Please mothers in the house, I need your help. My 7-month old baby has not been pooping, and even when he manages to poo after much straining and crying, it comes out very hard, sometimes with blood. This has been going on for more than a month. I've been to the hospital twice, and undiluted orange juice and plenty of other fruits with enough water was the basic recommendation, but up till now the problem persists even with the everyday fruit diet. For home remedies, I've been advised to put baby mentholatum in his anus, some recommended olive oil or liquid paraffin for easy passage of d poo, but nothing seems to be working. I've also tried massaging his tummy and making him seat in warm water, all to no avail. I even stopped his cereal temporarily and was giving him pap instead with his follow-on formula (he has stopped active breast feeding), but it's not getting better. Mothers please advice, what else can I do?

Hmmmmmmm

Madam, free yourself from this circus. Infants have a delicate body system and as such are not meant for experimentation with all sorts of formulations and techniques.

Passing blood in stool is a serious health problem in the very young. It needs expert management and not by proxy via social media. I wished you stated the category of hospital you took the child to it would've helped in further counselling.

Be that as it may, stop further home interventions, seek out a private or govt hospital that has a children doctor(paediatrician) consulting, and present you child for evaluation. An alternative is to take the baby to a teaching hospital where the best hands abound.

Don't allow distance discourage you.

Madam, dts emergency, take d baby to another hospital. As an adult i've been in dt shoe, but d paraffin was okay n FRIUTS (esp orange) is my drug nw, I'm fine. Wish him very quick recovery.

Use aboliki and stiring stick on his anus.

Use chisel and sledge hammer
thank me later

Urm stick your mouth in d baby"s anus and suck out the poo..

Do you have prune juice available? Also, like a bit (not sure if teaspoon or tablespoon) of mineral oil helps. Still, if it's been persisting for a month, that's way too long. I'm thinking maybe the formula has too much iron.

Constipation isn't as alarming as diarrhea, but a month of that is worrying, I think. Definitely, get him to a doctor if the home remedies aren't working.

@docadams, thanks for the response, I use a reputable private hospital on the mainland and the last doc I saw is a pediatrician, she was the one that advised on the fruit diet after evaluation.
@McSquishi, no I don't have prune juice available, will ask around though. Thanks.

Okunbabe:
Please mothers in the house, I need your help. My 7-month old baby has not been pooping, and even when he manages to poo after much straining and crying, it comes out very hard, sometimes with blood. This has been going on for more than a month. I've been to the hospital twice, and undiluted orange juice and plenty of other fruits with enough water was the basic recommendation, but up till now the problem persists even with the everyday fruit diet. For home remedies, I've been advised to put baby mentholatum in his anus, some recommended olive oil or liquid paraffin for easy passage of d poo, but nothing seems to be working. I've also tried massaging his tummy and making him seat in warm water, all to no avail. I even stopped his cereal temporarily and was giving him pap instead with his follow-on formula (he has stopped active breast feeding), but it's not getting better. Mothers please advice, what else can I do?

Get a bottled mentholatum and a warm water. Gently apply the mentholatum on the anus then carefully drop the warm water using a neat napkin on the anus. There will be an instant relief while the poo is forcefully ejected. Give the baby some water afterwards.

Okunbabe, prune juice is very hard to find in Nigeria as it's an American thing (trust me, I've been searching for 4 months). Since you've seen a pediatrician, that bloody stool. isn't good. Most likely because the poo is hard, baby is refusing to poo because he knows it will hurt but holding it in just makes things worse (this is actual baby behaviour). You could ask to get another pediatrician to look at him (a consultant this time, with more experience and particularly if he/she has kids). I don't know about Mineral oil for babies (I have some but I don't know if they sell edible mineral oil in Nigeria as it's also an American thing).
Try and stop doing enemas and suppositories (inserting stuff in the bum) because those are last-ditch efforts and should be done if all else has failed. Preferably by a doctor.

The fruits diet, are you pureeing the whole fruit and giving baby? Because if you give just the juice alone, baby misses out on Fibre and that's important for good poo.

And I hit up a doctor and he directed me to a website and said "don't give Mineral oil, you won't find prunes in Nigeria. What you should try is Plums or Pears ( these fruits are sold in Shoprite and Spar), puree the whole thing after washing well and give baby. Also Flax Seed oil (which you can find in pharmacies in Lagos easily) should help". And try the following below:

The Bath and Bowel Movement Technique
Here is a Sears’ family trick that helped us ease the passage of stools in several of our constipated babies. Although it’s messy, it works. Immerse your baby in a warm bath so that the water is around chest-high. When your baby is relaxed in the bath, massage baby’s abdomen and get ready for the mudslide.

Okunbabe:
@docadams, thanks for the response, I use a reputable private hospital on the mainland and the last doc I saw is a pediatrician, she was the one that advised on the fruit diet after evaluation.
@McSquishi, no I don't have prune juice available, will ask around though. Thanks.

Hmmmmmmm

Based on the above I'll advise you go back to the hospital for a follow up or a tertiary center like LUTH or LASUTH.
I will repeat again, children should not be used for experimentation.

@Okunbabe, please follow the advice of @docadams and take the baby to a teaching hospital where he can be given the right specialist care. A friend of mine suffered with an issue for many months even though he had seen a doctor, until a professor attended to him at teaching hospital.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that private hospitals give better attention than government hospitals because they are more expensive.

The method that worked for my kids was giving only WARM WATER first thing in the morning before any meal or drink and before 30mins they are running to poo. If this doesnt work over the weekend please go to any general hospital on monday morning.