Help!

[jsmrs]

My 7 1/2 month old child is having trouble pooping...He's always had a problem with it but since we started cereal he's really having a hard time going...These are things we have already tried:
Juice - undiluted
Prune Juice in formula
Prunes & Pears for dessert
I wouldn't go so far as to say that these things don't work...they help somewhat, but his poop is hard when he does go and sometimes he strains & strains and I check his diaper and he hasn't done anything...I feel awful for him...
Does anyone have any tricks of their own? I feel helpless!

[eliasmom]

First, I would talk to your ped about it because those are the usual fixes and there could be more going on if it always seems to be an issue.

Also, I would totally avoid rice cereal, bananas, applesauce and any other "clogging" foods. I almost always feed DD oatmeal because it doesn't seem to clog her up. I only give her rice cereal if she seems like she's having diarrhea. And I am really judicious with bananas and applesauce. You may be doing all of that already!

It is no fun to see a baby in discomfort - DD had a bout of diarrhea for a week and the ped's office just said, "we don't really worry about diarrhea unless it lasts more than 2 wks." Well, they may not worry about it, but I sure did! I hope you find the answer soon!

[zephyr]

Water! I give my ds warm water (feed it with a spoon because he won't take it from a cup or a bottle) after every time he eats. This has really helped because with him BM alone is not enough to keep him hydrated. Also, I hated doing this to ds but it works every time: take a q-tip and slather some vaseline all over it, put it in his hiney and gently wiggle it around. That is what has worked for me. I know this can be a very frusterating time. Good luck.

[jsmrs]

Thanks everybody for all the wonderful advice...We finally went to visit our ped about the problem and she recommended Miralax which is now OTC...It's really been helping so far...