Hi there! My son Connor is 4 months old and weighs 16 lbs 15 oz. He is on 1.9 ml of Prilosec compounded at 2mg/ml twice a day. He normally has 2-3 good sized poopy diapers a day. Last week he started becoming constipated. He is breastfed exclusively and has not changed his eating habits, other than with the gas pains from the constipation, he is VERY fussy. The only other medicine he takes is Levsin drops 4 drops every 4 hours as needed and 1-2 ml of Mylanta as needed for his reflux--I discontinued the Mylanta after the constipation started.

Are there any "home remedies" that I can use? My ped told me I can use a teaspoon of Karo syrup once a day in his bottle of breastmilk or apple juice--which he won't drink. Neither of these has worked so far...so in the last week, he has only had 5 diapers and is very uncomfortable. I guess my question is do I stay the course with home remedies or take him back to the doctor--and at what point is it dangerous to him?

Sorry for the ramble! Thanks for your help!

Hi, Sara,

Prilosec usually doesn't cause constipation. Normal BF infants can go a week or so (really!!!) without having stools and as long as the stool is soft and not painful, this can be normal. If the stools are already loose BF stools, further loosening with whatever to me doesn't help. Sometimes kids this age can have problems with coordination of the two rectal sphincters and a bit of rectal stim can help. If he is doing OK, you just wait for a giant loose poop.

Good luck, Dr. Olson