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Constipation in Babies
What Causes Constipation in Infants?
By Teri Brown
Nothing is as difficult for parents as when their baby is sick and they aren't sure how to make her feel better. For a cold, there's cold medicine and humidifiers. For a flu, there's cold cloths and fever reducers. But what do you do for a baby made cranky by constipation? How does a baby even get constipated?
Dr. Edith A. McCarthy, founder of Care Intensive Pediatrics in New York City, says this is difficult to answer because constipation is difficult to define.
"Every baby has a unique stool pattern; some stool once a day, others once every two days and some after every feeding," Dr. McCarthy says. "All of these patterns can be normal. An infant's stool pattern will depend mostly on whether the baby is fed breast milk or formula. Breastfed babies have less constipation; in fact they tend to stool after each feeding because breast milk is so easily digested. Occasionally, if some foods cause constipation in a breastfeeding mother, that result may be translated to the breastfed infant."
According to Dr. McCarthy, another reason breastfed infants might appear constipated is if they are not taking in enough milk, as in a mother whose milk production is low. More often, infants who are fed formula may become constipated because formula takes longer to digest, and some formulas even contain ingredients that can cause constipation.
That brings us to another cause of constipation – starting your baby on solid foods. Rice is low in fiber and can cause constipation, but because so few infants are allergic to it, many babies start with rice cereal. It is very normal for a baby just starting on solids to be mildly constipated.
"Typically the first solid food introduced to babies around 6 months of age is rice cereal," Dr. McCarthy says. "Rice is very binding, so if constipation were a problem, one might consider starting with another cereal such as oatmeal or barley. Or one might consider skipping cereal altogether and starting fruits (not bananas or apples, which are constipating) and vegetables, which will provide fiber important in the process of defecation."
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