News Moms Need

Your baby’s bowel moments depend on her age and eating habits. Every baby is different. Some babies have a bowel movement right after each feeding. Others have it only once a day.

In the first week of life, newborns should produce some stool at least once a day. If your baby is not, let her health care provider know. You want to be sure all systems are functioning normally. After a week or two her system will shift into a pattern that works well for her. It is not uncommon for a breastfed baby (3 to 6 weeks of age) to pass stools every few days or only once a week. Formula fed babies, however, should pass stools at least once a day.

If your baby is having irregular bowel movements but her stools are soft (no firmer than peanut butter), this isn’t a sign of constipation. But if your baby’s stools are firm, she seems fussy or cries when having a bowel movement, she might be constipated. At any age, if the stools are large, hard and dry and hurt to pass, or if you see blood on or in the stool, talk to your baby’s health care provider. He may recommend giving her small amounts of water or prune juice.

In toddlers and older children, aside from increasing the amount of water they drink, you may need to add more high-fiber foods to their diet – foods like apricots, prunes, plums, peas, beans, broccoli and whole-grain cereals and breads. Back off foods that can tend to bind you up like bananas, white rice and plain white bread.

Pregnancy is usually a wonderful time in a woman’s life. But, unfortunately, there are certain changes that many women experience that are bothersome or even painful. Constipation is a fairly common complaint during pregnancy. Constipation is when you have difficulty having a bowel movement, or do not have one for several days. It can be due to your diet, changing hormones, too much iron in a vitamin pill, or from the pressure of your baby. Whatever the cause, it is not fun.

Here are some tips that may help with constipation:

• Drink more water.
• Avoid caffeine.
• Choose plenty of fiber-rich foods, including fruits, raw veggies, beans and whole grains.
• Juices, such as prune juice, can help, too.
• Move more and sit less. Regular activity, such as walking, can help a lot.
• Ask your prenatal health care provider if you can switch to a different prenatal vitamin (perhaps one with low or no iron).

Pregnant women who suffer from constipation often have hemorrhoids, too. These are painful and itchy enlarged veins in the rectal area. Constipation can make these swollen, itchy veins worse. Talk to your doctor about using creams and suppositories to provide relief. But, do not take laxatives or mineral oil unless our doctor prescribes them. The tips to relieve constipation (above) will also help with hemorhoids. You can read more about this uncomfortable aspect of pregnancy on our website.

To learn more about healthy eating during pregnancy,visit our website.

Hopefully, with a little more attention to your diet and lifestyle, you will feel much better.

Some parents think that a baby, even a breastfed baby is constipated if she isn’t having a bowel movement every day. That’s not necessarily so. As long as the movement is  very soft, there is no reason why a baby needs to have a bowel movement every day. Each baby is different – some will have two a day, others will have one every other day. The important thing is the stool must have a soft consistency.

Once solid foods start being introduced into her diet, it may take a while for your little one’s bowels to adjust to digesting more complicated food. At this point, her stools will firm up and she’ll have a movement less often.  That’s normal, but if the stools seem hard and uncomfortable to pass, tell your baby’s doctor. He will probably OK giving her a little prune juice or stewed prunes. Most babies seem to take to prunes fairly well.

Constipation should be just a temporary problem. If it lasts longer than a week, check with your baby’s doc or nurse practitioner for ways to correct it.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be blogging to the universe about such a delightful topic, but hey… this is a reality many of us moms face.  Ugh!

Hemorrhoids are varicose veins (swollen veins) that appear in the rectal area. They are often itchy or painful (oh yeah) and can sometimes rupture and bleed.

Hemorrhoids occur when straining or pressure causes the veins in your rectum to swell and enlarge. During pregnancy, your growing uterus can increase the pressure on the veins lower in the body. This can lead to spider veins and varicose veins in your legs, but also hemorrhoids.  And those great pregnancy hormones that keep things perking along can also cause the walls of your veins to relax, allowing them to swell more easily. Straining, especially during hard bowel movements, traps more blood in the swollen veins, which can make hemorrhoids very painful. Straining can even cause hemorrhoids to protrude from the rectum.

If you have had hemorrhoids before pregnancy, you’re more likely to get them again while pregnant. They may also develop or flare up with the straining of labor, and there’s not much you can do at that point.

But you can help prevent hemorrhoids by making simple lifestyle changes that help keep you from getting constipated.  Drink plenty of liquids; eat foods high in fiber; exercise regularly; don’t delay – trot to the pot as soon as you feel the urge; don’t gain too much weight; avoid long periods of standing or sitting.  If you’re one of the lucky ones who acquired this “pain in the caboose,” there are things you can learn to help relieve the uncomfortable side effects.