In a message dated 8/8/0 11:27:17 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< These are great attachment parenting parents who don't want to do
anything extreme.  The family practice doc wants to do a barium enema and
scan on him.   I suggested lycopodium first.  Any other thoughts?  Is it
possible that this baby is merely at one end of the spectrum of normal and
is absorbing all those great nutrients in breastmilk? >>

Chris,
I know you're going to get all of the posts that tell you about loads of
babies w/ this pattern of "normal" stooling. Since I don't think it's normal
(this may be the *only* thing I disagree w/ Jack about <g>), I'll take the
big risk and post to the list as well as privately. A couple of questions--is
this baby typically gassy? What are the stools like when he finally moves
them? Odor, color and consistency? What was this baby's birth like? What is
he like in general--mellow? "High-need"? Somewhere in-between?
    Although I do not believe infrequent stooling is normal, I also dislike
the idea of any harsh interventions, such as the tea or barium enema or even
suppositories. I always tell parents that allopathic physicians in general
are not concerned by such patterns and that holistic practitioners tend to
view it as an indicator of an underlying problem. If the parents are
concerned, I suggest dietary modifications (is this a complete dairy
elimination?), bodywork (such as cranial-sacral, integratred P/T or Network
Chiropractic), esp if there was birth trauma or homeopathic care. While
lycopodium is a common remedy for childhood constipation, I would see this as
an indicator for constitutional treatment, so suggest the parents not give up
on homeopathy if this one doesn't work.
    I previously wrote that when my 3rd child began to stool infrequently, I
took him for a constitutional remedy. He stooled w/in hours of receiving the
remedy and only reverted to that pattern once more as an infant, which was
immediately corrected again by the remedy. Curiousely, this past weekend (he
is now 2), we were away from home and he was sick for 4 days with a high
fever and was only taking breastmilk. On the 5th day the fever was gone, but
he was feeling quite poorly. I gave him his remedy and within an hour, he had
a bm and began to feel much better. I do not mean that he felt better *b/c*
of the bm, just that when given this remedy, which works for any imbalance in
him, balance in restored in all ways.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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