Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
Knowing how to get baby to poop is an essential skill as a new mom. There is nothing worse than having an uncomfortable baby and this is no different when your baby is constipated. I’ve already shared a number of remedies to help your baby with constipation.
Recently I came across this video on Youtube showing you how to get your baby to poop and it has so many awesome responses from moms saying it worked a dream for their babies so I had to share it.
How To Get Baby To Poop
What I especially like about this method is that it is a good one to try for a newborn baby since a newborn baby shouldn’t have anything to drink other than milk, which knocks out a lot of other awesome natural remedies for constipation.
With the method shown in the video above your baby should make a poop in about twenty minutes.
You start with bending your baby’s legs and then moving them around in circles for a few rounds.
Then you massage the tummy to loosen up the muscles. put your thumb on one side of your baby’s tummy with your fingers on the other side and squish the tummy and release. Then put both your thumbs on your baby’s tummy with your fingers on baby’s side and massage all around the tummy.
The next step is to take baby legs and bend them together and push them onto his tummy and down again a few times, then do it one leg at a time.
You do some more massaging, the squishing one, using your other hand so that it is the opposite side that is being worked.
If you give this a go leave a comment and let us know if it is successful for you! If your baby is struggling to poop you can also consider Lacson Syrup for newborn babies, and Purity prunes for constipation for older babies that are already on solids.
I really believe in prune juice and lacson syrup!
Absolutely worked with my son. My mother in law taught me the trick when she saw our little one needed to poop but couldn’t. Great article read ☺
Colic calm works like a bomb and its a 100% natural remedy
I agree.
Thanks for this article.
I do something similar if my baby hasn’t poo’d in a day or two or if I see my lo is struggling to poo. I do the “Ride my little bicycle” song. She enjoys the song and will generally poo awhile after it. So I’m sure this method definitely works. I’ll be sure to incorporate it into our poo routine.
This works!!! I have a 6 week old and she had a huge bowel movement 3 days ago and hasn’t had a poo since. I did all of these exercises and the tummy massage and she went almost immediately!!!! Thank you so much! I didn’t want to give her anything other than my breast milk and I am grateful I didn’t have to!!!
I’m so glad that you came right with your baby girl Ashley!
Baby Massage really works for an uncomfortable and constipated little one. For me the important thing is to get rid of the “plug” before any remedy works.
We recently had a new bundle born into our family. He was just little joy, however he was born prematurely and had reflux and constipation issues. As a result we often had issues with not only serious constipation but also choking. For the constipation what helped is that we added a probiotic (prescribed by a homeopath) to his breastmilk (in a bottle). This could also be done in warm water. I would really suggest this to anyone, together with baby massage and exercise. Out of desperation one day we also placed a smaller than pea size blob on raw coconut oil just in the front of the anus and this helped within a few hours.
This is indeed very insightful and useful to mom’s and for those planning a baby. Thank you for sharing this with us. That baby is also so cute. People should definitely give this a try.
There is nothing more stressful than being a new mom and having a new born baby that doesnt want to do the normal things like poop at the “normal” times. Yes, I agree that above method works, sometimes. I completely freaked out when my new born didn’t poop in two days. I rushed to the pediatrician, as any frizzled new mom would, only for him to tell me that its completely normal for new born babies to not poop for atleast up to 5days, as long as they have wet diapers everything is fine. So don’t freak out when baby didn’t get to go on the :poo-poo”
Didn’t finish my sentence..what i was trying to say is don’t freak out if baby didn’t get to go on the “poo-poo” train today!
A natural remedy for a baby 6 months or older is a little honey in their milk or yogurt. It works like a charm. There are some concerns about giving honey to babies younger than 6 months with regards to bacteria. I however believe a natural product is safer than a chemical one.
All babies are different and not all of them will poop every day. Our peads team here where we live has given the next advice: A baby can poop 7 times in one day or once in 7 days. If your baby has the 8th diaper for the day you know it is serious and take him in, or when you reach day 8 without a diaper then you know he/she is constipated.
I don’t like waiting for day 8 to show me constipation, I usually to the running with the legs at least once per day to have my baby move their legs, baby massage before or after a bath and then rub their tummies after they have eaten. this routine usually keeps constipation to a minimum and gives me 10 minutes where it is only me and my child.
Home remedies are great and you don’t need to rush to doctor every 5 minutes, but if you are not sure rather pick up the phone and just find out if what you are dealing with is normal or not.
New mommies out there: Ask your mom how it was with you, usually your baby will be more like mommy or daddy in the early ways.
Have a blast and remember to give them a minute or 2 after they are done or you might have a splash while changing the diaper.
I just love this video.
I wish I had access to this when JD was a baby. We’ve had problems with this issue when he was about one and a half years old.
I didn’t even consider laxatives for baby’s. I wanted to use something that is either natural or that is quick and efficient without causing too much discomfort to my baby.
We’ve added Lacson to baby’s milk and we also got the advice to use diluted prune juice.
The prune juice helped but JD didn’t really like the taste so after a while he didn’t want to drink it anymore. The Lacson worked at times but not always.
I couldn’t bare seeing my boy in such pain and being so uncomfortable.
Then my best friend gave me great advice. She had the same problems with her son when he was a baby.
She used a cotton bud and a bit of vaseline and gently insert it in his bum. Not too deep, just a little bit and wiggle it slightly.
Or she warmed up vaseline in a teaspoon and used the liquid to insert it in baby’s bum with an injection (the plastic part).
I decided to give this a try and it really works! Instead of warming Vaseline I’ve used a bit of glycerine.
I was amazed how fast it works. I was a bit paranoid, so we took JD to his doctor for a quick check-up and I’ve asked him about the cotton bud and glycerine methods.
He had no problem with either and said that I could continue with this.
However, I have to mention that the glycerine one is the better of the two. Quick and effortless.
Of course, if I saw this video I would have tried this for sure.
Yes I used glycerine suppositories a few times with my daughter and it worked a charm! It was not a pleasant thing to do but when your baby is crying for hours on end and not able to poop it is not a bad thing to try. Each time she pooped within minutes.
@lynne, I also think suppositories are great. Even today, when JD has high fever due to teething or sickness, the quickest way to get that fever down is with Empaped suppositories.
When I used the empty injection with a bit of glycerine, he instantly pooped.
I remember saying to my husband that I’ve never been so happy seeing someone poop. 😀
Ha! Yes I know what you mean. Before kids I would have been horrified at watching someone poop, now it makes me happy. In a mom sort of way 🙂
It’s really nice to know that I am not the only one who gets excited when my baby poops. My little boy had some constipation issuesvearly on and my husband and I (mostly me I admit) became quite obsessed with the state of his nappies. I still chuckle a bit at my husband’s HUGE relief and excitement when he was on changing duty and our little guy had a total poonami nappy blowout!
This is such a great video especially for new moms.
My children never had severe constipation but there were days where I can see he/she is pushing and then it’s only little hard round balls. I also used the method of riding bicycle.
The other methods that she used is so so nice and I wish I knew this before I had my kids. When they were constipated a little, I gave them gripe water with a syringe. It also works like a bomb and baby is calm after that. I never knew about the glycerine and earbud trick.
I must be honest…I’m not very fond of putting anything up my child’s bum. Not even suppositories. I hate it. If I have to then i would but I prefer not to.
I will remember these methods for when I’m a granny one day!
Hehehehe @elena. Putting things up your baby or child’s bum is not an enjoyable experience and I still hate doing it.
But it really is so quick and it gives much needed relief. 🙂
The Empaped suppositories really is a lifesaver. It really brings down the fever much quicker than any other medicine. It is great when you need it in emergency situations.
LOL @lynne yes, it’s the same with me. ♥
My baby suffered terribly with constipation. What I didn’t realize was the milk formula was enriched with Iron. I also didn’t give her much water. Water is quite important if you are using the iron enriched formula. I followed every rule by the book but nothing helped. Sometimes I had to push both legs back and scoop out the poop with my fingers. Sometimes there will be a hard piece of poop in front and the rest of the poop will be soft. No need to fear because you are not hurting baby. This is sometimes all they need. Prune juice or a little bit of brown sugar in cooled down boiling water works as well. The exercise on the video is also helpful as I myself have tried it with my babies. Will definitely share with the other mommies. Thanks for the reminder…
I found that a little bit of olive oil (2ml or so) in baby’s bottle works wonders. My little one also suffered from cramping quite a bit and we would crush a #8 Mag Phos Tissue salt tablet into her bottle. Works a charm!
Once they start solids, a bit of Purity Prunes with their food is always a reliable and safe option!
So funny to think we as mom’s are so invested in ways to get our little ones to poop 😊
What worked for me for my daughter was duphalc suryp, it is n sugar suryp and nothing harmful in it and works like a charm.
I received some great advice from my mother in law and it REALLY works. Just lightly rub an earbud with vaseline on the area. Works almost instantly.
I remember whilst breastfeeding I hardly had any trouble to make him poop, just drank 100% pure orange juice and his tummy went. As he grew older I tried to give him prune juice directly, he wasn’t very fond of it, but it worked. I’ll definitely try the baby massage illustrated in the video with our next one.
I have my 6 week old daughter. Its been a day without a bowl mpvement only peeing.
If your baby is breastfed and not showing any signs of discomfort then I would not worry Elizabeth. If she is showing signs of discomfort there are a few ways to remedy constipation in babies and the method in this video is very effective.
I found that doing the bicycle action with baby’s legs was the best way to get my boy to poop.
I always used prunes not the juice but purity it did help… These technique with leg movement is helpful info.. Thanks
My favorite… I always try this when my other twin is constipated and it works.
My mother always believed in milk of magnesia, the time-old, trusted method to keep baby constant. We tried it too, and was neverdissatisfied!
Wow! This helped my 3 month old within a matter of minutes. She was crying so much from discomfort. Did these exercises and massages and she went poop! She hasn’t gone in 2 days.
my son was constipated few days ago I was struggling and he really had a hard time poo so I massage his tummy really work wonders. Did not know what give her is only two months and I keep massaging and make his legs like he ride a bicycle two days after that he poop. I also watch what I eat now due to breastfeeding. Thank you learn so much
This method works, I did it when my child was still a baby. It works
Very good to know. I used to do massage to help him before I would have to give him meds