How To Help Constipated Baby?
Concerning on baby terms to many aspects or How To Take Care Of A Newborn Baby, right from intake to pooping – matters a lot. As new parents, possibilities are there to startle when your little one is missing to poop. When it happens regularly, you would think that all his/her system works properly wherein the little sprout takes in enough energy and disposes out the rest. Worry starts when you notice any change in pooping consistency or if the absence of the same that stress the parents a lot. Here the blame goes to the food which mostly happens, well now take a deep study on how to help constipated baby.
Related Post: Causes & Treatment of Constipation in Toddlers
What to notice?
It is common that babies’ pooping schedules vary on both the sides of the range. Some babies those who are breastfed may poop immediately after every intake of mother’s milk, and some poop two times to 4 times per day. Exclusively formula fed babies are noticed to be suffering from constipation mostly. Just do not worry if the poop is liquidly, pasty, seedy or semi solid. You have to concern only when it looks like small clay balls, and then you have to take care on how to help a constipated baby! Medical studies of paediatrics states that very few breast fed babies do suffer from constipation.
Watch out that your little one poops in yellow, or bright yellow at least once in 5 days of time period. See to that color – which must not be in dark as brown or green, where it terms that something is wrong with your little bun’s bowel system. And frequency of pooping alone is not the only clue to find out the constipation problem. There might be difficulty that your little one feels to pass out, wherein in tighter stools will enlarge the anus walls a bit that cause pain, or slight bleeding which will be with blood streaks in the stools. Your baby might scream a lot while pooping, or he/she shows strains in his/her faces, you can also see that the antics of the baby might be coupled with tightened abdomen, wherein the intestines of the baby got backed up.
In addition, if your little sprout refuses to eat, it means that he/she did not pass out the rest of the earlier digested and he/she might feel uncomfortable. When you baby reaches his/her 6th month, paediatricians show green signal to the parents to start introducing weaning foods to your baby. Here you have to be very careful on the foods that you start introducing, when you scratch the ABCs of the food – that is Apple, Banana and Cereal / Canned foods, you have to see to the liquid consistency of the food.
How to help constipated baby?
To treat the babies of breastfed and formula fed, you can do little change in the supply. Change in mom’s diet (to be added with more liquid that includes but not just limited to: milk, fresh fruit juices, soups, greens & green veggies et al) and change in formula mixture. And when those try goes in vain, paediatricians are there to help your little ones with suppositories, miralax, laxatives and lactulose to treat the constipation.
For the babies of 6 & 6+ months, below appending methods are to be considered as handy tips to the moms concerning of how to help a constipated baby.
Add more water: Try giving your baby to intake minimum 4 to 6 ounces of pure water per day after every meal or feeding. It will work well in order to help the little bun’s bowel to flush smoothly.
Add more fiber: Adding more fiber rich foods in the baby’s diet help regularize the bowel system to push out the rest. Strained foods such as: apricots, peaches, prunes, pears, peas, plums et al are rich in fiber content.
Park ACs for some time: If you are feeding your baby with apple or apple sauce, and cereals, you can just hold down them for some time till your baby is getting back to normal pooping time. Otherwise you have to increase the liquid consistency of the same to get digested easily.
Add more juice: You can try giving the fresh juice if prunes which is a natural laxative to relieve the constipation problem. Initially it is advisable to start with 3 ounces to avoid gassiness.
Make baby to bicycle: Make your baby to lie on his/her back, lift the legs up and move in circular motion as like peddling a bicycle. Such movement will help the baby in releasing abdominal pressure if there any and help working out the bowels for right actions.
Change your formula: If your baby is formula fed, give an attempt with other brand of formula. Sometimes the ingredients matter, see to the brands with low level of lactose wherein your baby can tolerate the digestion thus escape from constipation.
Tummy massage: Make your baby to lie on the back, and place your finger on his/her belly button. Just give a gentle massage in clock wise motion in larger circles. Notice your baby’s cues to see that how much level of pressure your little bun tolerates, which is a best way for how to help constipated baby.
Gentle bath: A gentle warm bath for your baby is a remedy that soothes all set of baby’s discomforts. The concept of warm bath is that allow your baby in getting relax which in then allow all his/her body systems to get set right thus functioning properly.
Seek the help of suppository: Glycerin suppositories are secondary level remedy that should be handled once after the pediatrician’s advice. Depending on your little one’s age, days that how long he/she is constipated – the amount of suppository varies to ¼ to ¾ and sometimes 1. Once after it is given, it induces the bowel movement within 15 – 30 minutes to flush out the debris from the large intestine.
Say NO: Babies are tender and soft. Hence say big no to enemas, stimulant laxatives, & mineral oil, tobacco leaf which is heated & inserting through anus canal or any other irritating substance to induce the bowel movement via anal pass.
Though how to help constipated baby is quite a common topic, most of the parents worry at the cases when their baby does not poop for more than minimum 3 days and when the little one does not intake enough. It is always advisable to go for initial suggestion at the doctor which in then helps a lot from getting lock in serious conditions.