A mom writes in asking for advice about her daughter and her relationship with her daughter’s doctor. This mom says that after she brought her baby home, she was on a fairly normal routine when it came to bowel movements. Recently, though, her daughter has been straining to poop “all day” and “all night” just to pass gas. This mom does not think it is constipation due to a few reasons. The issue, aside from that, is that her doctor seems to be giving her the brush-off. This mom feels like the doctor is not really listening to the details of the issue and is instead giving her generic advice. What should she do?
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A member of the community asks:
“My baby struggles to poop but the doctor doesn’t listen: Advice?“
“So I keep trying to talk to my pediatrician, but she keeps passing the issue off as normal. My baby struggles severely to poop. She will go all day, straining grunting, crying, pushing only to pass gas. She’s up all night doing this. When I first brought her home, it was normal for her to eat and then poop right after, but now she’s just in so much pain trying to poop, and she’s up all night. She is not constipated because once she finally does pass the bowel movement, it’s very soft, she just can’t get it out.
The pediatrician keeps telling me newborns can go up to 5 days without a bowel movement, but I know my baby, and she is struggling and is up all night just trying to poop. Is this normal? I’ve tried doing the bicycles I’ve tried doing the thermometer trick I’ve tried rubbing her belly I’ve tried doing tummy time I’ve tried letting her fuss in her crib for a few minutes to see if she can work it out and nothing helps. And her belly gets really hard. I’m just at a loss, and I’m tired of seeing my baby struggle and in pain.”
– Mamas Uncut Community Member
Community Advice for This Mom Whose Daughter Struggles to Poop and Whose Doctor Isn’t Really Listening
To see what advice the Mamas Uncut Facebook community has for this mom in need, read the comments of the post embedded below.
Advice Summary
The community offered this mom in need a lot of great advice. Read some of their responses below.
“1. Get a new doctor. If you don’t feel heard with yours it’s going to be an issue every single time your baby has a medical issue. 2. Baby suppositories are lifesavers.”
“My oldest used to strain so hard she’d push her intestines out. The doctors had her tested for cystic fibrosis. Everything came back normal she just struggled to poop… My doctor gave me the option to give her a mix of prune juice and water or dark Karo syrup and water. Ultimately we changed her to a sensitive formula and kept dark Karo syrup in the house. That did great and kept her regular. The suppositories never even got opened that people suggested to us after we tried Karo.”
“Find another pediatrician now. I’m not trying to tell you what to do but, you know your baby better than anyone. My husband and I went through the same thing with our daughter. We went to another pediatrician that is absolutely amazing and haven’t had another issue.”
“When I was finally able to bring my baby home about a month ago he had issues like that when he was about 4 weeks old. It would hurt him trying to even pass gas. We waited like the pediatrician told us and the issue started going away within 2 weeks. I used gas drops and warm baths seemed to help ease the pain for a bit.”
“I have learned that sometimes a pharmacist actually had more knowledge than a doctor. I’d go ask them just for the heck of it and maybe they might have a safe solution. Doctors suck sometimes but I’ve had some great pharmacists, even for my newborn son they gave me better advice.”
“I think I would take some of the advice from the mommas and do what you think might work best for you and your family, but most importantly, you know your baby as you said,. Try getting another opinion from a different doctor. Safest option for sure!”
“If you’re using formula maybe you need to switch it. That’s what happened with my baby she was Enfamil now she’s on Similac and does much before.”
“My son had the same issue. We ended up at the ER due to him screaming and shaking. He now gets Miralax in his bottle and does not have any issues going to the bathroom. Our first doctor told us it’s normal as well and told us to use prune juice. We did then prune juice didn’t help and he wouldn’t listen. We switched doctors. The new doctor took their time and reviewed his scans from the ER visit and told us he was so constipated that his stomach was so stretch out that it was the size of an adult’s stomach. And advised us to use Miralax. Please switch doctors.”
“I would find a different pediatrician. If your gut says something’s wrong then something is probably wrong. It may be something simple but left alone can turn into a bigger problem. I took pre and probiotics while breastfeeding to help my babies with gut health. Please don’t do this without talking to a pediatrician first. You’re doing a good job. Keep advocating for your child. Saying prayers.”
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