Question
My baby is four weeks old and has not had a bowel movement for six days. What should I do?
Answer
If a baby’s constipation is severe, with a large amount of feces accumulated in the rectum, a single use of ‘rectal lubricant’ may not be sufficient to induce defecation. In such cases, an enema using a rectal syringe may be necessary. Purchase a rectal syringe, fill it with 500 milliliters of 0.2% soap solution, and flush out the accumulated feces (or go to the hospital for an enema). Next, you can adopt what we call the ’three-step defecation training’ to train the baby to defecate.