The non pooing 6 week old baby

[craigy]

Hi,

Just looking to hear anyone elses experience/ opinions.

My 6 week old exclusively breastfed baby has not had a poo since last friday (7 days). She has been averaging every 3-5 days previously so we are in new territory at a week. She is passing really smelly wind.. Have done the googling and read all the internet has to say..

She is a very chilled little girl, feeds roughly 3 hourly throughout the day and sleeps well day and night. When she does poo it is not as big as you would expect and normal colour and consistency.

I do not wish to speak to a health visitor or GP about this at the moment as they will say she is constipated which I do not think she is and tell me how to treat that. Between poos her tummy is soft, she does pass a lot of wind and at times does appear to be straining but does not appear uncomfortable. She is also gaining weight at about half a pound a week and at 6 weeks weighs 12 lbs (9 and a half at birth)

I do have a medical background so feel that I am sensible about the whole thing and am not that worried about it as I know that some breastfed babies just absorb everything and have very little waste but what worries me is that am i being a little bit too relaxed and missing something so was looking for anyone elses stories about the non pooing baby.....

My breastfed son pooed all the time so is very different this time round....

What do you think??

Craigy

[Fuschia]

Our first child did this. Switched from pooing after every feed to going for about 5days... but didn't seem in discomfort. Remember breastmilk is well digested, in a growth spurt there may be nothing left to excrete!

[born&brED]

I panicked about this big time when my son was born. He didn't poo for about a week. Thought something was wrong, until mum-in-law said was completely normal not to poo even for a couple of weeks at that age - yikes! Basically, there's not much waste produced from breastmilk. I have a friend whose baby just broke his 13 day poo-fast, and she was really worried by then!

[craigy]

i know, I'm beginning to think life is one long growth spurt for her, she is certainly an efficient feeding machine snd it certainly cuts down on nappies...

[craigy]

sorry B&BED, post crossed, thanks- that is what i like to hear

[Fuschia]

http://drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/general/poop.html

[Moi23]

I spoke to my health visitor the other day about my little one not pooing. She said that it was very common in breastfed babies. My first also had bouts of not pooing too.

[Indiana]

My little lady did exactly the same when she was small and being breastfed...I think she used to go every 5 - 7 days for a few weeks, then more regularly again. She showed no signs of discomfort etc

I however got concerned and all the health visitor suggested was squeezing a few drops of freshly squeezed orange juice into a bottle of sterilised water and seeing if she will take a few mls..to help her along.

[pebbles]

My no1 did exactly the same - i think 10 days was his max - and mostly it was fine. Occasionally it was fine but on the odd occasion he seemed a bit uncomfortable the dr recommended some cool boiled water - and hey presto - he went!! So think very normal in breastfed babies.

No.2 however poos the whole time - agh

[craigy]

thanks ladies... looks like we will be moving into day 8 without a poo but there is plenty of wind today......

[Fuschia]

Indiana Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My little lady did exactly the same when she was

> small and being breastfed...I think she used to go

> every 5 - 7 days for a few weeks, then more

> regularly again. She showed no signs of

> discomfort etc

>

> I however got concerned and all the health visitor

> suggested was squeezing a few drops of freshly

> squeezed orange juice into a bottle of sterilised

> water and seeing if she will take a few mls..to

> help her along.

Typical rubbish hv advice i'm afraid

citrus is very allergenic

[nozchik]

Try to pick his feet up like you would when you wipe his bottom and very gently massage his tommy clock wise, works with my little one every time.

Good luck Dee

[ratty]

craigy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> thanks ladies... looks like we will be moving into

> day 8 without a poo but there is plenty of wind

> today......

Buy a kite?

[canadianlisa]

My little girl used to do this as well but did not seem very uncomfortable. We used to find that if she lay on her tum on the change may and wiggled around a bit often the poo storm would begin. I don't think it's anything to worry about, although I worried about it lots ;-)

[Claire.Hobbs]

My baby did thid too around the 6-week mark (after going every day like clockwork) - apparently this is normal behaviour as their digestive system matures or something around this time. I went home and had half a bag or prunes and hey presto! Prunes or prune juice seems to help every time (I have this - not baby)

Citrus is a big no-no for the first 12 months of life in my opinion as highly allergenic.

[dulwichmum]

craigy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> I do not wish to speak to a health visitor or GP

> about this at the moment as they will say she is

> constipated which I do not think she is and tell

> me how to treat that. >

Has your health visitor indicated that she thought this was abnormal? If not - and you haven't said she has, why won't you give her the benefit of the doubt and ask for her opinion? My health visitor told me that this was typical and not to stress.

[GinaG3]

No need to worry about this. In exclusively breastfed babies this is very common as breastmilk does not produce much waste product hence the longer times between poos than FF babies. It is normal for a baby (of this age particularly - growth spurt time) to not do a poo for up to 10-12 days. You could try gently massaging the tummy when she is laying flat on her back just a little bit of gentle rubbing with warm hands..

[Saffron]

Until she started solids, Little Saff would only poo every 7 to 10 days. She'd get very windy and grumpy, and tug and push at the nipple/breast a lot for a day or two. Then I'd know a poo was coming soon. She once had 16 days without any poo!

Juice, water, infacol, massage, exercise... nothing worked for Little Saff, because nothing was wrong: This is completely normal in breastfed babies. If the meconium all came out, then you know the intestine is funtioning. You can't fix what isn't broken.

Now we generally have two poos a day from Little Saff, like clockwork. And you know, I kinda miss those funny breastmilk poos. There were only ever about a dozen of them.

x Saff x

[craigy]

Thanks for your replies all...

I did kind of mention it in passing to the health visitor at my new birth visit (when she was 4 weeks old) and she asked me if anyone in the family had a history of not going to the toilet very often which seemed a pretty uninformed comment as I hardly think my newborn baby's bowels can be compared to my 97 year old grandad who is not as regular as he used to be.. And as I have said I am quite relaxed about it..

I have done all the tummy massage in and out of a warm bath, cycling of the legs, lifting them up, massaging soles of the feet (reflexology), extra fibre, extra fluids in my diet etc etc and it makes no difference but I think as Saf said- you can't fix what isn't broken...

Regarding the juice, water advice, I spoke to one of the consultant neonatologist i work with and she said that that is what they do for the babies on the unit if they haven't been for 5 days but I think that that is more advice for a constipated baby and I don't think she is constipated so haven't gone down that route..

Scarily, I read all the American sites and they seem to be big fans of sticking things into the rectum to get things moving- am also avoiding that advice....

Day 8 and counting, not so windy today.... and Ratty, we have actually just bought a kite!!!!

Craigy

[dulwichmum]

Dear Craigy,

Your health visitor may have been asking you the question with regard to family history in order to ascertain why you were anxious - she won't have been. Also, the neonatologist cares for neonates, often premature and ill - even ventilated, a higher proportion of whom are formula fed, so the advice given regarding a sedated, ventilated, formula fed neonate is different to that for a full-term healthy infant. If you want well informed, researach based advice on this subject you should ask your health visitor.

[Ada]

Dear Craigy,

Just a thought: have you been on antibiotics recently?

Same thing happened to my baby when he was 6 weeks and it coincided

with a bout of oral thrush which had reached his digestive system.

The nappy pail reeked of yeast even when it only contained wet nappies. Thrush

also makes babies very windy.

A course of anti-fungal oral gel (prescribed by GP) and probiotics (self-

help remedy!) eventually got rid of the candida infection and he has been

filling his nappy more often and regularly though still only once a day (is now

16 weeks).

I only mention this because thrush in babies is not really taken seriously by docs

as it's not harmful, so it's easily missed. Prob a good idea to check with a breastfeeding counsellor

at a baby cafe? Infrequent bowel movements not generally regarded as a symptom

of thrush but I saw lots of Internet discussions where it was a common thing with babies who had it.

Don't want to alarm you cos it's not serious but it is a bore if left untreated...

Hope this helps

as it's not harmful

[Fuschia]

dulwichmum Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

If you want well

> informed, researach based advice on this subject

> you should ask your health visitor.

You must have been very lucky in your choice of HVs, is all I can say!!

[craigy]

Ada- thats really interesting.. she did have thrush and we were both treated (me just the canestan cream, i was symptomless)when she was 3 weeks old which is around the time she started to slow down in the poo ways... i wonder if they are related??? have our 6 wk check tomorrow with gp so will mention it, don't worry i am not alarmed... thanks.

dulwichmum- don't really want to get into s debate about the merits of health visitors as i think that like in every profession there are good ones and bad and the one i spoke to did not inspire me with confidence that she was up to date and evidence based for several reasons... i have a friend who is a health visitor and if i ever have any issues of concern it is her that i go to rather than my actual health visitor as i trust her and her advice as we used to work together as nurses.. when i say i don't wish to speak to a health visitor it is because i am not that concerned and was looking for others actual experience of the same or similar situations...

and for the rest of you that are obviously on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about my daughters bowel habit... we had a small taster on day 8 and today, day 10, is a poo-tastic day (head to toe on my husbands watch, there is some justice!!)