Babble

I posted this in the Newborn threads, but it seems more suited to this one. Sorry for the double posting. 

My boy is 5 months old, bottlefed, a great sleeper ( knock on wood) and a fairly easygoing little fella. But every so often he gets constipated. Or maybe I should say irregular. Whatever it is, he won't poop for a couple of days other than just a little dollop ( I know, I'm grossing myself out, too). And during these 'nonproductive' times he gets increasingly cranky and hard to soothe. It's becoming a bit of a cycle and one I'd like to break.

We had this problem several times, and it's more worrying than I would have thought.  (Are there any cases of exploding babies on record?  I don't think so.)

The gentle, longer term answer is apple juice and apple sauce, according to my son's pediatrician.  And we used that, but it's so gentle you never know for sure that it worked.  Ask your pediatrician how much to give (and whether he/she approves).

When you get desperate (and consult your pediatrician first!) there are glycerin suppositories.  My son's pediatrician had us use these little tubes of glycerin.  It's supposed to work after some period of time, but each time we used it, the reaction was immediate -- a horrifying mess, but lots of relief for my son.  All I can say is, have lots of paper towels nearby.

Also, my son seems to have grown out of the problem. 

Good luck!

 OP here - Thanks for your advice. Apple juice/sauce would be fine, but the little man is just getting started on rice cereal. He's never had anything but formula; the cereal is just for "practice" and not much (if any) actually makes it down the hatch.

 As he's just 5 mos we should avoid feeding him any fruits, no? I get conflicting answers here, but as almost every toddler I know has some sort of allergy or intolerance I'm wary of feeding him anything but formula and/or rice cereal.

BTW, the ...um..'issue' has resolved itself and he's back to his old giggling gurgling self, but it was 2 and a half days of crankiness and discomfort and spitting up. Hope we can  avoid this in the future.

 A little prune juice in his bottle will work, just about 1/2 a teaspoon in every other bottle until he has a poop. Baby massage also works very well.

 I think the apple sauce and prune juice posters had good advice. 

 Over in the UK we wean onto solids from 4-6 months depending on whether the baby seems ready (sitting up, showing interest, etc). My health visitor also advised fruits and vegetables as first tastes. 

 My daughter had terrible constipation during weaning. In retrospect I would have introduced prunes (stewed) and apples sooner rather than later and I would have kept up a daily dose if my daughter showed signs of stuffing up. 

 Also, when you do start to wean beware of bananas! Counter-intuitively they can really constipate. 

 Hope it resolves itself!

as far as I know apple juce is ok for constipation, but not apple sauce; apple sauce is very constipating! I gave my daughter pear juice and it worked wonders. Also instead of rice cereal, which is constipating too, we switched to oat cereal,they have more fiber.

 also, cooked carrots, cooked potato and bananas are constipating.But if you start solids, remember  to give your baby through out the day water or juice, but no more than 4 oz.If they are not hydrated they get constipated. Hope that helps.

my girlfriend has used mineral oil as a natural laxative, i am sure you could mix it in the bottle, very little to help move the  bowel.s