Re: New to list; advice

January 16, 2008

>

> I'm new to the list. I have 9 month old son with milk allergy. He is

> on Ellacare formula, fruit and vegetable baby foods. The Ellacare

> formula is very constipating and we were on Miralax for awhile and

> could really never get regular. Stools were very loose and sporadic

> (every other day usually). I had read a little bit about Miralax so I

> decided to take him off. The pediatric gastrolenterologist suggested

> Lactolose (sp?) as alternative and we've been on that for about a

> month. At first, things were great but now we are back to very

> sporadic poops and either too hard or too loose. He is also on a

> probiotic (although I don't give it to him as much as I should).

>

> Can anyone give me some feedback about Lactolose or other options?

> Thanks.

>

I just want to say this...get a hold of your son's contipation problems

now. I complained about my son being constipated from the time he was 4

months on and now here we are, him being 28 months old still fighting

it. I took him to a pedi GI yesterday and she said his colon was so

stretched that he doesn't even feel the need to go until it is so big

that it hurts him. He has even had (recently) some leakage. It is

supposed to be the softer stool leaking around the harder stool...she

seemed to be a little disturbed by this. I so wish that other doctors

would have paid attention to my cries for help and I would have

realized what a problem it was/could become. Now we have to put him on

milk of magnesia for 6-12 months to get his colon to get back to its

normal size. She compared the colon to the uterus in that it is a

smooth muscle that can stretch beyond belief but takes time to get back

to its normal size.

I don't know if I have been of any help, but I hope you will do

whatever you need to so your son doesn't have this problem as bad and

as long as my son has.

P.S. I was giving my son aloe juice, flax oil and probitoics (in yogurt

and pill form) and none of this seemed to help him. The doctor said it

was all good for him but wouldn't resolve his issue.

January 16, 2008

I agree with the pp you need to really stay on top of this now, while

it is an involuntary thing, and not a " withholdign " problem.

I would personally have your child evaled for possible low muscle

tone problems. Because he is 9 months old, that may be hard to do,

but I would personally have a Physical therapy eval done Immediately!

Has he been hitting is milestone on time? If he is even the slightes

bit late on hitting those milestones, or on the verge of being late,

then he may have a conditon called Hypotonia. Which basically means

low muscle tone. My son also had " constipation " problems that I also

brought up to his ped and was ignored, even after he had been

diagnosed with hypotonia, I was told by the ped that that was not a

cause for any constipation problem. My son is only diagnosed as

constipated cause he doesn't have 3 or more BM's ina weeks time, and

not due to it's size or consistancy, as it is always soft when it

comes, and he's always, even from birth had large BM's. Before they

are begining the process of Potty training, the bowels are just like

urination, it is uncontrolable. They cannot hold it back, to hold it

back is a learned response. (That is what both my son's ped GI and

his PT have told me) If you have constipation problems from infancy

it could be a range of problems, none of which are " withholding " . It

could be an allergy, to much binding foods, not enough liquid during

the day, not enough fiber, etc. You want to get just the right amount

of fiber without going overboard, cause too much fiber, can actually

cause constipation, as too much fiber can " gum " upin the intestines,

specially if htere is not enough liquid intake to help th efiber do

it's job.

Lacatlose dosages needs to be played around with. You may find that

you need to give him different doses on different days to get the

desired stools. Or adding Mag. citrate to his diet may help as well

to keep his stools going regularly. Also, give foods that start with

P. P=poop. pears, peaches, prunes, plums, are all great to getting a

poop going. Sorbitol is another natural fruit sugar laxative that has

great results with constipation issues. it is available OTC just ask

your phramasist. Flax seeds/flax oil are also great to help with

constipation issues.

HTH

> >

> > I'm new to the list. I have 9 month old son with milk allergy. He

is

> > on Ellacare formula, fruit and vegetable baby foods. The Ellacare

> > formula is very constipating and we were on Miralax for awhile

and

> > could really never get regular. Stools were very loose and

sporadic

> > (every other day usually). I had read a little bit about Miralax

so I

> > decided to take him off. The pediatric gastrolenterologist

suggested

> > Lactolose (sp?) as alternative and we've been on that for about a

> > month. At first, things were great but now we are back to very

> > sporadic poops and either too hard or too loose. He is also on a

> > probiotic (although I don't give it to him as much as I should).

> >

> > Can anyone give me some feedback about Lactolose or other

options?

> > Thanks.

> >

>

> I just want to say this...get a hold of your son's contipation

problems

> now. I complained about my son being constipated from the time he

was 4

> months on and now here we are, him being 28 months old still

fighting

> it. I took him to a pedi GI yesterday and she said his colon was so

> stretched that he doesn't even feel the need to go until it is so

big

> that it hurts him. He has even had (recently) some leakage. It is

> supposed to be the softer stool leaking around the harder

stool...she

> seemed to be a little disturbed by this. I so wish that other

doctors

> would have paid attention to my cries for help and I would have

> realized what a problem it was/could become. Now we have to put him

on

> milk of magnesia for 6-12 months to get his colon to get back to

its

> normal size. She compared the colon to the uterus in that it is a

> smooth muscle that can stretch beyond belief but takes time to get

back

> to its normal size.

>

> I don't know if I have been of any help, but I hope you will do

> whatever you need to so your son doesn't have this problem as bad

and

> as long as my son has.

>

> P.S. I was giving my son aloe juice, flax oil and probitoics (in

yogurt

> and pill form) and none of this seemed to help him. The doctor said

it

> was all good for him but wouldn't resolve his issue.

>

January 16, 2008

Hi,

I'm not sure what is in the Ellacare formula, but if it has soy that

could be a problem. I think a lot of the non-milk based formulas are

soy-based?.... I breastfed, so I did an elimination diet (still do

for 1yr old) and it was trial & error figuring out the foods that gave

them bloody/mucus stools (dairy, eggs, soy, corn....etc.etc.!). I

imagine you've tried different formulas - but maybe there's another

one to try?

Also, if you're giving any grains/cereals, that could be a problem.

My 3 yr old started with constipation issues at about 9-12 months - as

I introduced rice cereal, oatmeal, and some wheat. i *never*

suspected grains or gluten allergy - just assumed some bit of dairy or

egg or soy snuck into what I was feeding him when he had issues.

I just recently had a food allergy (IgG) panel done for him and it

turns out that wheat and all gluten containing grains are a huge

problem for his system. He is also mildly allergic to rice and corn.

(total of 28 foods that to which he's allergic.) So, that was

unexpected but helps explain, for us, what could be at the heart of

his constipation.

Obviously, your baby is not getting many foods yet, but if you're

doing cereals or grains of any kind, you might consider eliminating

those for a while and see if it helps. Apples/applesauce can be

constipating also (I was surprised to learn that.) Pears are good for

helping move things along. Pear juice and prune juice too.

We have been gluten-free (and other foods he's allergic to, including

still casein-free) for one week and have had 4 b.m.'s in about 6 days

- which is AMAZING in our house! I know food allergies aren't the

problem for all constipated kids, but IMO it's certainly worth trying

eliminating a few of the usual suspects, especially at such a young

age when they won't know what is missing.

There are, of course, plenty of other possibilities. Motility. Gut

flora dysbiosis. and ????

I agree with others - get a handle on it now - do all the research you

can and get to the heart of the issue now. I am so attentive to my 1

year old's bowel movements after the experiences with my older son.

Is there a natural practioner (chiropractor, naturopath, or perhaps a

DAN! doctor) with whom you could consult?

Did you have antibiotics during labor/delivery? Has your son been on

antibiotics? If yes to either, then you might look into probiotic

supplements. There's a lot of variation in the quality of probiotics

- many like VSL#3, Kirkman Pro Bio Gold, Metagenics, Kirkman S.

Boulardii, etec. Search previous posts.

It's wonderful that you're so attentive to this so early - I hope you

find out what's causing the little guy to get backed up soon. I also

hope you get all the support you need here - there are a lot of great

parents here & lots of shared information!

Best,

p.s. - just realized you asked about lactulose - we've never used it,

so I can't comment, but I think there are comments in the past - you

could search previous posts/archives....

-- In miralax , " ldcooper20 " wrote: