When my son was born he passed his meconium successfully. He pooped regularly until he reached 6 weeks old then he started to poop every 7-10 days. Because he was exclusively breastfed I was told not to worry. At 6 months we introduced solids and he became very constipated. His poops were infrequent and hard even though we fed him all the “P” foods (peas, prunes, peach, plums, etc) His weight also fell from 25 percentile to 3 percentile. I was told to stop feeding him solids until he regains weight. From then on we also used glycerine suppositories to help him poop every 7 days. A few times he has pooped without the help of suppositories but we suspect that it might be because he’s teething. He’s 10 months old now and I’m starting him on solids again. We’ve tried many types juices to help him poop but he thinks they’re sour and we end up force feeding him. I’m just starting Karo Syrup with water today in hopes that that will help him but I am doubtful. My pediatrician wants to start him on laxatives. I’ve switched 3 different pediatricians and none of them would even consider him constipated let alone Hirschsprung’s Disease. He’s also had a rectal exam to stretch his anus. Could my baby have HD even though he passed his meconium and he is able to poop with the help of suppositories or if he’s teething? Please help my baby! Thank you!!
hi my son also has hd and has had the pullthough op,but now hes 1 years old i find him having trouble passing gas any one with any ideas in how to deal with this, when taking to doctors they say just need to let alfie pass it himself.
My son has HD and also passed meconium. His initial exam from the neonatologist was fine- they didn’t notice any distention etc. He wouldn’t eat so on his 3rd day in this world they sent him for an abdominal x-ray and told us they suspected Hirschsprung’s Disease.
He was in the hospital for a few weeks prior to his surgery and he pooped the entire time. He was also exclusively breastfed at the time so I think that helped. Even though he pooped, sometimes they would be medium sized other times they were ribbon like. There are cases of late HD diagnosis so it is worth checking out.
In the mean time our GI recently recommended 1 teaspoon a day of Miralax for constipation (even after their pullthrough HD babies can still have constipation). He is 6 months old and on solids. I have noticed a big change in his stool since starting the Miralax.
It is a larger quantity and much easier to pass. Has your son ever had an abdominal x-ray. Does he have trouble passing gas? They also thought my son had anal stenosis for a while because he didn’t present with typical HD symptoms. The doctors seemed surprised when the biopsy came back HD. He ended up having 4 inches removed and the surgical report said there were sparse ganglion cells, not missing or no ganglion cells. I’d see a GI not your pediatrician.
We don’t ever seem to get the right answers from our pedi b/c they just aren’t used to dealing with HD babies. Good luck and keep us posted!
Jo
I know that in my sons case it took three months before they found anything, but his stomach was very very distended!! I would look for a peds surg or a gi dr. in your area and see if you can get him in it may take a while but keep pushing on… Good luck
I agree, find a GI doc and have them look at your little one. Something is not right and peds just don’t have all the answers sometimes. Good luck!!
my 1st son was not dx until his intestines ruptured at 8 months old. He would poop, but only like one a wk and that was with kyro, plums, ect.
I would try and see a GI dr and ask for a suction biopsy be done (it’s not uncomman for the barium enema x-ray to show no disease)
Also it might not be HD, but since he is having such problems I would want a GI doc on the case to start finding the cause regardless of what it is.
Good luck.
Sweetmonkey… what type of stool did your first son pass? Large or tiny ones?
ohh man… it was 17 yrs ago, but from what I can remember is NO meconium at all, they had to give him a suposatory at the sick baby nursery and then I remember hard hard poop. like dry round balls. At 2 months old they thought he had a tumor in his stomach b/c you could feel a lump, but the cat scan showed it was just poop.
at 5 months he had the barium enema x-ray, but it came out neg, then at 8 months old he ruptured.
it was like adult dry constipated poop
Thank you all for giving me such good advice. I just wanted to update you and ask an additional question. We visited the pediatrician and agreed to put our son on laxatives. And if that didn’t work we would see a specialist. We gave him one dose of Miralax and it seemed to do the trick. He’s pooping everyday or every other day now for the past 2 weeks without any additional help from laxatives. I am a bit concerned at the massive amounts of poops that’s coming out of him now. Since this is my first baby I’m not sure what’s normal. Just tonight he had 10 inches of poop (yes I measured it!) and I don’t think he finished completely. When he doesn’t go for 2 days it’s shocking how much poop he has stored. He’s 11 months old and eats about 15-18 ounces of food everyday. He’s still breastfeeding so I’m not sure how much he’s taking in there. I’m concerned that he could have sparse ganglion cells thus resulting in such a large buildup before he poops. Am I just being a paranoid mom?
you’ll never know until you see a specialist and have testing. both my kids have HD so i don’t know what “normal” poo looks and acts like.
I have a girlfriend with a 5 month old- her daughter poops once every day or every other day and it is TONS of poop. I asked her to let me see one of her dirty diapers b/c I wanted to know what ‘normal’ poop was like. It was HUGE and made me gag. If his stool is soft and not dry and hard he is probably not constipated. My son’s biopsy noted sparse ganglion cells, not zero cells but we never had a significant size poop prior to surgery. We had lots of small to medium poos (and he was EBF). I told our GI that I didn’t want Chase on any medication so he put him on adult prune juice. (1 oz/day). We’ve actually decreased it to 1/2 because 1oz seemed like too much for him. We’ve noticed a big difference and it seems just as effective as miralax for Chase. I bought the most expensive best juice I could find from Whole Foods that was not from concentrate. Our GI said that prune juice is more effective than eating prunes. Every HD kid is different but your son seems like he is pooping well to me. Try to load him on fruits and veggies and add some prune juice- maybe that would do the trick. Good luck!
Jo
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I have 2 daughters that don’t have HD, and my son does have it. Sometimes I swear I can’t figure out how they get the poop from inside to outside because it’s so huge. Sometimes as big around as their thighs!! But it’s a good consistency, so I don’t worry. My girls usually go every day or every other day. It’s not always so huge, but we do get them.