My 1 Month Old Baby is Constipated

by Anonymous

My 1 month old baby has been constipated. What do I do to help stop it?

Baby Help Line response:

If your baby really is constipated (hard stools and pain while pooping), there are a few things you can do.

I assume your baby is not breastfed? Babies who are rarely become constipated.

Anyway, try any of the following:

Experiment with different types and brands of formula to find the one that has the least tendency to result in constipation for your baby. For some infants soy based formulas work better. For others, a hydrolysate formula, such as Nutramigen can make a real difference.

You can also feed your baby smaller amounts of formula more frequently, to help the intestines cope with the formula. Twice as often is a rule of thumb.

Make sure that you don’t add too much formula powder when preparing the formula. Take care not to overfill or tightly pack the scoop.

You can also try offering your baby some extra water – about 1 oz once or twice a day.

And if you breastfeed at all, try increasing the share of breast milk relative to formula.

You can of course also try giving your baby about 1 tea spoon per day of prune juice, but since your baby is so young, I would really not start with that, but rather try solving the situation with a new type of formula, water and breast milk (if possible).

Treatments you can give (after talking to a doctor in my opinion) are:

• A glycerin suppository




• Liquid glycerin (Baby lax)




• Nonprescription laxatives, such as 1 tea spoon of flax oil every day.

For more information about constipation in young babies, click here.



Good luck with your little one!

/Paula

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