No Bm's - Breast Fed Only

I had the same problem. My daughter's Dr. told me to give her 2oz of apple juice ever day for a week, and see if that helps. And if it does, to keep doing it.

One week is definitely not uncommon for a bf baby. Your breastmilk has so many nutrients. It normally just means that the baby is using all the nutrients that you are providing her. I would not worry at all about the lack of bm's. I have even heard of little ones going 2 or 3 weeks and are perfectly healthy. I don't think that she needs any type of laxitive - especially fi she is not in any pain.

I would, however, worry about the wet diapers a bit more. If your little one is having less than 4 wet diapers a day that would be a cause for concern.

Here is some information from lalecheleague.com that I found for you - hope it helps!
"It is normal for the bowel movements of a breastfed to decrease in frequency when the colostrum, which has laxative properties, is completely gone from the mother's milk after about six weeks of age. A baby this age may continue to have bowel movements as frequently as five times a day, sometimes even after every nursing. It is also normal for a breastfed baby older than six weeks to have only one bowel movement every few days. Some healthy babies will have only one bowel movement a week or longer. When bowel movements are less frequent, they should be more profuse in volume. As long as the baby is gaining well, wetting sufficiently, and is happy and content there is no cause to be alarmed by infrequent bowel movements, and it is not necessary to give the baby a laxative, fruit juice, or any other "helpers." In fact, attempting to force bowel movements can have harmful consequences to your baby.

After the baby is about six weeks old, he may wet only five to six cloth diapers per day, but if so these diapers will be much wetter. As the baby's bladder grows, he can produce and hold more urine at a time. To judge wetness of a diaper for an older baby, pour 8 tablespoons (120 ml) onto a dry diaper. That would be considered a normally wet diaper."

Hi V.,

Even though your daughter isn't in any pain, it is not healthy for her not to have BM at least daily. Continue giving her a laxative and/or stool softener, because she is so young it can result in to a bigger problem later. If she continues to have problems speak with your peditrician and maybe she may be having trouble getting rid of her body waste. You don't want her to develop UTI's. Just keep monitoring her progress and see what your doc recommends if this persist.

My baby girl did the same. I was told it is normal w/ Breastfed babies. Mine is 10 months old very healthy. Keep up the good work w/ the breastfeeding!

I would be less concerned about the lack of BM's when reading the advice of the other mom's. However, I'd take more concern in lack of wet's. Talk to your doc about that. However, if she starts having pain due to no BM's here's a little trick that I learned from my childbirth coach. It's kind of scary but it worked. Take the end of a crochet needle or even a rectal thermometer and place it inside her rectum. Pull GENTLY to the side. It forces those muscles to relax and VOILA! relief. I was so nervous the first time I tried it, when my son was 2 months old. But it worked and we haven't had a problem since. But if she's not in any pain, I wouldn't do it. I would worry about the lack of wet diapers though. That seems like a definite reason to call the doctor. They always ask me how many diapers he's going through when Aiden goes to the doctor.

I would ask your Ped. about the wet diapers and monitor that. I have a set of BB twins who are now 3 1/2 and one is very petite (only 26 lbs.). He had constipation a lot as a baby. We gave undiluted Gerber Pear Juice. It took about an ounce for two days and things started to come. Good Luck!

Try giving her more water, sometimes that's all they need.

V.,
When my 7 month old was 2 months, she would often go a week without a BM. I also breastfed her and from what i've read this is perfectly normal. I was alarmed that your pediatrician told you to give her a laxative... My pediatrician told me it was normal for infants to go a week before having a BM due to the fact that they absorb basically all of the breastmilk. Don't be alarmed, she is normal. As for the wet diapers...i'm not sure.
all the best, M. M

V.,
One thing that I dont know if you have tried is to use a themometer to stimulate her. This is what my dr told me to do when my baby started showing signs of constipation. What you do is put a little vasaline on the end of her themometer, and insert it just like you would to take her temprature. This worked for me (for a little while then we ended up having to put her on a mild oral stimulant because nothing else was working for her).
I hope this helps.

Hi

My son is now 6 mths old and is a very healthy and happy little man. Up until 2 mths ago he was a breast milk only baby. At 6 weeks old he went from having a daily BM to having one once a week. He was not in any pain and I was told by my Ped. that this was normal. My Ped told me that as long as when he did have them they were soft and he passed them with ease there was not a constipation problem. Hope this helps :)

I have read that some babies can go a couple days without a BM, but weeks? I'd be worried too. My pediatrician told me that when babies are about 1 month old they develop the nerves around their anus, so when they go to the bathroom or pass gas, they get scared & try to hold it back. Maybe that's part of the problem. She also said if we notice her holding back, to use a rectal thermometer to help stimulate it. I had to check my babys temp the other night and it did just that.. I hope this helps!

Honestly I'm kind of shocked at all of the laxative comments. As long as you are BF 8-12 times a day (which is recommended by pediatricians) and she is having an adequate amount of wet diapers, she should be fine. Breastfed babies don't poop everyday. It's normal! I breastfed my little girl from the start, and she also had long spaces in between BMs! She was never in any pain, and she wasn't constipated! Maybe pay attention to your water intake. Are you drinking at least 6-8 glasses of water a day? Well I hope all of this helps you! God Bless!

I know that you've gotten lots of responses so far, but I thought you might be ble to use this too. Try taking a really good multi-vitamin/mineral. This way you know your baby is getting all she needs and so are you. I know it help when I was nursing because it made my milk yellowish because of all the extra nutrients it had. Hope that helps!!

My son did the same thing. The doctor said that he was just using all the nutrients in my breast milk because that's what it's mostly made of. I was concerned like you but be assured it's okay. You can do the Karo syrup thing it's 1 tsp per 8oz. of bottle but I really don't think it's necessary. Prune juice works just the same. I would just leave it as it is she's fine if her belly were rigid then you would know she has a problem. If she is eating and gainging weight she is fine. Monitor her wet diapers doctor's have varying opinions on how many is good.

When my girl was a baby and constipated, the doc always said to try prune juice or pear juice. Just the other day he told me to try pear juice for her. Good luck :)

My daughter is 6 months old and up until I started feeding her babyfood, she only had a BM a week. Her ped. said this was very normal. But my concern is the wet diapers. They say if their not having enough wet diapers, their not getting enough. My daughter was breast fed only until she was 3 1/2 months and we had to start supplementing her with formula. She just wasn't getting enough, she's was always crying and hungry. As long as she's getting breastmilk mostly, if you have to end up supplementing her with formula, it will be ok. I got down and out about it but it's ok with me now. I personally wouldn't give her a laxative unless it was more than a week. My daughter hadn't had a BM for a couple of days and was whinny and her belly hard, so I bought stage 1 baby food in prunes. Needless to say it worked. My dr also said try apple, white grape, or pear juice. That's my experience...

My mother told me that for the first week I was alive I had no waste whatsoever. She was freaked at first but then found out that her milk was so perfectly what I needed that I simply used it all and had no waste. After about a week I started having some waste but while I breastfed it wasn't as 'normal' as other children. I don't know if this could be the case with your little girl, especially since she had a large BM after laxatives, but I thought I'd share that with you.

This happened to my baby at about 2 months of age. I was giving her glycerine suppositories to help her have a BM. After a few weeks it went back to about atleast every other day or every 36 hours. When I spoke to my doctor about it she just said that if it continued for another month to come back in. But if your little one doesn't seem to be in pain I would worry about it to much. I don't know what kind of laxative you are giving her but my docotor told me the suppositories are better b/c they don't go into the blood stream and they won't become dependent on them