Thursday 11 March 2010

In the Trenches

That's how I'm feeling right about now.  Like we've dug ourselves in and are waiting, watching, listening... was that murmur from him?  Will it lead to anything?  Have we tried all our options?  If we go out will that be when it happens?  How many days has it been now?  What's left in our arsenal?  Are we ready for it when it happens?

Our enemy is constipation.  It's victim is the smallest member of our force.  Poor Monkey is so plugged up, he's uncomfortable and grumpy and just wants to poop.  With little sense of smell I feel like I am checking in his pants 500 times a day to see if anything has happened... it hasn't.

I thought mums focused on poop an awful lot... until I got this kid who didn't poop from last Wednesday through til Monday and then stopped again... now I feel like I can't possibly fit another poop focused thought in my head without inappropriately discussing my child's bowel movements with the checkout chick or something.

He has just started solids, that is a bit of a hit to his little system and caused some mild blockages.  Then the doc recommended mixing his fruit etc with formula instead of rice cereal to help fatten him up... formula didn't agree with him when we got him to take a small amount from a bottle so I figured we'd have a few problems but going from twice a day to 5 days with no poop was NOT what I expected.  Then when he did poop (last Monday) it hurt and he cried and cried and it made me sad that I couldn't help him.


Coloxyl drops were recommended by a friend so we are giving him those three times a day.  I was giving him diluted pear juice but he was actually drinking so little that I ramped it up and gave it to him straight.

It's draining, he isn't comfortable doing anything so he wants to be held constantly.  Getting him to be happy and play and stuff takes lots of work.  It's going to wear me out worse than lack of sleep if this turns out to be a long term problem.

Now, just so this isn't a totally poopy post... I found some creatures playing in what looked like a little billabong in our back yard.  I think they were bunyips, I got a photo of a bit of them, what do you reckon?


UPDATE: He pooped again this afternoon.  No crying, no pain, we didn't even know he had pooped for a little while.  We are keeping up the treatments as preventative measures now until his body has a chance to get used to the strange foods.  YAY!

11 comments:

  1. It's the iron in the formula. Now the problem might be that there is a hard mass in there that the other poop is just draining around. Can you give him some of those soap-based laxatives? You've got to get the big stuff out.

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  2. I always used prune baby food and mix it in with everything they eat and just eating it by itself as a fruit alternative. It worked every time!. You have to give it a day or two, but it actually softens what needs to come out.

    Also, avoid bananas. That got my babies very constipated when they started eating solids. And they loved bananas!

    Something you also need to consider is if your baby might be lactose intolerant. My kids had chronic ear infections when they were small. Every week one of them had an infection and as soon as I was able to stop the formula I switched them to rice milk and voila! No more ear infections!

    Ok, I'm going to stop now! Hope some of this is helpful!

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  3. I had the same problems with my last two.
    My pediatrican had me change from rice cereal to oatmeal and mix fruit in with it, either juice or the baby food fruit. She said use peaches, pears or prunes.

    We even had to use a pediatric suppository a few times.

    So sorry you are going through this.

    I say you keep those little creatures as pets. Of course they'll need a bath, more than once I am sure.


    Luvs

    Suz

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  4. Poor Possum was plagued by constipation problems when she was a baby. Pear juice fixed it for her. Hope Monkey gets over it soon.

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  5. It does seem to be a common problem. Hope the poor boy gets some relief and is feeling himself again soon.

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  6. Poor Monkey. Hope the worst of it is over. Such a sweet photo of him with his cup. He looks so grown up though. Sniff, sniff!

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  7. We have such a horrible problem with my 2 1/2 year old--she will actually hold the poop in because she doesn't want to poop, and then of course she gets very, very constipated. I stress about it every time it happens!! Prune juice works wonders. We have tried suppositories, too, but she is amazing...she can poop out the suppository, but hold the poop in at the same time! So I gave up on those!!

    I hope Monkey keeps pooping!! For his sake AND yours!

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  8. Ahh the poop fetish...the joy that comes when a diaper is poopy the agony of clean nappies.

    Those little creatures are elusive and clever. Looks like they have a highly developed use of tools and are adaptable to their environment. I think you should capture them and study them further.

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  9. Glad Monkey is better now. I remember a nurse telling me that a breastfed baby can go for up to 10 days without doing one - but watch out when the explosion happens.
    Now he's having solids though I would expect it more often. Keep up the juices - they should help!
    Love your backyard "creatures" - we've been having water fun lately as well.
    Have a nice rest of your weekend
    Renata :)

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  10. Oh no. Poor Monkey!

    Do you have something called Dark Karo syrup? Whenever I was trying to put weight on my refluxy babies, we would add cereal to their bottles (which causes constipation)and then we would add a TBS of dark Karo to the formula as well to loosen the bowels.
    (http://www.karosyrup.com/imageviewer2.asp?http://www.karosyrup.com/images/productpage/nutrition_dark.jpg)

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  11. What a relief! Who would've thought you could get so excited about a loaded diaper? My youngest was constipated as a newborn, and I think every other thought in my head was a new poop obsession. Made me crazy with worry. Of course he was miserable, poor kid. A weeks worth of blocked poop will do that. :(

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