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Having Constipation. Presribed Cremaffin. Is This Drug Habit Forming?

Posted on Thu, 17 Oct 2013

Question: Hello doctor. My daughter is 9 weeks old. She is having constipation... She passes a very hard stool every 3rd day...that too after a lot of straining..she's prescribed cremaffin half spoon at night. My question is 1.is cremaffin habit forming?? Cremaffin is not helping much though.. Also i suspect she has developed reflux lately which is more in the evening..we are giving her cow's milk once a day at our ped's advice as my milk is not sufficient in the evening..she becomes cranky in the evening due to this reflux which comes out through her nose sometimes.and 2. Is it safe to use saline nasal drops once a day at night daily?? As the weather here is so cold she has developed stuffy nose and produce weird sounds from her mouth when she us about to wake up.

Answered by Dr. Arun (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Cremaffin is habit forming. Saline drops are safe

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for writing to XXXXXXX
1. With regards to your first query, yes cremaffin is not advisable to be taken regularly.Cremaffin contains liquid paraffin. It can be used as an occasional laxative, but is unsuitable for regular use as it can cause irritation it can interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins; it can be absorbed into the intestinal wall and may cause foreign-body granulamatous reactions etc.
You can try to continue breast feeds and this constipation is a temporary thing. It will settle in few weeks time.
2. Nasal drops are safe. Can be used any number of times even daily. But do not spray , just put it as drops into the nose. This is important because spraying inside the nose can cause secretions to go into lungs and cause infection, SO ALWAYS USE it as drops.
Regards
DR XXXXXXX

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Arun (33 minutes later)

Thank you for the reply doc. What about reflux?? Is there some thing to worry about if curd like thing regurgitate back every now and then mostly in the evenings and sometimes even through nose? And just to mention she's gaining weight adequately and i am burping her for abt 20 mins after every feed. Also she just plays 3-4 times a day each session lasting just for 15-20 mins. Rest of the day she eats, sleeps, fusses, wants to get held..and at night she sleeps for longer periods. Is this normal?

Answered by Dr. Arun (1 hour later)

Hi
Do not worry . Babies do regurgitate milk and sometimes it looks like curd because it is partially digested by gastric and oral juice.
It is good that your baby is gaining weight adequately. Usually pediatricians do not treat this regurgitation unless the baby is not gaining weight.
Some of the fuzziness could be due to colic pain in the evenings. This too will settle in few weeks. You can give drops with simethicone like colicaid 5 drops if she remains fussy for more than 30 minutes.
Regards
Dr Arun

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar