What is Hirshprungs disease

What is Hirshprungs disease

http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-hirshprungs-disease

Hirschsprung’s Disease is a rare congenital abnormality that results in obstruction because the intestines do not work normally.

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Constipated breastfed baby… on going prob?

Q: My daughter is 5.5 months old and she is breastfed… she nurses every 3-5 hours. No formula.Every since about 3 days old, my daughter has a BM once about every 7-10 days. Brought her in at 3-4 days old and they said that she is fine. Brought her in again at a few weeks old and they said that it is fine, as long as she isn’t straining. 3-4 weeks ago, she was straining for quite awhile, screaming in pain, and passed a very hard stool with blood b/c it made her tear, 2 nights in a row. The doc just said to give her foods that help with constipation and more fluids… so we have been giving her half a jar of prunes and 4oz of prune juice and water. 3 nights ago she strained and screamed in pain again… passed a small amount with blood since she tore again. She strained a lot yesterday while on the plane for awhile, so I thought that she got a lot out… turns out it was just a little with a little blood again. I don’t understand why she is so constipated. We have been doing what the doc has told us but she is still going only once every 7-10 days and now she is very very constipated. What could be wrong? One doc said that she should be tested for hirshprungs disease but another thought it was unnecessary. I don’t think that she has that but I do think that something is wrong…. but I don’t know what…We did start solids around the time she had her first hard stool. We were only a few days in before she passed it so we stopped it completely for a few days. Then that is when the doc told us to try prunes and juice… she only got that maybe 2-3 nights a week, only half the jar of prunes and juice… made her go but her stool was still hard.The last 2 weeks, she has only had maybe 1.5 jars of prunes and some water/juice…

A: There are two issues here:1. It is 100% normal for breastfed babies to poop infrequently. And, as the doctor said, it’s nothing to worry about as long as the poop is soft when it comes out, and she isn’t uncomfortable. (Breastmilk digests very completely, so there is little residue.) And exclusively breastfed babies are NEVER truly constipated.2. I’m going to guess that your baby has been getting solids for a few weeks? Once a baby starts solids, she can indeed get constipated, and many of the common early-foods given to babies are extremely binding — rice cereal, bananans and apples are constipating.If the problem started when you started solids, I would just stop them for a few weeks. Give her digestion a chance to get back to normal. Then, you can cautiously start solids again, and focus on less binding foods. If she continues to have trouble, or was passing hard/bloody stools on breastmilk alone, I would talk to the doctor again about tests for underlying medical issues.