Solid poo prior to 6 months - BF + solids

[Little Miss Sunshine]

I didn't know what else to title this, we have a set of problems and this one disturbs me the most.

It started with Xavier at 3 weeks of age, normal BM's strictly BF but colic with a fair bit of wind. Over the following weeks his poo went green (he did have a wee cold) and lost the seed like appearance, at 6 weeks the screaming episodes got a whole lot worse and he always seemed to be trying to push out a poo but they would only come every 15 days or so.
I started going to the doctor and got the colic answer, try to eliminate foods and see the chiro. Well I didn't eat much of the foods to eliminate and my health nurse said my 1 or 2 lattes would not be enough to cause his misery. We had an Xray for him that turned up nothing. I put him on Losec for 2 weeks with no improvement. I was sent to the hospital for 24 hour observation and he was a perfect angel for those 24 hours. I was told to change the feeding position because he may be gulping too much air. None of these things worked.
I was told to put him on solids at 12 weeks and I was given domperidone to increase my milk supply as well. I already had a good supply and it made it really out of control. The solids started making him have really formed BM's and there was still no improvement. After a week or so on solids and him gettting the really formed poo's I decided to stop the solids because it wasn't helping and BF is meant to be the primary food source.
The BM's continued to be really formed and about 5 weeks ago I decide to try a new GP. He immediately gets Xavier in for bloods to test his thyroid levels which come back clear and starts him on Movicol Half. On the followup visit when we got the all clear he says to keep up the Movicol reducing if we can, so that he is still getting soft BM's, start solids and Losec again. It has been about 3 weeks, I am giving him Movicol every 3 days, Losec every day and solids every day (a jar), and the poos are starting to get really formed again and today I saw trace amounts of blood.

The night sleeps have gone from bad to worse, I am feeding him every hour to 2 hours overnight and at 2 weeks he had slept through a handful of times.

We have tried everything!! Every colic mixture from the chemist, including the Des Laudner one, gaviscon and now Losec. I have tried ginger tea, chamomille tea, boiled water with brown sugar and even boiled onion water. We pedal and massage, deep baths, chiro, I just don't think there is anything more we can try and my gut instinct is that there is something wrong. The doctors have pretty much said they don't know what it is. Should I be pushing to see a specialist or is it just a really bad case of colic. Juz and I are at our wits end and Xavier is such a very happy baby when he isn't in pain. I just want to make it all go away for him.

Anyway, I guess I am looking for someone who has gone through a similar thing and has more suggestions, if not at least I have gotten it off my chest. If you have read this far you seriously deserve an award. I hope it hasn't come out of my brain onto the screen all jumbled.

[MantaRay]

hun. What a rough time you have had!

I am afraid that I am not an expert on poo, so I'm not really sure if the formed poos are a problem or not. Given that he is on solids (or has been at least), maybe it's normal - I don't know. But the blood suggests that he might have a tear so it does sound more like constipation. Also, the unsettledness is obviously something you want to resolve.

I am sure there are some answers there for you, and I hope you find them. I am sure there is a paed or LC somewhere who is knowledgeable about this and can help. It's just finding them that might be hard. I would probably keep trying different HPs until you find one you trust. I hope it doesn't take too long. Hang in there hun, you're doing a great job!

[Curly]

You poor thing. I'd be wanting a referral to a paediatrician at the very least. I was going to suggest osteopathic treatment but I see you've gone to a chiro already...

Diluted prune juice? Pears? I was terribly constipated as a baby, apparently I would poo once a week or less often, and Mum used to give me Nu-Lax to chew on...you can get it at the chemist.

With regard to your one or two lattes not causing problems...I could not have one square of chocolate or drink tea at all while breastfeeing my DS without him getting terrible wind and being very hard to settle. I have had breastfeeding experts tell me that it was rubbish but my experience proved otherwise. I tried time and again to reintroduce those foods but the effect was noticeable within 12 hours.

So eliminate the lattes. Things like strawberries, orange juice, mushrooms, onion and garlic never caused DS problems...his triggers were chocolate, caffeine, icecream and if I ate too many processed or packet foods. And alcohol! (I got back into my pre-preg jeans very quickly ).

Good luck hun.

[MantaRay]

Actually, that's a good point about the lattes. There is the caffeine aspect - but lactose intolerance or dairy allergy could also cause problems such as you are describing. Have you had your DS tested for any intolerances or allergies? It might be worth a try.

[Arimeh's Eden]

Have you tried a mixture from a homeopath? Thats what helped Miss M and her silent reflux - then after I ran out of that - I switched her to goats milk formula and I put her on pro-biotics and she wasn't constipated anymore (we had the blood in the poo, the screaming, the unsettledness.. it was awful!)

[missymoo84]

I remember Jaidan hating to poo, he used to scream the house down and I thought he was in serious pain but looking back I think he just didn't like the feeling and possibly was a little windy.

If he is having solids, then solid poo is normal. Not rock hard obviously, but formed, soft poo. Ashton changed from runny to formed (I can roll it off the nappy) once he started eating solids too.

[Little Miss Sunshine]

If there is one thing in life I can't give up, it is my lattes. I did try decaf oat milk lattes once, if you haven't, don't!

So there is no problem with him having really well formed poos? How about once a week or longer? Ideally I don't want him on any medication at all and if this behaviour is not out of the ordinary then I will take him off of it.

Arimeh, did you get the pro-biotics from the chemist or health shop? I tried X on Yakult for a while but didn't keep it up longer than 4 days.

Curly, did prune juice (not diluted) and pears as well.

MR, I might try a LC again, I think we only have the 1 in town (which I saw and she recommended the solids and domperidone) but I will talk to the local ABA lady and see what she thinks.

Just goes to show you are not an expert on kids after having 1, I doubt we are after 2 or 3 even

Thanks so much everyone for your insights and advice.

[Arimeh's Eden]

Arimeh, did you get the pro-biotics from the chemist or health shop? I tried X on Yakult for a while but didn't keep it up longer than 4 days.

We got the first lot from our paed chiro - his suggestion - then we got the next dose from the natural health food store

[missymoo84]

as long as they aren't hard there is nothing wrong if he's eating solids.

And babies can go up to 12 days without pooping. Jaidan used to go once a day and then he started going up to 10 days! I went to the pead and he said it's normal for up to 12 days... the stuff he had held in for 10 days... well I'm sure you can imagine the size and stink lol

[Little Miss Sunshine]

Well I guess I am just really concerned about the amount of pain he seems to be in while trying to get wind out and the solid poo thing really freaks me out because Noah only ever got puree poo until about 1 year of age. Last night I had to pedal out the wind 4 times and he shrieked the whole time. I would normally just feed him each time he stirs but I am wanting to break the night waking habit considering I usually feed him 6 or more times in the night.

[missymoo84]

it sounds like it's the wind bothering him, not the poo. Colic is common but for the life of me I can't think what you do about it I did use colic drops for a while but didn't notice a difference.

They do grow out of it. Fingers are crossed for you!

RE: Night feeding, Ashton used to wake that often at that age too, he is almost 10 months and he still wakes 3 times from 8pm till 7am for night feeds. Sometimes he sleeps through, which is becoming more regular now but he's still up the majority of the nights. It's normal for them to need night feeds up until 12 months if they are BF