Aiden is suffering from constipation. It is so horrible. I know this from personal experience. So of course that means Aiden must have gotten MY digestive system because Travis' body goes like clock work. Twice a day - same time every day. Makes me sick. I know Alex had trouble with constipation when he was little, but as far as I can tell he's completely normal these days (please don't hate me, little bro). I can only hope that Aiden's problem will get better with age.
Aiden has been dealing with this for as long as I can remember, but it seems to be getting worse. He is still going Numero Dos once a day. The doctor told me if he ever skips a day that I can give him a glycerin suppository (yay fun). Thankfully, I have not had to do that yet. In the past, the doctor told me to give him nothing but juice for a day whenever he was having painful bowel movements. But now she said we need to up the fiber in his diet and exchange one cup of milk a day for a cup of juice on a regular basis.
We've been doing that for a week now and he is still having problems. Sometimes he bleeds because it is so hard. I know when he's having trouble because he hunches over on the coffee table, or something that height, and whimpers. It can take anywhere from five to 15 minutes. If I move or touch him during that time he screams. Gah, it's so horrible.
I wish there was more I could do for him. The nurse said he is too young to go on medication, so we have to take care of this with just his diet. We've added the juice and now I'm trying various fruits to see if I can find one he likes. He won't eat apple slices, but he likes applesauce. He LOVES bananas, so we go through a bunch per week. He loves raisins, but he doesn't actually chew them. They come out whole. So is he getting any fiber from that? I found out last night that he likes ripe pears, so I'll be buying a bunch more of those. Texture seems to be a big issue for him. He doesn't like beans, carrots, blueberries or grapes. He is too young for nuts, so that's not an option yet.
My question is this, even if we add a bunch of fiber to his diet will that actually affect the solidness of it? He IS having bowel movements. The problem is how hard they are. This is the same problem I've been living with for years, so I don't even know where to start.
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Has your doc suggested a probiotic?! I have had digestive issues forever and nothing has been more effective than that. For me it takes a good two weeks to see results from a diet change. Poor Aiden!
Wow!!! Landry has the exact same thing! The only difference is that my doctor told me not to be overly concerned if she doesn't poop every day, but I should call or bring her in if she goes 3 days with a BM. She also reccommended juice, and dried fruits.
I have even gone back to the baby puree's and bought some prunes. Landry doesn't seem to mind the taste so that has really been great. Warning*** only give half the container at lunch and half at dinner. It takes a couple days to do its majic, but it works. She wont touch the prune juice...but the baby food is tolerable.
Also, if its a texture thing, you could try to pick fruits that are really high in fiber and make him a smoothie!
One more thing, be really careful with juices. they may say 100% juice, or no sugar added, but they are usually full of sugar. We usually water ours down, half juice and half water. But also make sure to pay extra special attention to Aiden's teeth because all the sugar can cause cavities, so brush brush brush!
Good Luck, let me know if you find something else that works. Poor Landry and Aiden. Does Aiden poop in pellets - little rock hard pellets?
@Sara - Yes, Aiden poops in rock hard pellets sometimes. That's when he bleeds. But other times he has normal "baby" poo. I hadn't thought of doing smoothies. I might try that. Without milk of course! I've been getting the Tot Apple Juice with less sugar in it then the regular stuff. But I still water it down half and half. Aiden also drinks prune juice, so we haven't had to mess with the prune puree for a couple months. Poor Landry! If I come up with anything new, I'll be sure to let you know!
@Alexa - I have never thought about Probiotics. I will DEFINITELY start taking them myself. I will check with the doctor to see what she thinks about Aiden taking them. Hmmm...
Ahh...poor guy!
My whole family has these issues (Not Bryan - he's just like Travis, so jealous. LOL.)
Will he eat any dried fruit? Prunes (the individually wrapped ones taste like candy) or apricots?
Another trick that works super fast is dark caro in milk. Try one tablespoon to start and adjust as necessary. We put this in Landon's bottle when he was little. Bowel movement with the hour. Not kidding.
Stay away from bananas. That's usually what we give to help with loose bm.
Good luck!!
Nikki, just fyi, our pediatrician recommends the probiotics even for babies, so I bet it is just fine for Aiden. You can get them in powder with the Advocare line, or else I like to go to the health section at our large HEB on 646 to get myself the pills. It has seriously changed my life. I was diagnosed with IBS a couple years ago, but it is all but gone now. All from taking those probiotics. Another good side affect? No diaper rash! Probiotics are recommended for keeping yeast infections away! HA!
I didn't know if it was okay to give toddlers prunes. Is it? He likes raisins, but that's as far as I've gone with the dried fruit thus far.
GOING TO TRY PROBIOTICS.
Okay, I am going to try the probiotics too!!! And yeah, you can give a toddler prunes - but the thing is, although the prune puree works and the individual wrapped prunes work I hate that it only temporarily fixes the problem and I dont want to have to feed her prunes at every meal.
Landry has only had blood in her stool twice, but she poops in pellets EVERY SINGLE TIME. The last time she had a normal BM was when I was breastfeeding - and we all know those mustard BM's aren't really considered normal. LOL There have been several occasions however where all the tiny balls form a big one that is too large to pass and we have had to do enemas or actually push her knees up to her chest while pushing on her belly to help get it out. It's terrible...so probiotics...here we come!!
Its funny because I was actually going to ask her pediatrician if I could giver her like a quarter of DanActive with every meal...but again, I hate the idea of having to give her something that becomes so monotonous...we will see!
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