breastfeed w/ constpation/gas

My son suffered from chronic constipation starting at about 4-5 months until he finally outgrew it around 18 months. I tried everything and finally came to the following conclusions/solutions. Not all of these may apply to your baby but here goes;

Conclusions I made over months of trial and error;

1. His constipation was likely due to two things.

*DGE (delayed gastric emptying) Essentially this is low motility of the GI Tract. Other symptoms of DGE are lots of spitting up, and small appetite. DGE is usually outgrown with time and only needs to be treated if baby is not eating enough to thrive.

*Food sensitivities/intolerances. This is going to sound weird but I know without a doubt that the following list of foods always constipated him.

Soy products, bananas, apples, carrots, berries, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, rice, wheat products, white flour products, sugar, and possibly milk. Milk, soy, and corn products are classic foods for sensitivities/intolerances and constipation is a classic sign that the body cannot tolerate those foods. Most starches will constipate a prone child (peas, rice, corn, potatoes). White flour/sugar constipates even healthy people without intolerances.

Solutions:

This is what worked for my boy.

Oatmeal cereal (no rice or wheat cereals)

Benefiber

Pear Juice and Prune Juice

Flax Seed Oil (I think this is the most helpful of the remedies I used)

I used to put the benefiber and flax seed oil into his oatmeal twice per day, and I add an ounce of pear and prune juice mixture to his breast milk twice daily. If I gave him all of these remedies every day, he’d poop fine. If I skipped even one day, he’d be backed up immediately.

Broccoli always helped him poop. I used to puree tons of it and fed it to him almost daily for months. I’d puree it with water and pear juice. Pears were also very helpful. But apples, no way! Apples contain pectin which can be very binding.

Child sized glycerine suppositories can be very helpful and safe when needed.

I hope that helps some. My son completely outgrew his constipation problem and can eat pretty much anything he wants now as long as we don’t overdo certain foods like cheese, sugary foods, rice etc. He can eat anything in moderation.

Hi Laura!! I don’t pop in very often anymore, but every once in while.