, add the hing, and do tadka of lil ghee,somecurry leaves and finally add in 2drops of lemon to the soup...it will help..
also, if you are making the soup,,make it with water,carrots,beans,spinach puree, peas..try it that way !!!!
also make sure throw it all in pressure cooker and not in microwave ! whistle it to 3-4,,and thn blend it well with blender,,,and thn strain it.

about prunes,,yes you can give,,but as long as your baby is not crying,,avoid offerng them ! your baby is 5.5months old,,why are you trying all remedies on him like that..he is already on medication,,one medicine is enough..dont upset his stomach with all medications at once. your diet
order is not proper and also the timings when a food is given is not proper...so alter that !!

for the new diet chart that you are following,introduce your child first, spinach,,and replace moong dal water with whole moong water !
also, if you want to offer moong dal,,offer it in terms of khichadi,and throw in carrots, peas and spinach in it !!! make sure all your meals contain atleast one fibr !!!!!!! and avoid keepng your child on onetype of diet,,,make sure he gets all the nutrients,,its not always liquids that cure constipatn,,its oftn due to lack of fibr when it comes to case of constipatn, after solids...

avoid offern ne other dal as of now and give fruits n vegies only. offer whole moong water instead of moong dal or whenver you offer foods like
sweet potato,moong dal or raagi,make sure offer a fibr serving along with it ! many kids have showns sensitivty in bowels/constipatn with raagi,,see if diluting raagi with more water or addng 50%of rice flour(roasted) along with raagi and thn making malt helps ! with my dd it helped that way.

18. bowels not regular is quite ok,,as far he is not constipated like not passng bowels for more thn 5days,,or seems to be fussy,,its quite common... prune etc is not needed as of now,,avoid offerng as much as you can at 5months ! go thru the above things and see if that helps and let me know,,i will give you recipe for pruneblend juice that you can give ! but thats the last thing, you will b givng before going to dr !

19.avoid honey,,,ripe banana is good to give ! vegetable stock and moongdal with spinach n ghee is also good,,but its not the paste,,its the moongdal soup like texture with spinach blended in well like the fibrs should not come in mouth !! good combo,,fibr with moongdal,,digestn easy !
add in tadka with a lil hing to it !

20.about khhchdi and other stuffs at baby of your age,,here it goes,,please go thru it :

4months diet,,you might want to read it,,see how it goes :

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=7375&table_name=dis_feeding

5months diet :

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=1096&table_name=dis_milestones

6months diet :

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=6593&table_name=dis_feeding

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=6452&table_name=dis_feeding

introducing vegetables and fruits,per week,,list of first foods(which vegie or fruit first) :

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=7329&table_name=dis_feeding

21. yes, you can give rice cereal with water,,i strongly recmnd you to introduce fibr fruits and vegies first and offer rice cereal with either pear juice or apple juice,,it will help.

22. apple constipates when eaten raw,,not when boiled ! its surprisng though,,but thats how it works ! offer it boiled with skin, in pressure cooker,,, mashed, strained n pureed.//you can also offer apple juice once a while, in late noons ! avoid givng one type of food in one day,,,

also, want to add that offer him massages, esp the ILoveyou stroke,,i think its point no 9,,not sure, though,,,,,,you can look at the massge steps :
http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=1936&table_name=dis_healthissues

give your child lot of activity time like cycling legs,,and light pressure pn stomach with lil massage,,, tummy time inbetween feeds and solids,,all those will help...

lemee know if nethng else, confuses you,...take care..ne bowels more thn 5-6days, needs a drs visit,,so please dont keep trying home remedies,,sometimes drs advices also help !

good luck
kusuma replied. hi sruthi..
am not a very experencied person but thought this would help you,even i had faced similar problems with my son when he was 4 months old ..then my sister had suggested me to make him sit on the potty evryday (dont worry if he doesnt passes stools initially, also dont give up)make sure u put him on the potty evryday at the same time (preferably in the morning).the result will be just great.now my son bowel movements are really good .i am sure this should help you