Solid poops?

blondey · Mar 14th, 2011, 06:04 AM

Hi girls

I was just wondering, should Ava-Mae's poos be solid? She is just over 5 weeks old. We started giving her gaviscon on Thursday due to suspected reflux. We were giving her comfort formula before the gaviscon, then we changed to normal formula to mix with the gaviscon (as I was scared the comfort would get too thick) We are going to start putting it in the comfort formula now though as a friends puts her bubba's gaviscon in comfort and it's fine. Also she has around one breast milk bottle a day.

For the last couple of days though Ava-Mae's poops have been nugget like (sorry tmi!) and a lot less frequent. She also strains a lot. She has always been a strainer, but more so since the nugget poos.

Does it sound like she is constipated? I always though baby's poops were meant to be runny/putty like? I'm worried that she is going to hurt her little bottom.

Do you have any tips for constipation?

Thank you muchly

xxxx

jstarr · Mar 14th, 2011, 06:16 AM

jamies poos have never been solid..does sound like constipation, you could try giving her an oz or two of cooled boiled water just make sure its not when shes due a feed so she doesnt fill up on water instead of milk xx

Odd Socks · Mar 14th, 2011, 06:22 AM

that happens with gaviscon unfortunately.
have you found it's been helping her reflux? it's sometimes a decision as to whether to keep with the gaviscon & have solid poos, or go back to without. it depends what you feel is best for your baby.
i think i've heard not to mix comfort milk & gaviscon (might be worth asking your doctor or hv about this), though i can't remember the reasons why.
sma do a staydown milk which you could try.
xx

Lou229 · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odd Socks

that happens with gaviscon unfortunately.
have you found it's been helping her reflux? it's sometimes a decision as to whether to keep with the gaviscon & have solid poos, or go back to without. it depends what you feel is best for your baby.
i think i've heard not to mix comfort milk & gaviscon (might be worth asking your doctor or hv about this), though i can't remember the reasons why.
sma do a staydown milk which you could try.
xx

Didn't want to butt in but just reading all of this has reminded me of what we're going through with Niamh at the minute. We started gaviscon a week ago and her nappy's are also quite solid and she is having 2-3 dirty nappy's a day instead of 1. We are trying to give some water everyday and at the minute that seems to be helping.

Regarding the type of formula, we are using sma but thought we would try that staydown milk. However after buying it, we read the tin and because it has thickening agents in it, you can't use it with gaviscon as that also thickens the milk. I do know that aptimal do a milk for collic and constipation which is slightly thicker and it can definitely be used with gaviscon as my sil is using that and they asked a pharmacist for advice. We are thinking about changing to this milk too if things don't improve soon.

Odd Socks · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lou229

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odd Socks

that happens with gaviscon unfortunately.
have you found it's been helping her reflux? it's sometimes a decision as to whether to keep with the gaviscon & have solid poos, or go back to without. it depends what you feel is best for your baby.
i think i've heard not to mix comfort milk & gaviscon (might be worth asking your doctor or hv about this), though i can't remember the reasons why.
sma do a staydown milk which you could try.
xx

Didn't want to butt in but just reading all of this has reminded me of what we're going through with Niamh at the minute. We started gaviscon a week ago and her nappy's are also quite solid and she is having 2-3 dirty nappy's a day instead of 1. We are trying to give some water everyday and at the minute that seems to be helping.

Regarding the type of formula, we are using sma but thought we would try that staydown milk. However after buying it, we read the tin and because it has thickening agents in it, you can't use it with gaviscon as that also thickens the milk. I do know that aptimal do a milk for collic and constipation which is slightly thicker and it can definitely be used with gaviscon as my sil is using that and they asked a pharmacist for advice. We are thinking about changing to this milk too if things don't improve soon.

thanks for that lou

my experience with gaviscon is limited as we just used it for a couple of weeks then took bella off it as she was uncomfortable being constipated, & that seemed to affect her more than projectile vomitting every feed. i thought the staydown milk was to be used for reflux (hence not neccessarily needing gaviscon), & aptamil comfort is a thicker milk (i seem to remember that the infant gaviscon instructions said not to use with thickened milks)? reflux is a nightmare!
xx

sapphire1 · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:22 AM

It does sound like constipation, and it probably is the gaviscon that's caused it. I would have a word with your doc as to how to remedy it. My LO didn't react well at all to gaviscon and is now on ranitidine (although her reflux is mostly silent). My LO struggles to go, but when she eventually does it's always soft. The doc said it's only constipation if the poo is hard. He isn't keen on changing LOs milk (she's on a prescription only formula), and instead prescribed lactulose and suppositories to help her go.

Cookie1979 · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:30 AM

My little one had this problem for a short while, infact it was so painful and hard to get out it made him bleed. The HV told me to give him one ready made formula a day and try and get him to drink water between feeds. I never did manage to get him to drink water but he still has one ready made one a day and he's been fine since. I have no idea what the difference is or if the ready made one is stopping him getting constipated again but I'm not going to risk it happening again by stopping the ready made formulas.

blondey · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:53 AM

I will definately try getting her to drink water inbetween feeds. We have given her water before when she hadn't 'been' for a couple of days as she didn't seem to mind drinking the water.

Sapphire, whats the difference between the gaviscon and ranitidine? Is it normally used for normal reflux as opposed to silent reflux? (Ava-Mae has silent reflux we think as she is never normally sick)

It's so hard getting the balance right isn't it. Poor little things, and poor us, we have to decide whether we think the heardburn is worse or the constipation but in reality we have no idea what the poor little things find more painful!

Any other suggestions welcome :-D xxx

sapphire1 · Mar 14th, 2011, 07:58 AM

Basically, gaviscon is just a thickener designed to keep the milk down. Ranitidine works by reducing the stomach acid, so is more effective for silent reflux. It might be worth a trip to your gp to see if they will prescribe it - my LOs reflux is silent and it was much better than gaviscon.

Mar 14th, 2011, 06:04 AM	#1
blondey Mum (Mom) Chat Happy BnB Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 2,463	Solid poops? Hi girls I was just wondering, should Ava-Mae's poos be solid? She is just over 5 weeks old. We started giving her gaviscon on Thursday due to suspected reflux. We were giving her comfort formula before the gaviscon, then we changed to normal formula to mix with the gaviscon (as I was scared the comfort would get too thick) We are going to start putting it in the comfort formula now though as a friends puts her bubba's gaviscon in comfort and it's fine. Also she has around one breast milk bottle a day. For the last couple of days though Ava-Mae's poops have been nugget like (sorry tmi!) and a lot less frequent. She also strains a lot. She has always been a strainer, but more so since the nugget poos. Does it sound like she is constipated? I always though baby's poops were meant to be runny/putty like? I'm worried that she is going to hurt her little bottom. Do you have any tips for constipation? Thank you muchly xxxx

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Mar 14th, 2011, 06:16 AM	#2
jstarr Mum (Mom) Active BnB Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Midlands, UK Posts: 873	jamies poos have never been solid..does sound like constipation, you could try giving her an oz or two of cooled boiled water just make sure its not when shes due a feed so she doesnt fill up on water instead of milk xx

Status: Offline

Mar 14th, 2011, 06:22 AM	#3
Odd Socks Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: May 2009 Location: Manchester, England Posts: 4,056	that happens with gaviscon unfortunately. have you found it's been helping her reflux? it's sometimes a decision as to whether to keep with the gaviscon & have solid poos, or go back to without. it depends what you feel is best for your baby. i think i've heard not to mix comfort milk & gaviscon (might be worth asking your doctor or hv about this), though i can't remember the reasons why. sma do a staydown milk which you could try. xx

Status: Offline

Mar 14th, 2011, 07:22 AM	#6
sapphire1 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: May 2010 Location: UK Posts: 6,460	It does sound like constipation, and it probably is the gaviscon that's caused it. I would have a word with your doc as to how to remedy it. My LO didn't react well at all to gaviscon and is now on ranitidine (although her reflux is mostly silent). My LO struggles to go, but when she eventually does it's always soft. The doc said it's only constipation if the poo is hard. He isn't keen on changing LOs milk (she's on a prescription only formula), and instead prescribed lactulose and suppositories to help her go.

Status: Offline

Mar 14th, 2011, 07:30 AM	#7
Cookie1979 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Buckinghamshire Posts: 3,543	My little one had this problem for a short while, infact it was so painful and hard to get out it made him bleed. The HV told me to give him one ready made formula a day and try and get him to drink water between feeds. I never did manage to get him to drink water but he still has one ready made one a day and he's been fine since. I have no idea what the difference is or if the ready made one is stopping him getting constipated again but I'm not going to risk it happening again by stopping the ready made formulas.

Status: Offline

Mar 14th, 2011, 07:53 AM	#8
blondey Mum (Mom) Chat Happy BnB Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 2,463	I will definately try getting her to drink water inbetween feeds. We have given her water before when she hadn't 'been' for a couple of days as she didn't seem to mind drinking the water. Sapphire, whats the difference between the gaviscon and ranitidine? Is it normally used for normal reflux as opposed to silent reflux? (Ava-Mae has silent reflux we think as she is never normally sick) It's so hard getting the balance right isn't it. Poor little things, and poor us, we have to decide whether we think the heardburn is worse or the constipation but in reality we have no idea what the poor little things find more painful! Any other suggestions welcome :-D xxx

Status: Offline

Mar 14th, 2011, 07:58 AM	#9
sapphire1 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: May 2010 Location: UK Posts: 6,460	Basically, gaviscon is just a thickener designed to keep the milk down. Ranitidine works by reducing the stomach acid, so is more effective for silent reflux. It might be worth a trip to your gp to see if they will prescribe it - my LOs reflux is silent and it was much better than gaviscon.

Status: Offline

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