One-year-old has chronic constipation

[Anonymous]

Nothing helps. He'll cry and strain periodically for days and days until he's able to have a bowel movement. He eats a varied diet with plenty of vegetables, meat, fruit (he loves pears), grains (he loves Cheerios)... We're still breastfeeding but cutting back slowly and he drinks plenty of water as well. He has no other health issues.

We're going to bring it up with the pediatrician but has anyone else had any experience with something like this?

[Anonymous]

Yes - I have a kid who is chronically constipated. Definitely go see your pediatrician, but you might want to go see a pediatric gastroenterologist, too. Dr. Serrano at Georgetown is thorough and excellent.

Have you tried diluted prune juice? I don't know if it's ok to give babies Miralax, but this is go-to recommendation from pediatricians for older children. What I've learned from the experts I've talked to is that some people are just predisposed to this problem and food won't necessarily fix it if it is truly chronic.

Hopefully it is a short term issue related to weaning but you are smart to seek help because it can be a real source of stress and discomfort for a kid. I wish I had taken it way more seriously when my child was younger.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Echo recommendation of talking to pediatrician and getting referral for pediatric GI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - I have a kid who is chronically constipated. Definitely go see your pediatrician, but you might want to go see a pediatric gastroenterologist, too. Dr. Serrano at Georgetown is thorough and excellent.

Have you tried diluted prune juice? I don't know if it's ok to give babies Miralax, but this is go-to recommendation from pediatricians for older children. What I've learned from the experts I've talked to is that some people are just predisposed to this problem and food won't necessarily fix it if it is truly chronic.

Hopefully it is a short term issue related to weaning but you are smart to seek help because it can be a real source of stress and discomfort for a kid. I wish I had taken it way more seriously when my child was younger.

Good luck!

+1 to all of this. My older DD was chronically constipated until she was 3 or so, then it stopped being so much of an issue. She ate all the “right” things, and it just didn’t matter. My mom told me I had the same issues as a toddler (to the point of being briefly hospitalized for it) and eventually outgrew it with time.

[Anonymous]

Add pear juice 1x daily. (Watered down)

[Anonymous]

Make sure you have this WELL under control before you even think about potty training. FYI.

[Anonymous]

Is there any chance your child is low tone, even slightly? This can cause problems with going to the bathroom.

Either way, really key to get ahead of it. I’d speak to the doctor and consider doing a baby enema/suppository if they agree. We had to do this once or twice and keep our DD on alternating regimen of Miralax, CALM magnesium and some herbal drops to help her clear out and stop the cycle of constipation.

[Anonymous]

Cheerios are full of glyphosate which causes tons of gut issues. Start there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheerios are full of glyphosate which causes tons of gut issues. Start there.

This is not true. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/06/17/children-killer-glyphosate-found-in-cheerios-experts-dismantle-environmental-working-groups-glyphosate-study/

[Anonymous]

We've been giving our kid who has some mild/moderate constipation issues a few ounces of apple juice every morning and that seems to work pretty well, plus it's not a fight to get them to drink it!