Ask Teh Interweb

[ailbhe]

(1) Has anyone heard of a couple of children's board books about Belinda and Benjamin? "The sun is shining, it's a very nice day, Belinda and Benjamin (or possibly Benjy) are coming out to play."

(2) Calling all mothers! An infant we know was prescribed antibiotics a couple of months ago, had raging diarrhoea for four days, and since then has been excruciatingly constipated. She has plenty of fibre, water and fruit in her diet - I've seen her diet, this is definitely true - and the poor love screams like a banshee at its own funeral every time she fills her nappy. It's heartrending. Even Linnea stops what she's doing and looks worried, and she's a pretty hard-hearted little brute when she's not asking for cuddles. So any tips would be great. The infant in question has a mother who has no idea what to try, and the family doctor is all out of suggestions.

Comments

Brainsplurt

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Does she get much fat in that diet? I was reading something the other day that suggests that many *toddlers* don't get enough fat in their diet (counterintuitive to adult ways of eating), and this can cause digestion problems. Is she (still?) breastfed or on formula? Lactulose can work - it's a stool softener, not a laxative - but I don't know about giving it to a very small child (you don't say how old) because of the sugar. Hmm, what else? Liquorice - which can be given as a drink too. Massage.

[ckd]

Yogurt to restore intestinal flora?

[kickandslide.livejournal.com]

Yes! I was going to suggest breaking apart an acidopholis bifidis pill in her yogurt or cereal. My DD just came off of antibiotics and the doc recommended it for sure. Antibiotics totally kill off your natural bacteria along with the nasty beasties you are trying to get rid of, which is why a lot of women get yeast infections after antibiotics. Man, I sound like a textbook or something! lol

They could also try prune juice or apricots (I know you mentioned fruit already, but I've experienced that apricots are an instant stool softener for my DD.)

Perhaps try to limit the intake of iron fortified foods for a day and see if that makes a difference as well.

[ceeinjax.livejournal.com]

Here's a pretty good website about treating constipation in infants and toddlers. Scroll down to the treatment section for age-appropriate remedies. http://www.parentbytes.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&catID=1&ArticleID=47

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

how old is this little girl? and is she actually constipated? constipation is to do with the consistency of the stool - hard and pellet like is true constipation. If that is the case and it's been going on for months (?) I'm surprised she's not already been referred to a paed.
But, other things to try that don't seem to have been mentioned yet are - water with brown sugar dissolved in it, and glycerin (I think) suppositories, which as far as I know you can get from a pharmacist. pharmacists are good people to ask about this sort of thing anyway.
poor baby.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

The first thing I would try would be neat orange juice in as large a quantity as possible. The combination of the sugar and the acidity seems to do the trick. Obviously regular brushing of teeth is vital as long as she's on that regime, but she should be able to come off it gradually once the problem has corrected itself.

Prunes and prune juice

[(Anonymous)]

I've had 5 kids, and aunted more, and in my experience nothing beats prunes. Kids generally love them, or they can be incorporated in cereal etc (especially the tinned ones) and they work like a charm.


Emma (visitor from Rivka's blog)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Kiwifruit. Seriously. And it's very high in vitamin C, too.