My son is 5 weeks old and in the past 5 days he has only pooped twice. I am breastfeeding, has had some formula here and there but mostly breastmilk. Before this past week he pooped a few times a day. I called his doctor last week, the nurse told me to try sticking a thermometer up his butt, he hadn't pooped in 2 days at that point. It did work, and he went that day, but since then he is back to not pooping. I find myself constantly checking his diaper and hoping he will go. Is this normal? Is there something wrong with him? I am going to call the doctor again on Monday, but until then I'm wondering if I'm stressing for no reason or if there is a problem.
Some babies dont need to poop everyday. As long as the poop isn't hard or bloody and he isn't straining painfully, its OK.
Another mom here to say...it's normal! If the stools are loose and the baby seems comfortable, then enjoy the lower number of dirty diaper changes (and maybe laundry too ;) Both my babies went through a poop-a-week phase and it was nice while it lasted!
Hi A.,
I want to back the moms who have said that it is not uncommon for a breast fed baby not to poop everyday. My son has always been quite a pooper but many of our friends had the same thing happen with their babies. 10-14 days between poops. As long as he is comfortable, consider yourself lucky!
Like others said, it is not uncommon for breastfed babies to skip some days.
To ensure that your babe is getting all of the friendly gut flora that work toward regular elimination, you should take 50-80 billion worth of probiotics each day, including Bifidus and Acidopholus, as different flora strains occupy different parts of the gut. It will pass into your milk and then to your son. It will also help you. If your system is new to probiotics, you can start with cultured yoghurt and then start taking supplements. I recommend New Chapter's All-Flora.
Try adding a half ounce of pear juice to his bottle when you give him formula - it will help him poop.
Get the OK to do this from your doc first though!
From all that I've read and experienced with 2 breastfed kids, that can be perfectly normal. There should be no need to add other foods to the breastmilk. My pedi told us infrequent BMs can be due to growing intestines...sometimes it just takes longer for everything to catch up with the lengthening intestines.
My Dr. said they could poop 6 times a day or wait up to six days. Don't stress it until it has been a week. He is kindo of young for prunes. The stimulation does work but try to relax. My son did that a lot. If it has been more than 6 days call your dr. again!
M. -SAHM and WAHM and loving it!
I agree that if he is not uncomfortable, you don't need to add anything to his diet. Breast milk is the perfect food. No need for additions or to worry!
My son did the same thing...he barely went poop when he was a newborn. Like you, I worried and called the doctor and got told the same thing that you did.
My advice is not to worry. As long as he IS going somewhat that means there is nothing wrong with his body...meaning he's physically able to poop so his intestines are working fine. His pediatrician gave me that advice and it calmed me down. She also told me that he will go when he needs to. Some infants are not daily poopers, and this is okay.
Everything will work out. Use your motherly instincts on this one...if you feel there is a major problem then continue following up with his pediatrician, but if you feel this is normal then I'd suggest just letting nature take its course.
Good luck! :)
For the first weeks breastmilk will still contain a little bit of colostrum which is a natural laxative. It is normal for breastfed babies to not poop every day- or even for several days at a time. Breastmilk is a far more efficent food so it is processed better by the baby. As long as he isn't in pain and is still having wet diapers and gaining weight he is fine.
My daughter was a once-a-week pooper until she started on solid foods. At the time the nurse at her ped's office had me give her brown sugar water: it did absolutely nothing. Neither did the warm baths, thermometer trick, or suppositories. Know why? She wasn't constipated. Other than her infrequent BMs, she was perfectly content, healthy, gaining weight, etc.
Here's what I know now, that my nurse didn't know then: it's not common, but it is perfectly normal for exclusively breastfed babies to poop as infrequently as once every ten days. Breastmilk is such a complete and efficient food that oftentimes there just isn't much waste. If your baby is content, otherwise healthy and happy, not crying from ab pain and is gaining weight, he's probably just a really efficient digester. Constipation is a matter of substance, not frequency at this age. If he's not straining to poop, and the poop is a normal, soft consistency, he's probably just fine.
What they said -- it's perfectly normal. My son (now a few days shy of a year) only pooped every few days for a while. And the thermometer trick will usually work if you're worried. I would only worry if your little one seems uncomfortable (though they often don't like pooping so it's hard to tell) or if the poop is actually more solid than it should be.
Hi A.,
My son was exclusively breastfed and he used to poop all the time. Then all of a sudden his pooping schedule changed and he went long periods of not pooping. I got concerned and tried everything including diluted prune juice, brown sugar in water and even a suppository :( (all Dr recommended). Nothing really worked. Then I found a site that said it can be normal for BF babies to go up to 14 days w/o a BM. (which my son did-14 days!) It's only considered constipation if the poop is hard when it comes out. I wouldn't worry to much if his poop is still soft and he is happy overall.
Another thing to try is massaging his belly. Lay him on his back facing you and make an upside down "U" shape in a clockwise direction starting above his right hip and stopping at his left hip.
Hope this helps :)
I have a two year old son and a 4 week old son both my first and now my second son had (has) constipation issues. My now 4 week old has it worse than his brother did. I give him prune juice 2-3 times a day (about a tablespoon or so) I formula feed so I just add a splash to that. You can also just put a table spoon into a nipple and hold that to your babys mouth if you don't do formula. I watch for poops too, our joke is it's like gold! With the prune juice he now poops twice a day and doesn't seem to get the belly aches. Once they are old enough for baby food just make sure he gets plenty of fruit. My two year old still gets two servings (at least) of fruit a day to keep him regular. Good luck!
Is he experiencing pain or discomfort? He might just be taking all that nutrition in.
We had this same problem with our oldest, it was terrible. You feel so bad for the little guy. We added some Karo to his formula on a regular basis, also you could give him a little bit of prune juice. We also tried suppositories, but obviously that was traumatic for both us and him. The Karo worked best, we think.
If he's making wet diapers and not straining to have a bowel movement, your baby is fine! Don't add juice/sugar/prunes or anything else to his diet. Breastmilk is about as "perfect" as food gets for humans so there's often little waste. My 7-month old only had a BM every 10-14 days while just breastfeeding. Now with solids he goes a few times per day. Don't worry. I know how troubling it can be but he's very normal! :)
