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pbaribeault -> RE: adoptive and foster parents (10/22/2008 2:27:35 PM)
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Flax seed is a very fibre and healthy-oil rich seed. It's small and dark brown. When it is "milled" that means that it is ground up into powder. It is great for constipated older babies -- when they are eating baby food. You would just add maybe half a teaspoon to something they are eating, like oat cereal or a fruit or veggie puree.
Probiotic is the "good" bacteria / micro-organisms that are in active culture yogurts. (They are used to make other yogurt too, but that kind is sterilized after it is made, so that kills the probiotics.) Probiotics live in your guts and help with digestion, so eating them (in yogurt, capsules or powder) will make your guts more effective and happy. They are particularly good if you are taking antibiotics, which are killing all your body's bacteria, both good and bad, so then the probiotics you are eating make sure your guts keep working well. To give this to an older baby (on baby food) that digests milk well, just feed them active culture yogurts (hopefully the kind without too much sugar or other additives).
If he is dehydrated, you will notice that his diapers are lighter and yellower (more uric acid with less water to dilute it coming out). If so, you can give more formula, or just plain water. Nothing you put in the water is going to help with the dehydration.
There are a lot of strong recommendations against putting cereal into bottles. If you want him to have cereal, why not just feed it to him with a spoon before bed? BUT rice cereal is a lot less nutritionally dense than formula. He will digest it faster than the same amount of formula, so I doubt it's going to help you with your sleeping-through-the-night desires.
The idea behind syrup (and juice) is that the body can't digest the amount of sugars, and so it passes through quickly, as the body tries to rid itself of an overdose. I'm not sure if that is the best plan, although many moms find it workable.
With my constipated babies, 2 things helped -- One was knowing that doctors only worry about a baby's bowel movements if it has been 7 to 10 days since the last one. Knowing that, the second thing that helped (until I could do a good eating-food diet) was simple glycerin suppositories (sized for child/infant). It just lubricates the poop and stimulates the movement, without bothering the whole feeding system.
On the 8th day with no movement, we would do a supp, which would lead to one difficult poop, and then a few more over the next day or two. Then they would be OK for a few weeks, then they would begin to get plugged up again, going two or 3 days between, then longer. After a while it would be back to a long stretch and another suppository.
BTW -- the cause of this constipation in both my girls was intolerance to cow's milk protein. My 3 year old has grown out of it now.
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