Laura writes:

"Can too much fiber in a moms diet cause large amts. of gas and air in
baby's intestines causing him not to poop?  I have a mom of a 2 month old
who since 1 month of age, hasn't been able to poop on his own.  With
stimulation, he will have a green or now yellow runny stool.  Xrays
revealed lots of gas.  Was worked up for Hirshprung's but negative.  Mom
takes a Rexall fiber dietary supplement every day to help herself.  this
stuff is supposed to contain all the recommended daily allowances for
fiber."

I would have a few observations here:

1. How  would stuff (fibre) that passes through the mother's digestive
tract mostly undigested get into breastmilk?  I can't see a pathway here!
2. We know that after the first weeks, some babies do quite naturally go
two weeks without opening their bowels.
3. This seems a lot of investigation and intervention  in just one month -
Xrays, work-ups for Hirshprungs, and stimulation to get his bowels working
- why not just do nothing and see what happens naturally?  Assuming the
baby is healthy in every other way, of course.

I think this is a culture gap! In the UK it takes a while to get specialist
investigations in non-emergency situations, so a baby in this situation
would be very unlikely to have Xrays or tests for Hirshprungs very
quickly...and the doctor would always tend to rule out the normal before
looking for the abnormal.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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