UPDATE: How much bran for 9.5 month old?

[KimberleyDawn]

William's constipation is out of control! We have taken him to the doctors and was prescribed Lactulose but it doesn't seem to be helping consistently. So we've decided that we want to try and treat this aggressively with natural foods instead.
We have increased his water intake which has been proving to be difficult because Will's just not interested. Doing the prunes (both pitted and pureed), green and yellow veggies and pears.
Now I want to introduce some bran cereal to his diet but I'm not sure how much. The brochure that I got at the hospital said 1/3 cup for a 2 year old so what would you give a 9 month old?
SUGGESTIONS/ ADVICE PLEASE!
Kim

[sbaker]

Don't know if this will help you or not..But when DS was constipated I gave him Gerber Carrot or Apple/Carrot juice. (http://www.gerber.com/prodcat?catid=502) He would suck a whole 4 oz sippy cup/bottle of it down in a hurry. Once I started giving him 4oz of carrot juice a day we never had a problem with constipation again.

Just my two cents...
:) :+ :)
Sara
Mom to Rayce 02/09/02
Baby #2 due 01/05/04

[Momof3Labs]

Peaches (the little chunks in the can or cup) and grapes do wonders for Colin! Stay away from bananas, too!

[JElaineB]

Have you asked your doctor about the bran cereal? I have read that under two years old too much fiber is not good. That would be introudcing a large amount of insoluable fiber per serving. If you did use it, you would need to make sure he got lots of water with it, otherwise it might add to your problems. Have you tried giving him lots of carrots? Carrots have always made DS poop lots!

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[kransden]

Have you used the tried and true method of dark karo syruph mixed in the bottle? That sure worked for us!

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[wendmatt]

I so feel for you, Emily's had chronic constipation since about 4 mths. I gave her a teaspoon of karo syrup morning and night in peach puree (that was at around 7mths though). Then I started to give flax seed oil as I didn't like giving all that sugar. That seemed to help. I now find yams help and cooked carrots as well, although she's off anything orange at the mo! It's a constant struggle, but has improved. Watermelon really helped, I guess all the water in it. Be careful with choking though. I too heard infants should not have high fiber such as bran as it can make matters worse. She's been eating chicken lately and that seems to help too. Still v.firm and sometimes pebbly but at least she's going regularly now. Really try to push the water all the time. Hope it improves.

[heidi_timms]

I add prune juice to DD's cereal every day and she eats prunes just about every day. Also someone mentioned aloe juice? I think that it was Rachel(Rachels).

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03

[cinrein]

I agree that you should not give bran unless you can also increase his water intake. I did this once on an old diet and I was MISERABLE.

We used to give a cat Lactulose to help her keep things moving along. (Lactulose is pretty much the same a corn syrup.) The vet said we had to be really consistent about it for it to work. Eventually, the Lactulose alone didn't help and we had to keep the cat hydrated with IV therapy. I think you're on the right track with more fluids--maybe someone has some ideas on how to get William to take in more fluids?

Edited to add: The lactulose was to prevent constipation in the cat, not to relieve existing constipation. We always had to resort to other methods to relieve the constipation, then give the Lactulose on a daily basis to keep it from happening again. So, I'm not surprised that the Lact. isn't helping William get relief.

Peaches are big stool softeners for us. Also butternut squash. I'm sure you already know this, but avoid cheeses, bananas, and I think even apples?

Hope William feels better soon! Poor little guy.

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[peanut4us]

Have you tried Baby barley cereal. i've only been able to find it in the Gerber brand, but it REALLY cleaned Sara out! SHe's my super pooper now... I'm even thinking about feeding her rice cereal every other day to try and balance it out!

[sntm]

I have never used lactulose in a baby, so check with your ped before listening to me :) but when we use lactulose on patients to relieve constipation, you basically give increasing doses until they poop. you can give quite a lot. it's also used for patients with hepatic encephalopathy (mental changes from liver disease) and you give them as high a dose as you can until they develop intolerable diarrhea.

so, maybe check with your ped about increasing the dose. for babies with Hirschsprung's disease, they would also use glycerin suppositories , colace, and occasionally mineral oil (though they usually do not recommend it in babies under 1 year old because of risk of aspiration). those are possibilities also.

most of the time, you should wait to add fiber until after the short-term constipation is under control, then slowly add it to prevent constipation from coming back.

again, i do this mainly for adults, so take with a grain of salt.

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[KimberleyDawn]

William is doing VERY well with the bran cereal and is no longer constipated.
We were giving him 2 servings a day with each serving being no more than 3 adult bites and it has worked like a charm!!
WE NOW HAVE POOP!!!
William now gets bran only every other day which he's sad about because he loves his All-Bran!
Thank you so much for your suggestions and advice!
Kim