In and Out – Teeth & Poops

Today is day 5 of no poop action for Lulu. This is apparently very normal in breastfed babies, but she seemed to be straining to try to poop and mostly getting frustrated. In addition, she also has teething pain, so this all adds up to making a tres unhappy baby!

I called the doctor’s office as soon as it opened today and spoke to a nurse. I, the paranoid, first time mother, explained that there were a number of issues at hand:

1. Just finished “sleep training” and therefore had ceased feeding rice cereal for the duration
2. Lulu had a new tooth bud (her first!!!) and seemed to be having tooth pain
3. Lulu had also not pooped well (besides a tiny pooplet on Sat and Mon) in 5 days
4. Tylenol didn’t seem to be helping the tooth pain
5. I didn’t know if Lulu was fussy because of her teeth, needing to poop, or possibly being hungry because of wanting cereal
6. I was afraid to start her on the cereal again until she had a regular poop because I feared it might contribute to her constipation 

The nurse suggested the following:

1. Teething:
   1. Try motrin instead of tylenol (I guess she’s old enough now)
      1. It’s okay if the last tylenol dose overlaps w/ the motrin because they’re different drugs
   2. Keep offering a cold toy for her to chew on
2. Pooping:
   1. Don’t go back to rice cereal until things normalize (phew! I’m glad I asked this question!) because it could contribute to the constipation
   2. Do give her some fruit or vegetable food to help with the “movement”
      1. Prune juice would be okay, as would peas or applesauce
   3. Do offer her 2-3 ounces of water throughout the day via bottle to help move things
   4. Do use a rectal thermometer or q-tip to help stimulate things

Regarding that last thing… Ummmm…. Okay… I love my daughter and am not intimidated by that sort of thing, but I immediately got this image in my head of Cybil’s mom (the one w/ 16 personalities) who was always giving her enemas… seemed like a severe option… I did ask the nurse though, where I could get a rectal thermometer and she told me any digital one would do… AND to be sure to use some sort of lubricant. Duh.