Constipation

Babies commonly grunt, push, strain, draw up their legs and become flushed in the face during passage of BMs. However, these behaviors are normal as long as their stool is soft. The painful passage of hard stools is the most reliable sign of constipation in infants and in older children. These children feel a desperate urge to have a bowel movement (BM) but are unable to pass a BM after straining and pushing for more than 10 minutes.

​Some children begin to retain stool in order to avoid the pain of passing a hard BM. These children may start to soil themselves as the watery stool in the upper intestines leaks around the impaction. Constipation is often due to a diet that does not include enough fiber or fluids or due to drinking or eating too many dairy products or starchy foods. It is also caused by repeatedly waiting too long to move the bowels. If constipation begins during toilet training, too much pressure may be being placed on the child. Changes in the diet frequently relieve constipation. After your child is better, be sure to keep him on a non-constipating diet so that it doesn’t happen again.
Diet treatment for infants less than 1 year of age include:

• If your baby is under 2 months of age, try 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in one ounce of water twice a day.
• If over 2 months old, give 1 ounce of diluted fruit juices (such as apple or prune) twice a day.
• If over 4 months old, add strained foods with a high fiber content, such as cereals, apricots, prunes, peaches, pears, plums, beans, or spinach twice daily.
• If your baby is eating rice cereal, switch to oatmeal or barley.

Diet treatment for infants older than 1 year of age:

• Make sure your child eats fruits or vegetables, appropriate for his/her age, at least three times a day (raw and unpeeled are best), such as prunes, raisins, pineapples, peaches, apricots, mangoes, broccoli and cabbage.
• Increase the bran in her diet. Bran is an excellent natural stool softener because it has a high fiber content. Examples include bran flakes, shredded wheat, graham crackers, oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat bread or popcorn.
• Decrease consumption of constipating foods such as rice, milk, ice cream, cheese and yogurt.
• Use babylax suppository if no stool for three days.

Call our office immediately if:

• Your child develops severe rectal or abdominal pain.

Call our office during regular hours if:

• Your child does not have a BM after 3 days on this non-constipating diet.
• You have other questions or concerns.