Alimentum help with consitpation?UPDATE

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone.

I just need a quick answer because the more I read about MSPI the more confused I get. I ran out of frozen breast milk about 5 days ago, so Myles has been on Good Start since then. He had been getting one bottle a day of Good Start for about 2.5 months and seemed to be doing fine, though we always struggled with constipation…..but now after five days of no breast milk and only Good Start his consitpation is worse and for the first time I am seeing that stringy mucous I’ve seen described here.

If the mucous and constipation is due to MSPI, will Alimentum help? Has it been the right thing for any of your babies with the same issue?

Oh, how I wish I would have pumped longer.

Thanks for any insight, experiences, or advice.

ndrose2006-9-30 20:53:36

[Anonymous]

Abby was put on the Alimentum due to having loose stools with mucous. It certainly hasn’t helped firm her poopy up at all. Never sure if it was the Alimentum or the Zegerid that keeps her poop so soft and loose but I guess I would rather have that than constipation. To make a long story short, it probably would help loosen him up a bit.

Robin

[Anonymous]

Christine, if he’s eating dairy and he has no signs of reflux, is sleeping well, and seems content and all you’re seeing is occasional stringy poops and constipation, my guess is that it wouldn’t be MSPI. I wouldn’t necessarily see the point of switching to alimentum at this point, since it’s just one more switch, but that’s just my opinion. Milk and formula in general are more constipating than breast milk, so you would expect that after eliminating breast milk from his diet, if he was prone to constipation anyhow, he would be moreso without the breast milk. I’d be interested in seeing what others think. But I’d say that if your only real issue is constipation, what about trying the fibre juice again?

I recall you saying that he used to get soy formula as well as breast milk… why did you switch to Good Start (just curious). Actually for us the soy was awful for her constipation.

Good luck. Hope you work something out.

[Anonymous]

Christine,
This is just an idea, but have you tried goat’s milk? It’s really easy to digest, and most babies do really well on it. In fact, Sue (Alexis’s mom) just told me that you can actually add rice syrup to it for carbohydrates. I think that’s what I would try if I ran out of breast milk.
Anyway, like I said, just an idea .

[hellbennt]

christine,

he’s a year right? so yeah, you could try various ‘milks’ like rice milk, potato milk, goats milk, etc…I think the rice milk is enriched but for the others you can add oil for good fat…

[Anonymous]

Robin, I thought I read here that Alimentum loosens up stools, but Abby had loose stools before, so maybe not.

Lori, I give Myles Fiber Juice, Prunes, and Flax Seed Oil every single day. You’re reasoning makes a lot of sense…..that milk is more constipating than breast milk. I’m so concerned about the stringy mucous because he’s never had that before. The reason we stopped soy is that I read here that it is consitpating so I though that was the problem. I don’t really want to go back to soy….but I would if it would help. Don’t babies with MSPI have problems with Soy as well?

Heather & Lori, I’ve considered Goat’s milk but from what I’ve read about MSPI..kids who have a problem with cow’s milk will likely have the same problem with Goat’s milk. What in the world are we supposed to give these babies? Rice milk and potato milk I think would be very binding, but I don’t know.

I wish there was a simple answer. I’m so tired of the “poop” issue. DH thinks I’m rediculous, but I know there’s a problem. I just don’t know what to do about it.

Have any of the rest of you seen looser stools with Alimentum? Did it stop the mucous?

Thanks everyone.

[Anonymous]

Christine, Seth was always more constipated on the Alimentum than he is now although a lot of that was probably due to all the rice cereal we were adding. At one year old, I’d be hesitant to switch formulas.

Our ped. put us on Pediasure since she said it was more age approriate than the Alimentum or Good Start. It has some milk but is lactose free and Seth is doing great on it so that may be an idea too.

Can you call your ped.?

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tiffany.

I do have his one year check up next week, so I will certainly talk to his doctor about it. I’m just not really expecting any great revelation or suggestions at this point because none of the doctors who have seen him thus far seem concerned about his constipation issue. Maybe I’m overly concerned. DH thinks I am. But he’s not here all day. I’ll ask about Pediasure. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Mucous stools are FINE – they CAN be a sign of something but most of the time they are not. If he has been getting the good start for a while then it should be fine. Agree with either trying different milks or just go to pediasure – my GI told me that after similac she put both her ds on Pediasure…

[Anonymous]

Hey Christine – as you know, we’ve battled constipation basically since

Marisa was born. But in her case, I don’t think it is/was MSPI – she was even

more constipated on Neocate in fact! Some babies just need a TON of fiber

in their diets to help them go – so I’d focus on getting as much fiber as

possible into Myles’ diet and more fluids in general too. I agree with people

here – I’d skip trying different formulas and try either Pediasure (maybe he’ll

like the taste and drink more?) or soy milk.

Also, prunes actually make Marisa more constipated – go figure!

BTW – happy belated birthday to Myles!

[Anonymous]

Thais,

Thanks. I though mucous was always bad and meant MSPI. But maybe it’s ok. I’ll ask his doctor next week.

Is Matthew ok? You posted about him falling and needing to go back to continuous feeds. Was that recently? He was doing so well! I hope he still is.

Karen,

Maybe you’re right. He just needs a lot of fiber. It’s just so hard to always have to think about everything I feed him or don’t feed him and how it’s going to effect his bowels. And, he still doesn’t eat anything except purees and spoon fed formula and cereal. That’s odd that Prunes constipate Marisa. I think they are fine for Myles. He was doing ok (as long as I was proactive with giving him prunes, fiber juice and flax seed oil daily) until the breast milk ran out. Maybe he just has to adapt.

For Everyone else,

Do you think less formula and more juice and solids would be ok? Right now he gets 19 ounces of formula a day. How much do most of your one year olds get? I’m thinking of cutting out one of his formula feedings and replacing it with some more solids and juice. That would bring down his formula intake to 15 ounces. I worry because I know that for the first two years they need the fat that milk and formula provide. And they need protein. He doesn’t eat anything with protein. It was so much easier with my first two.

Thanks everyone!

ndrose2006-9-21 12:49:41

[Anonymous]

Matthew is doing horribly right now and yes, we are back on continous feeds – but after a few days of being miserable he is happy again, so who cares about the feedings?? We certainly are learning to just get on with life!!!

No mucous is totally fine – ask your ped, i hope he agress but that is what we have been told several times. CAN be a sign of something but does not necessarily imply a problem.

As for the milk… well there is so much protein in formula – i think that babies that are 1 year old need between 1g or 1.25g of protein per kilogram. Do a search and see how much a 9month old needs… as for the fat, what does he eat?? Is he eating crackers etc etc?? avocado maybe? there are so many things with fat, including the flax seed oil you are giving him?? If you are worried about the variety, see a nutritionist maybe? Some of the tube fed babies get direction from nutritionists as to what they should be eating and proportions etc, but that amount of milk is probably fine. Is he still not drinking anything? We have not started with the straw yet but i have bought some juicy juice and the idea is that i drink about 3 of them in front of Matthew while he is eating. If he is interested, then i leave it on his tray for him. He has been picking it up but as soon as he gets it he presses it and all the juice comes out through the straw…. he still has to put the straw into his mouth but i was told not to do this yet.

[hellbennt]

jonah didn’t get juice (I don’t give it) and he didn’t like milk when I began to ‘offer’ it at 12 months…he drank a lot of water (still does)- I was breastfeeding him 2x a day at 12 months, so I dont know how many ounces that was…and then he was weaned by 15 months and it still wasn’t until about 18 months that he’d even drink any significant volume of milk…

however, he was a great eater and got calcium from yogurt, cheese, broccoli, etc & his ped said that was fine…

[Anonymous]

Hi Christine

I first have to say I hope I don’t make anyone mad b/c with my experience mucous has been one main indicator with Emma that she is definetly MSPI. Of course this is only my experience but I wish I would have caught on to it much earlier than I did. When Emma was around 4 months old we tried soy and it was extremely constipating. We switched to Alimentum and we haven’t had a problem with it since. If I give Emma any soy or dairy products now she gets diarrhea with mucous, a lot of it. Our ped GI is very concerned about mucous unless she is sick, they say that is the only time they would expect it however she doesn’t get it when she is sick. The mucous is what triggered our GI to do an endoscopy, which I am glad b/c I was going to push for it. It showed moderate to severe small bowel damage. Emma’s diet is primarily gluten b/c she can’t have dairy or soy but we have done 2 dairy trials that she failed, which included mucous, and the GI truly believes all of this combined caused the damage and we will have to eliminate all of it from her diet. Like I said this is only my experience but I am really kicking myself in the butt for not catching on to this so much earlier, I just assumed she would have needed more symptoms for this to really be the problem. At least it solves all my mysteries with what was going on with her and now we have an action plan.

How is Myles weight? Emma weighed 20 lbs right at a year and both her ped and ped GI were happy with that. I to was very concerned about her needing a lot of fat so I was giving her around 30oz of formula. At around 15 months they wanted her formula intake to be around 12-15 oz. I thought they were crazy, but at 18 months she only drinks around 10-12oz and is up to 25lbs. Our Ped GI said if it ever worried me about her nutrition I could always include a multi-vitamin into her diet but she said you would be surprised how little formula they need to get all the daily nutrients required. Emma will not eat purees so decreasing her formula helped her to finally start eating table food. I think adding fiber to his diet is a great idea but if he doesn’t respond I would switch his formula. Sorry I just had a really bad experience with all this MSPI stuff, and I would really really hate for someone to find out what I found out the hard way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Laura- i don’t give Emma juice either. She is a stickler for sweets so she would get attached to it (I just don’t think it is good for them). She loves de-caf plain iced tea!!!

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