We got a puppy last spring and we've gotten rather obsessed with poo. The question is, not will the dog poo in the house, but how many times a day?? We thought we had made progress in the poo department before we went to China but now he is not happy being a middle child and has regressed in the training department. But I digress...the point of this post is constipation.
If you are traveling soon to get your child, make sure you pack some applesauce and prunes. You can get them at any grocery store in little single-serve plastic containers in the baby food aisle. You can't get them in China. Even in Beijing. We looked and couldn't find any pureed fruit--lots of baby veggies, meat and even pureed fish (yuck!) but no applesauce or prunes. If your baby is constipated, you will be glad you packed it.
When you get your child, he or she may not poop for several days due to several factors: the shock of being put into a new setting with Martians, changes in diet or just being upset. The daily bowel movement in not essential in young children or adults. Anywhere from 1-4 days is considered normal if they are not having any of the problems I list below - that being said I see a lot of patients who seem obsessed with having a daily BM. I have been told this is a German heritage think- I live in Amish country but I suspect it extends to other groups as well
Reasons to consider constipation are: is the baby is grunting and having a hard time passing whatever stool they have, or is her belly is getting distended or tender? Then he/she are constipated. But the other considerations for a distended belly is being protein starved or having parasites. Babies that are protein starved (Kwashiorkor or Marasmus is the formal term- think of all those pictures of little African babies with big bellies) will usually have fat on them but not a lot of muscles size particularly on the legs and arms. They will definitely be small in growth and may have some skin rashes and be a bit listless.
It the child is having problems with pooping first make sure they are well hydrated- water, formula, whatever will work. This can be a problem if your child is like both of my adopted children, who wouldn't drink anything for several days. The next step is to get out that applesauce or prunes you packed--you can feed it straight up or mix with rice cereal or congee. If that doesn’t work, it's time for the big gun: a suppository!
I was in charge of ordering and packing the meds for our trip and neglected bringing glycerine suppositories but am eternally grateful to some traveling companions who provided us with not one but two! If you aren't familiar with them, they look like clear plastic bullets. For those of you uninitiated in the technique the suppository is placed by separating the cheeks- pushing it in (they naturally won’t like it) and holding the cheeks tightly together for about 5 minutes- in the process you will learn how strong your child is as they try to get away. The response is usually within a half hour and I would call it brisk and impressive. If your child is young you can cut the suppository in quarters--with our daughter we saw results in under ten minutes!
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