As proud as poop!

Most mums to be can’t wait for each and every moment of when their baby arrives, but I think most would agree you don’t look forward to the dirty nappies! If I’m honest the thought never bothered me, as I’d nursed for 6 years, wiping bottoms was something I did without a second thought! So I thought I’d be prepared for the novelty of stinky behinds…but I wasn’t.

Both of my sons were premature and suffered from constipation, full term babies can also suffer from this but I was told their prematurity didn’t help. As most of us know (pregnant women especially) Constipation is uncomfortable at the best of times, but to be a little person who has no idea what this pain is, it must be terrifying!

My son Jack who was born at 29+5 weeks gestation, would go a week without pooping, this would result in hard pellets he had to painfully push out before he could ‘unload’ his packed tummy! This sounds horrible, right? It was much worse, he screamed in agony and I was told by my health visitor until he was 3 months he couldn’t be prescribed anything to help him, I tried everything natural….boiled water, orange juice, you name it I tried it.

When he was 2 months old at my wits end I took him to the doctor and to my surprise and anger I was told a baby of any age can have Lactulose, it’s completely natural! It worked, we never had the problem again, after a month of using it, his body had regulated itself, he was full term and the problem never returned!

With my second son Michael (born 35 weeks gestation), he had taken to breast feeding and was pooing every two days! I was so pleased, yet last week I had been aware he hadn’t been for a week, he had done this the odd time before and relieved himself eventually with no struggle, my health visitor assured me as long as he wasn’t struggling then it was fine. Only last week he screamed in agony, I knew without even checking that he was having the same problem Jack had suffered with, as he writhed in agony, I lathered his backside in Vaseline and massaged his tummy as he eventually pushed through the pain. A few days later I was struck down with Sinusitis and was prescribed (BF safe) anti-biotics, as I was breast feeding they went through him and he was again regulated.

To most people constipation is an irritant best not discussed, but being the mother of two babies who have suffered from it, the agony in their scream makes me terrified and helpless, I hope they never have to experience this again!

I was prompted to write this post as my son just had a full feed, then went on his play mat and within minutes…wall-ah! he filled his nappy (and I mean to the rafters)!

So to the mothers who may complain about their babies poopy nappies just be happy they’re doing it pain-free, my babies are both pooping away without batting an eyelid and that makes me…as proud as poop!