One Month Old Baby & Bowel Movements

First of all I never heard of a baby having an aversion to pooping. It sounds like she is doing better on the formula she is on. Try some mylicon or some other type of gas drops and see if it helps. She may grow out of some of this. She will probably do better when she can eat baby food. As far as the head rolling forward there are things that you can buy for example in target which goes around their head in the car seat for neck support. Another thing you can do is roll up a blanket and put it next to the side she is sloping towards. I remember being worried about it too when my son was young. It is hard going from one to two. I remember my one girlfriend who told me how hard it was. I wish you luck. You are doing great. You are just going through a period of adjustment.

Hey T., I feel your pain! My son (who is breast-fed) goes through phases where he is scared to poop. It's very weird; sometimes he plays and doesn't notice pooping at all, then the next day or week he cries over it! I find that he poops right after his first feed of the day and after one of our afternoon feeds. Here's what I do before he even shows signs he's going to poop: I prop him on my lap facing me, with the Boppy pillow under his head, then we sing songs and massage his tummy and pedal his legs until he goes. When he's extra gassy, I have to pretty much touch his toes to his nose to get the gas out. We also use Little Tummys gas drops sometimes. It's still kind of annoying to go through the whole process when he could be playing with toys or something, but at least he's not crying in pain! The songs seem to be a good diversion. He's less likely to object to having his legs pedaled if I'm moving them to the beat of a song!

I agree with Sharon! My son was gassy & fussy with powdered formula but did MUCH better with the pre-mixed variety.
I remember feeling the same way about the carseat/slumping issue. There are little things you can buy that are shaped like an upside down horseshoe, but rolled blankets can achieve the same result. And to be truthful--if really doesn't help all that much. The important thing is that she's in a properly installed car seat in case of (God forbid) an accident. Visit www.seatcheck.org to find a FREE seat checkpoint near you!

If your daughter isn't red, she probably just doesn't like the feeling of pooping. She's really younjg and getting usedf to thnigs, Same with the gas. My kids all went through this even with bursing. My youngest cried for at least a month pooping, she just didn't like it. It was a good "Alarm" since I couldn't always smell her.
As for the car seat-she shouldn't be leaning forward AT ALL, she should be laid totally back in a backward facing seat. See if you can adjust the base or something. If it's designed sitting up too straight so her head is drooping forward, you do need a new one immediately!

T.,

I can't advise on the BMs, but on the carseat, did you have it installed/checked by a professional? And did that professional use some tool to measure the angle of the seat and check it when your baby is in it?

There is a very specific range of angles in which babies can safely sit in carseats and if the seat is too high, it can be dangerous. You can search on carseat checkpoints and find a list of trained professionals. But I also recommend finding your local contact and getting a referral. I did that and found that the guy in my local police department never completed his training and did not show up for his required refresher courses, but the PD still billed him as "trained". She referred me to a wonderful officer who attends every training religiously and is super diligent in making sure the seat is installed safely. (He is in Baldwin - south of PGH, if you want his info, I could pass it onto you.)

HTH,

C.

Dear T.,
I nursed my children, but if I ate gasy foods, they got gas also. Here is where I may be of help to you. Instead of pumping your daughter's legs, try to get her legs rolling side to side and any way that is comfortable and exercise. If you fill the bathtub high with warm water, carefully lay her in the water, face-up, of course, hold the back of her head and watch her move....she's a natural. Only one month out of the womb and she's still stretching out. Just watch her go! You will love it... so will she. Make sure the bathroom is plenty warm. I used a portable electric heater, just to keep up the termperature. This activity should give her good exercise and may help her.
Your last resort is buying breast milk, which is expensive, but is available....I know that when I was breast feeding, there was an opportunity to sell my milk.
Formula is hard on her bowels, keep her bottom well powedered with Caldesene and you might have to go with a cotton diaper and diaper service for a couple of months, just to get over the hard part. With two young children, it is no time to compromise your health just to save some money....you make the decision...but don't compromise your health or hers!
Good luck,
E.

Had the same issue with my daughter until she was around 3 months old. Our doctor and the internet both said the same thing, she just doesn't like to poop. Thought that was weird too, but proved to be true. Something about how some kids have trouble tensing their intestines but relaxing the anus. TMI, sorry. Now at 10 months we don't have any problem, but she still looks uncomfortable and really doesn't like anyone to take notice of the event!

One thing, we have discovered a milk allergy. Might have something to do with the poo issues. There is a blood test they can run, but that was horrible so maybe just try to wait.

Car seat wise, I know it looks awful, but thankfully they are very flexible. Do you have the little cushions that velcro onto the harness straps? Helps a little.

My youngest son was always really gassy and miserable until I switched his formula to the premade liquid, not the powder. It was actually an accident that it worked, my husband noticed that he was more comfortable when we had used the premade.

Check the angle of your car seat. The instruction manual for your seat should tell you how to gague the appropriate angle, if you don't know how to do this, call the state police to find out when they have their car seat checks and have them check it. Some seats have a line marked on the seat that must be level with the ground, some seats have a floating marker that must be visible when it is level.

Try to make her head as snug as possible, roll receiving blankets and tuck them around her head- like an upside down U- between her head and seat. You can use more than one to fill in the space to keep her head steady.

have you tried infant massage to help her poop? my son was having some issues in that arena as well and "helping him out" with massage really seemed to help him. There's lots of DVD's and websites that help with showing you how to massage their tummy.

As far as your carseat, I agree with PP, go to the state police and have them check it out. i thought i had mine in correctly with baby #2 after going through it with the first child, but I didn't!

I'm sorry I don't have much to say about the bowel movements for 2 reasons. Both of my daughters were BF the first month so I don't know how formula digests with babies. Second, I am now having a major issue with BMs due to teething. My LO is going 4-5 times a day and I've called the ped and they don't seem all that concerned.

But the reason I'm writting is because I felt the exact same way with you on the head drooping. I bought a neck holder, called Nap Buddies. I got it at BRU but I've also seen something similar from One Step Ahead. It seemed to help a little. Unfortunately, until she gets better neck control it's going to happen.

Hope everyting works out for you.

My son, who was breastfed exclusively, hated hated hated to poop, starting at about 3 weeks. Our ped. said it had something to do with learning how the muscles work; that before it had pretty much just fallen out (ew) but that after that age, they start having to 'work' to poop like adults do. It stopped around 3 months, like the other poster said who had the same problem.

As for the car seat, she's going to stop drooping in the next couple of weeks as she gets more head control (although my 2-yo is still capable of dropping his head forward when he dozes off in the car seat). I was told they can't actually do themselves any harm when their heads roll forward, but you can buy one of the many props if it makes you feel more confident.