constipation in cf baby

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anonymous

New member
Hello,

I have an 8 month old with CF. Lately he has been eating more solids (about 2-3 containers a day) and about 30 oz. of both breastmilk and formula. (we are transitioning him over to formula.) He has been eating well, but lately has been getting really constipated so much so that he gets really red and just screams when he has to go. I feel terrible for him, and I just don't know what to do. I was curious if anyone has any tips for what has worked for you in the past. I've read about apple juice in baby books, but the books are not exactly CF specific.

Thanks,
Carrie
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
We had a heck of a time when we switched our son from formula to whole milk. We'd had constipation issues in the past, but not that bad -- TMI, but there were times when he'd start to stool and it would get stuck and he'd cry, I'd cry.

CFers are odd in that they'll sometimes they'll still have loose stools, but also have stuff backed up and they'll get constipated. Which was the case when DS was about 4 months old and he was kinda cranky and not eating as much as usual. In our case, the doctor recommended we give him Milk of Magnesia twice a day until things moved thru. Which is what we did when we transitioned to whole milk. That was probably the worst of the worst in terms of his constipation and it took a couple weeks for him to get regulated.

I'd talk to your doctor if prunes, prune juice, fruit don't seem to work. I know some people have to take miralax on a regular basis to keep things moving. L
 
Z

zoe4life

New member
When Zoe was diagnosed, she was exactly 12 months old. She weighed 14 lbs. She started on 1 Creon 5 at a time. She has never been constipated, but she has always had the really bad, frequent stools. Last week, she went 36 hours without a bowel, so for her breakfast we gave her half her normal enzymes. She had a bowel within the hour. Also, her GI doc said that if she goes more than 36 hours without a bowel, or seems to be having constipation problems, give her a little milk of magnesia. With CF, you defininately don't want them to get bowel obstructions.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
One thing that our doctor told us that it's sooo tempting when a child is constipated to decrease enzymes. That's not to say the sometimes you might need to do just that, but then you can run into problems with loose stools, sticky stuff causing a blockage. Drove me nuts at first trying to figure out how many enzymes to give DS -- was I giving him too much, not enough... grrr!
 
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anonymous

New member
Our son's CF doc said to set enzyme dosage based mostly on the amount of fat in the food - so we do not give the same number for something with little fat as we do for a big cup of whole milk. If you use 2 all the time, maybe it's too much enzyme.
 
A

anonymous

New member
Thanks for the advice. We go to clinic next week so I'll definitely bring all this up. He has been going, it just seems kind of tough for him and he gets all red and teary and seems to be straining. I just don't want him to get one of those rectal prolapses. Before CF, I never in a million years thought I would be openly discussing such lovely issues about my son on the internet!!! Thanks for the help!
Carrie
 
A

anonymous

New member
Carrie,

Babyfood prunes work pretty well to keep babies regular. I don't have much to add except that i give my 3 1/2 year old prune juice mixed with apple juice every morning to keep her bowels regular. She loves it; calls it appleprune juice. If she seems constipated I'll give her straight prune juice. It's a healthy taste for them to get used to.

REbecca
 
J

julie

New member
Carrie, I agree with everyone else. Try cutting him back to 1 creon for everyting right now while he is straining. See if that makes a difference.
 
A

anonymous

New member
Have been on this forum many times,but only as a very interested reader. Up to now have felt like I haven't had too much valuable information to contribute to the group as we are in our infancy with CF. Our daughter is 21mths old with CF, born with MI and touch wood doing reasonably well thus far. Anyway back to the original question, our daughter up to approx 12mths of age would also worry us and virtually bring us to tears watching her do her bowel motions. She would strain so much, go beet red in the face and look like she would burst (even though her motions would turn out to be "frothy" or soft in the end). We questioned her CF specialist as well as her x2 paediatricians who all reassured us (or at least tried) that this was normal with babies with/without CF and that things would get better.Well they did. Now her pooing is not as obvious.
A suggestion would be to go for whey protein formula instead of a casein based one (i.e one that mimics human breast milk rather than just cow milk derived) as casein based formula has more of a tendency towards constipation because it is more difficult to digest.
Hope you find this helpful.
 
A

anonymous

New member
I would definitely try and cut back on the Creon.

Good luck.

Charlotte<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">
 
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