Breastfed baby has difficulty with bowel movements

[Chloe 777]

Hi everyone!

I have a 3 week old, and I suspect he's having trouble with having bowel movements.
He's really fussy for a long time before having one, he cries and nothing can calm him down. At first I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but I noticed that when he does that a while later he poops, and then he calms down.

What could be causing this? Is there anything I can do to help him, like something in my diet??

Last night he cried for 3 hours straight. It was horrible.

I know it's extremely rare for a breastfed baby to be constipated, but it really seems like he's having a hard time. He does have 2 bowel movements a day, sometimes 3, but we did go through a few days at the beginning when he had none.

[PatioGardener]

What does his poop look like? If it is soft/liquidy then you know he isn't consitpated.

They are still so 'new' at 3 weeks - often they are still learning how to do things that really we take for granted - like pooping. It's a complicated procedure! If the fussiness and crying doesn't go away, or if he has bright green poops, you may want to look into a dairy/soy sensitivity, or overactive let down.

There are also techniques to help with poops/gas. Bicycle legs or tummy stroking can help as well.

Hang in there, Mama!!!

[EarthMamaToBe]

sometimes newborns have trouble coordinating the actions used for pooping and it can cause distress. Is the poop soft and yellow?

[Chloe 777]

Thanks!


His stools are not hard at all, and they're yellow and seedy like they should be. So I don't think it's constipation either, but he just seems to have an extremely difficult time passing it, and I don't know what could be causing this.
I realize newborn may struggle a bit when having a bowel movement, but this much?

[TweetingMama]

Poopy Problems

Hi there! First of all, congratulations on your little one Mama! As far as the pooping/irritability concerns...
Does the fussiness and discomfort happen shortly after nursing? Is it possible that something in your diet is causing him some discomfort? While nursing my daughter early on, I discovered that she became very gassy and irritable if I had any type of dairy and broccoli as well. If it continues, you may want to call your pediatrician just to be sure and to ease your mind as well.
I hope your little one feels better soon. Congratulations again and kudos to you for choosing to breastfeed! Have a great day.

Kristi, TweetingMama

[hildare]

well.. it could be a lot of things, but it could just be that your baby is new to the world and new to having a digestive system. pooping could be a new sensation and sometimes new stimulation can make a baby fuss. i'd say give it a few weeks before taking any action, if the poop is a proper color and coming with good frequency.

[Llyra]

All of mine struggled with their poops at that age. It's normal and common for them to be fussy, to strain a lot, to turn all purple and red, and to pass a lot of gas in the trying. It sometimes also takes a few tries before they are successful, and sometimes the fussing can go on a long time.

If the poo is soft when it does come, and is coming at least several times a day up to about eight weeks old, then there's no reason to worry, no matter how fussy he gets. (At about two months old, a lot of breastfed babies experience a shift where they begin to poo a lot less often-- the efficiency of their digestion improves, and so much of the milk is absorbed that there's very little stool. Normal, healthy babies might go up to like two weeks without pooping, and it's still just fine. Other babies continue to poop multiple times a day all the way until weaning. But in the immediate newborn period, several times a day is normal.)

To pass a BM, you have to simultaneously relax one set of muscles while pushing with another, and it's difficult to do when you're still getting used to being in the world, and you don't have the muscle development to sit up or squat yet.

I wouldn't worry about it one bit. It can help to hold baby against your belly, facing outward, with his knees drawn up, and pull his knees toward his chin, and carry him around that way. Lying him on his back and cycling his legs slowly, or pushing them up to a squat position, can help too.

It'll get easier for him as his muscles develop.

Fussy crying tends to peak at around 6 weeks old, and then to slowly decline during the rest of infancy.

[Chloe 777]

Thank you all so much! This really helps.

[Ellien C]

Mine does the same thing. Luckily poops are rare - 1-2x per week. Five weeks old on sun. nak

[texmati]

I had the same question when my son was that age. My ped explained that DS just didn't have the control yet. that development goes from top down, so it would take a while before he was used to pooping.

I guess they have a lot of practice peeing in the womb, but don't usually do #2's. Congrats!