Infant/Toddler Constipation . . . Desperately Need Help!

April 20, 2008

When my 2nd child had his first pears at 6 months old he began to get

constipated. He already had fewer eliminations than his older brother

did as a nursing infant - about one-a-day compared to his brother's 3

or so. I didn't realize at first what was happening, until a really

bad incident in a small restaurant bathroom - the only bathroom,

people waiting in line, me with my young baby spread out on the sink

screaming and trying desperately to poop. It was awful.

Anyway, I kept thinking, he'll grow out of it. That's what everyone

and everything I read told me. Well, it's been two more years now, and

he still hasn't grown out of it! The doctor told us to give him milk

of magnesia. We did, but he would become resistant to it, and we would

have to up the dose. When he couldn't hold it anymore he'd have an

awful, terribly messy diarrhea.

Prune juice works to an extent but can have similar problems. It seems

he needs to poop but has perfected some way of stopping it every time.

He can hold it for over a week, pinching off little bits here and

there during that time. He gets extremely cranky, unmanageable,

refuses to eat, until his body somehow forces him to go. With

screaming, tears, beet-red face, and blood he releases the most

foul-smelling, massive stools you could ever imagine - a good size

larger around than a normal adult poop. The stench is so horrific that

I nearly throw up every time. Thus begins the cycle all over again.

That awful memory sticks with him, and so he continues his habit the

next day. Every time it happens I feel like I can't handle seeing it

again - the pain. Yet he still hasn't grown out of it, and now his

baby sister is having the same trouble! It breaks my heart.

I know it is not a milk allergy, because they both started this

problem as soon as they started on food at six months. They didn't

have their first sip of cow's milk until a year old. Could it be some

other kind of allergy? I don't understand, because it started and kept

on just as soon as they had their first taste of " real " food - pears.

Can anyone help? I'm desperate for a real answer! I've been searching

for two years now with no real help ever found!!!

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