Poops

Hi A.,
my little boy, who is also 3 months old, is the same and I was told by my doc that it just means you're feeding him the right amount and keep up the good work. Breastmilk is the perfect baby food and if given the right amount he will use most of it up and create very little waste. So unless this schedule seems to be causing a problem - painful bowel movements, etc- then I would just keep doing what you're doing and be thankful you don't have to change many poopy diapers.
D. .x

Hi, yes my daughter was the same way. From month 1-3, she would only poop once a week or so. When she did poop it always was a forced effort, almost like she was constipated. When I asked her doctor, he too said that this might be her regular pattern but that if it went for more than a week then we should try a baby laxative. She is now 4 months and has seemed to grow into an everyday poop. Maybe it just takes some babies longer to set patterns hat work for them. Good luck.

Hi A. -

Yes, my first son only had a BM every 8 to 10 days for nearly a year - no joke. He was both bottle & breastfed until 15 mths. He was eating solids on a regular basis by 6 mths & rarely had jarred food - I made his baby food from fresh fruits & veggies.

He is now 3.5 yrs old & still only has a BM every 3 to 5 days, sometimes longer. It has never been a problem to us as he has never shown constipation issues or had any relating health problems. Recently the ped wanted to check out his colon to make sure there weren't any abonormalities & thankfully he checked out fine. He simply has a very high metabolism & uses every ounce of nutrition that he ingests, so he doesn't necessarily "need" to expel anything as often as every day. I honestly can't think of a time that he went every day or more than once a day!

I don't think he'll outgrow it, anytime soon anyways. Nor do I plan to encourage him trying to go more than once a day, simply because I believe that's how his little "system" works. Why mess with it?

If your boy isn't showing signs of constipation or having potentially related health issues, then you can relax & enjoy not having to deal with a poopy diaper except once or twice a week! :)

Hi A.,

I have twin boys that are 15 months old and a five year old boy. When my twins were about 2 months, one would poop everyday and the other would not. In addition to being constipated, he was very uncomfortable and spit up a lot more than his twin. Their diets were identical. They were mainly breastfed, but I did have to supplement about one bottle a day with formula. I took him to the chiropractor and began regular chiropractic adjustments. I also began him (and then later his twin brother and the five year old) on probiotics. I started with Bio-K - I put a little on my nipple prior to feeding just once a day. Later, I added a powdered probiotic called HMF powder to his bottle. Both of those things worked like a charm. Once we got him going, he still poops everyday or usually twice a day. He doesn't have to see the chiropractor as regularly any more. However, everyone, including myself takes a probiotic everyday. I'd highly recommend it especially during cold/flu season because it can really help their immunue system. If you think about it, a big part of our immune system is in our digestive tract. Our bodies need to fully absorb the vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, etc. in our food for our immune system to work optimally. Probiotics help the body to digest and absorb that nutrition. Probiotics also eat up the "bad "bacteria in the gut which also boosts the immune system.

Our doctor was not that concerned with his constipation and I hear others say that "breastfed babies don't poop as offten and that's okay." It's really not okay. This bodily function is how the body rids itself of toxins. If you don't poop, the toxins say in the body. Over a long period of time, a person can develop "leaky gut" where food travels through the intestine walls and that is not good. That's an extreme example of what could happen, but better to get things cleaned out and avoid those potential problems.

Good luck!
C.

I remember that happening during the first year but I also remembering being able to help the situation by moderating my diet. It may have been my imagination but eating prunes and vegetables and drinking plenty of water seemed to transfter to the breastmilk and got them regular again.

Give him 2 oz of water a day and you will be surprised at the results.

Totally common with breastfed babies. My youngest would go up to 10 days. There's just not a lot of waste in breastmilk. As long as he's not struggling to poop or noticeably uncomfortable don't worry about it.

My son first bowel movement since discharged from the hospital was 11 days. Since then he was on a 7 days cycle until he was perhaps 4 mo. old then changed to a 4 days cycle. I can't remember how long did that last. He is now 5 yr. old and is daily and has been this way for a couple of years at least.

totally normal and yes they out grow it- for a breast feed baby- usually around the time you start to introduce solids.

Hi! both of my sons would go days at a time without pooping if they were growing. One even went almost 7 days without :( It was basically that they were using up all of the nutrients and there just was nothing left to get rid of. The nurse might be right in regards to his bowel movements, however it might also be that he's not getting enough to eat and is using everything he can. Try either adding one more breast feeding to the day, or giving another bottle, maybe in the morning and see if he starts going. If he does, I would suggest giving him a little more food...he's a growing boy. Both of my boys are tall for their age and ate sooooooo much, I had to supplement more as tehy got older.

Good luck
K.

Hi A.,

This is normal. My daughter (exclusively breastfed) was going only once a week (up to 10 days between poops) from birth to solid food around 4-5 months. She didn't seem to suffer from it at all.
I was also very worried, because my son was quite the contrary (one poop per nursing session, about 7 poops a day)
The doctor told me not to worry but that I could try infant probiotics. I also increased my water intake, ate prunes... but it didn't change anything. Sher started pooping more only when she started solid foods.
Now, at nearly 10 months, she poops 1-2 times a day

My daughter did the same thing. Around 2-3 months old her poop schedule changed from one or more a day to once or twice a week. The pediatrician said it's totally normal and not to worry about it unless she seems uncomfortable. She outgrew it after a few months.

My now 7 m/o started having that problem at about 2 m/o. He acted very constipated. When we inquired with the Doctor's office, we were told this is very "normal" for both breastfed and formula fed babies (he was getting both, like your child). Their systems are slowing down and becoming somewhat "regular". But our problem remained that he was only pooping once every few days and the poops were pretty hard and smelly, plus he was obviously straining to poop and somewhat uncomfortable when trying to poop. We were told to give him either straight Prune juice or Gerber makes a Prune-Apple Juice in 2 oz. increments per day. We were also told to feed our baby the Gerber Stage 1 Prunes baby food when he turned 3 m/o. We found that the prune juice and/or prune's baby food really helped him become more regular (1 poop per day or every 2 days). The consistency of the poops remains the same.

Yes, both of my twin babies went through this about that age. I called the doctor's office and they said not to worry unless they go seven days without a bowel movement. In that case call call back.

The nurse gave me tips on getting things moving: Put a thermometer (with Vaseline of course) in the rectum and hold it for a little bit. If that doesn't get things moving, put him in a warm bath. Lots of fun when they poop in the bath! One time after six full days of this, I tried with the thermometer and then went to put his naked body in the bath. Before I lowered him into the tub, he pooped all over the front of me. I found myself smiling and so joyful exclaiming, "Yeah! Good boy!"

Some people told me to add more water to my son's bottle but my doctor firmly stated not to do this!

And yes, they did grow out of it. Now at 14 months I am getting two to four poops a day!

Yes both my kids were like this and outgrew it when they started eating solids. My son had a harder time going and I would give him a little apple or pear juice, like one ounce, n it helped him go. Both were only BF.

My little girl had that same cycle until she started solids- then she was usually once a day. She still sometimes goes a day between and is 3 1/2 years old now.