[Baby and toddler constipation] The Poo Diaries Part 2: Flush

Now this may seem like a blindingly obvious step to take, but it’s one that took me a while to fully comprehend and accept. It’s not enough to simply numb the pain of a broken leg and give the patient crutches. You must realign the bone and put a cast on it before crutches will be of any real use. What I’m eluding to here is: We had to get, whatever was in Evie’s gut (wreaking havoc), out before anything else would have a chance at being therapeutic. Because constipation leads to constipation leads to constipation. Allow me to explain;

Evie was constipated, so she couldn’t sleep at night.

When she didn’t sleep at night and was having gut pain, she had no patience for, or interest in, solid food.

Because she refused to eat solid food she was hungry.

Because she was hungry she would fill up on breast milk.

Because she would fill up on breast milk, she definitely wasn’t going to eat solid food.

Because she wasn’t eating solid food she wasn’t getting any fibre.

Because she wasn’t getting any fibre she was constipated.

Because she was constipated, she couldn’t sleep at night.

When she didn’t sleep at night and was having gut pain, she had no patience for, or interest in, solid food.

And so on, and so forth (not forgetting that she was also  withholding poo because it hurt), until I am pulling my hair out in hysterical, bloody clumps (I exaggerate).

SO. How did we do this? Well its different for a baby whom isn’t yet on solids than it is for a toddler or child who is. So we will proceed with how we treated this (or would, looking back and knowing what we know now)

In the land before solids

                When Evie wasn’t eating solid food yet, it was hard to believe that she could actually be constipated. She went 9 days without pooing once but in my sleepless daze I didn’t even realise that until I stopped to think and remember when the last time she went was. “They” say that breastfed babies are fine to poo as little as every 10 days – which could well be the case. They are not fine, however, if they are arching, scrunching, sleepless and screaming little bundles during this time. For these babies, of whom Evie was one, it’s not ok to poo every 10 days, clearly.

For one so young we obviously couldn’t give parachoc, coloxyl or suppositories as the issue here clearly wasn’t the consistency of the poo (breastfed = liquid), it was the fact that it was getting trapped and stalled because gut motility was sluggish and babies struggle to coordinate the muscles in order to un-trap wind and adjust to the right angle for elimination, in the way that a constipated adult with a gut ache might.

Given this, what used to work for us to release wind and poo were 4 things; homeopathics, massage, pressure and warmth. I will be forever grateful for Jimmy’s uncle, a pharmacist, who slipped a bottle of Brauer’s ‘Colic relief’ into the hamper from his family at my baby shower. This stuff worked wonders for Evie and I can highly recommend it.

Warmth is pretty easy and effective also. I used to just rub my palms together and place then on Evies belly, skin to skin. But you could also use a rolled up warm towel or a warm bath to apply gentle heat to the tummy to provide both an analgesic and pressure-releasing effect. 

Massage is kind of difficult to explain in writing, so I’ve attached a sweet little video here that you might find useful – the techniques shown are gold, but it doesn’t need to be so specific ie. ‘3 minutes of this’ or ’10 times of that’ – just go with what you baby will tolerate and use your instincts to tell you when it’s time to stop.

As for pressure, I would simply hug Evie into my chest, so her belly was against my boobs, with her head on my shoulder, so that the curve of my bust would apply a gentle pressure on her abdomen. I would then walk around 'bouncing' with her like this and, I kid you not, you would have thought someone was firing a machine gun at times, it was that effective at releasing wind! If Jimmy (or someone otherwise less endowed than a breast feeding mother) wanted/needed to use this technique, we would simply roll up one of her muslin wraps, place it just under their shoulder and lay Evie over it so that the wrap was under her belly (fake boobs, really!). 

One more thing, which Evie doesn’t really allow me to do very often, is baby reflexology: This is great for teething, gut ache and general well being. They say that if the baby actually needs to reflexology, the pressure point on the foot will be tender, which explains why Evie won’t allow me to do it any more! 

 Solids, infinity, and beyond  
                I have found that flushing out my toddler’s gut is easier than doing the same for a baby in many ways, but also harder at the same time. The reason being that there are many a product available for short term, immediate or emergency use for evacuating the bowel – but the price you pay is the mother-guilt of using, administering, and subjecting your child to the taste of, these western pharmaceutical interventions. I love a natural prevention cure or answer, believe me, I do. But sometimes I believe that modern problems require modern solutions – which I will elaborate on later. But it would be great to be able to tip toe around a finicky elimination diet for months with a smile on my sleepless, frazzled face. But I can’t do that – because this life, this world, won’t slow down so I can take the scenic route. And I could not, and would not, watch my daughter suffer and squirm for a minute longer than she needed to and I won’t apologise for that. Enter ‘Parachoc’ and/or glycerin suppositories.

As mentioned previously, it would be very difficult to heal the cause of this particular issue without first treating the symptoms that play a massive role in continuing and feeding such a vicious cycle. I found that we needed to dispel the irritant that was causing pain, discomfort, lack of sleep and refusal of food so that we could fast track to an au-naturale avenue of treatment and maintenance. So – we did try glycerine suppositories, to no avail. I was adamant not to use parachoc for the reasons previously listed but then I had to talk some sense into myself. We were not going to use it for a year, or even a week. We gave 3 “flush” doses over 36 hours, as advised by our pharmacist, and that was it. Once we had given the Parachoc we could move forward.
My only advice here (until now I would like to think I have just been telling our story, what worked for us) would be; don’t be afraid of taking what you might consider to be “drastic” intervention. I think sometimes, particularly in natural parenting circles, we deny our children modern intervention for what we believe in the greater good – but we don’t consider that we wouldn’t necessarily deny ourselves with the same stubbornness. I know if I’ve had a headache that’s not going away – I will take panadol. But I will go to the ends of the earth to avoid doing similar for my daughter, for fear that the side effects aren’t worth the relief. I guess it’s about finding a happy medium that makes sense, and sits right with you and your family.