Log Jam - one woman's quest to turn her son's constipation on it's ass

If you would have told me twenty years ago, in my riot girl days of slinging liquor as a bartender in after hours clubs in Philly, dancing for two companies, traveling through Europe, doing drugs in Amsterdam, etc etc, that one of the main conversations in my life would be about poop, I would have laughed hysterically in your face. And now, here I am, about to write an article about that very thing.  Poop.  Call it what you will, "poopy, crap, BM, ca ca, doody, shit, doo doo, poo poo, number 2 or scat (if you look scat up on the Internet, don't say I didn't warn you!), it is the topic of today story.  Actually, my story is really about constipation but a lot of poop is involved.   

When my second kid, Jacoby, was born, he seemed to be sporting a bit of a San Tropez tan.  In other words, jaundice.  Luckily, unlike my first child Robert, he did not need the endless amounts of light therapy that helps them to heal faster. What he did need was a never ending supply of breast milk. And with all this nursing came diaper after diaper of poop.  It was non stop for about two weeks.  I think we plowed through a case of 96 diapers in about a week.  I had no idea where it was all coming from.  And the color...well, it was kind of nuclear green.  I would change him and BLAM, in the middle of it all, Jake would be flexing and grunting away as I rushed to get another diaper under his tush to catch it.  Then one day, it all came to a screeching halt.  No more cute grunting, no more changing diaper after diaper and no more sharing with my husband the lurid details. After about a week I came to realize, our son was constipated.

Constipated!  What to do?  I have heard some scary shit (no pun intended) from parents about the lengths they have gone to relieve their child when this sort of thing occurs.  And let me tell you, it will be a cold day in hell before I reach into my kid's ass to pull out...well, you use your imagination.  Anyway, we tried everything.  We started with the usual prune juice.  That worked out for a few days but then, nothing.  Although it did make his crap smell like cake batter.  From there we switched to apple juice, same results minus the cake batter aroma. Massage, olive oil, mineral oil, you name it.  The doctor believed that his system was just immature and that in time, especially when he started solids, things would get moving - so to speak.  But my baby was suffering with serious gas and cramping.  So I turned to more drastic measures: suppositories and medication in a bottle once a night.

Now here's the thing with suppositories.  Not only are they a drag to "install", but your baby can used to them. We only turned to them if there was no action after 4 days or so.  Then there was the laxative prescribed by our doctor. We were to give him one small dose in a bottle of breast milk or formula prior to bedtime, which also worked for a short period of time before Jacoby developed an immunity to that as well.  Basically, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.  More drugs?  Move on to testing?  Now what?  After careful consideration, my husband and I decided to take this matter to an organic place.  Holistic.

Enter miracle worker Barbara May at Partners in Healing.  Gifted massage and cranial sacral therapist.  After receiving a gift certificate for a massage and adjustment from her I decided to inquire if she worked on babies. I explained what was going on with our son and she immediately recommended a cranial sacral adjustment for him.  I knew what this type of body work entailed because I had received numerous adjustments when I was a dancer.  Here's what it is in layman's terms.  You lie on a table in a very relaxed environment, the room is usually dimly lit and quiet.  The therapist places their hands in a variety of spots on your body and very gently "moves things around".  It's just light touch and does not hurt AT ALL.  When you are finished, you feel great. That's it. Now there is more to it than that so for a full description click here.  Otherwise I could be here all day trying to explain how this works.  So I made an appointment for Jacoby hoping this was the answer.

We arrived at her office on Mass Ave in Arlington, where Barbara had her table dressed in fresh sheets and the lights were dimmed.  It was very quiet.  She took a few minutes to just observe Jake and allowed him to get used to the idea that this stranger was going to be handling him for the next 30 minutes or so.  She is a very soft spoken woman, so he warmed up to her right away.  Barbara informed me that there was no need for me to undress him, so I kept him in his snugly pajamas.  I laid him on his back and Barbara got to work.  She placed her one hand primarily under his tush while the other hand remained lower abdomen and pelvic area.  At first, Jake was a little hesitant and let out a whine here and there.  So I made him a bottle and was able to feed him throughout the session.  This seemed to calm him down.  At one point I thought he was going to fall asleep as she cupped his head in her hands.  Then, as Barbara moved her hands back to Jake's stomach, he quickly opened his eyes, and turned bright red.  Pushing with all his might, grunting with such force I thought his eyes were going to end up on the floor,  He took the biggest dump of his life.  I swear when I changed him, that thing was the size of MY fist.  Then he smiled and relaxed.  Barbara continued on for about 40 minutes in total and Jake continued to poop yet again!  I couldn't believe it, twice in a matter of 50 minutes.  A RECORD!  Before I knew it, the session was over,  and it only cost me 50 bucks!  Barbara said he may need one more session but that it was highly unlikely.  And she was right.

Since our visit two months ago, Jake has been going every day, ever since.  In the first few days following the session he actually went A LOT!  I guess he was getting rid of all that junk in his system.  I think during that time was going about 3 times a day.  Now we are back to one or two times a day.  But I am a firm believer in this practice and it truly did work for us...big time.

Barbara May has no website, but here is her information.  Tell her Kristin sent you for the poop reliever special.  She'll know who I am!