Posts Tagged ‘constipation treatments’
Assessing the symptoms of infant constipation
January 25th, 2011 | 
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What is the normal frequency of bowel movements in infants? Well, the answer to this question depends on the individual babe and also whether they are breast or bottle fed. The molecular structure of breast-milk is more ideal for an infant to assimilate which means that in some cases, a breast fed baby may go several days without passing any stool at all as they are absorbing every ounce of the nutrients offered in nature’s perfect food. Babes who are transitioning to goat’s, cow’s, formula or solid foods, can show some colic-like symptoms, drawing up their legs, fussing and suffering more infant constipation, with harder, darker and unusually smelly stools.
If your babe is crying or turning red with the effort to push out stool, and you notice that the stool emitted is dry and pellet-like, you may need to adjust the new diet. You can safely increase the amount of water or temporarily offer more of the breast-milk while your babe’s plumbing adjusts to the new, bulkier foods that naturally emit more waste product. In some cases, you may need to apply infant massage techniques to your baby’s tummy in clock-wise, circular motion down towards the right of their abdomen where the colon dumps the waste into the rectum. A warm bath can help with infant constipation, too. If you are worried, and it’s been a few days since your baby passed stool, you may have to resort to a glycerin suppository for infants if things are more advanced and bunged up. The goal is for babe to pass 1 to 2 soft stools each day depending on the volume of milk, formula, or solid foods your babe is consuming.
If your babe is crying or turning red with the effort to push out stool, and you notice that the stool emitted is dry and pellet-like, you may need to adjust the new diet. You can safely increase the amount of water or temporarily offer more of the breast-milk while your babe’s plumbing adjusts to the new, bulkier foods that naturally emit more waste product. In some cases, you may need to apply infant massage techniques to your baby’s tummy in clock-wise, circular motion down towards the right of their abdomen where the colon dumps the waste into the rectum. A warm bath can help with infant constipation, too. If you are worried, and it’s been a few days since your baby passed stool, you may have to resort to a glycerin suppository for infants if things are more advanced and bunged up. The goal is for babe to pass 1 to 2 soft stools each day depending on the volume of milk, formula, or solid foods your babe is consuming.
Posted in infant constipation | 
Tags: constipation treatments, infant constipation, infant massage | 
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