Brand new mom and worried about poo

[prone_to_wander]

So my darling is 5 days old and I'm super distressed about his lack of poop. He hasn't pooped all day today. Yesterday, at 4 days old, he pooped 3 times and it was still very much meconium. He is exclusively breastfed and has a good latch (as confirmed by a lactation midwife). My one mistake was that he might not have had enough feeds days 2 and 3. But now he is getting 10-12 feeds a day. He is passing gas (it gets my hopes up everytime he does)

What can I do? Do I need to be worried. I have a midwife coming tomorrow to look at him and she isn't worried about it. But I can't stop thinking about it. Thanks for your advice everyone.

[Knitting Mama]

Don't worry, mama! EBF babies often have interesting poop patterns. According to my pediatrician, many EBF babes absorb darn near everything they're taking in, leaving very little waste behind. My own Cecilia started out life as a multiple times a day pooper, but by the time she was a couple of weeks old she was pretty steadily at once a day, with a few every other day intervals thrown in. If your son's not in pain then I wouldn't worry! Plus your midwife isn't concerned!

[Shannie77]

Sounds normal to me! My DD2 (now 10 days) pooped 5 times in the first 24 hours and then didn't poo for 3 days after that. She just had horrible smelling toots. Then on her 5th day she pooped SO much, and since then she has been pooing pretty regularly. I called my midwife because I was worried too but like yours she wasn't concerned. I think the most important thing is that you are seeing enough wet diapers.

[star*mora]

agree with pp re wet diapers
ds2 is a regular pooper, but ds1 wasn't - he once went 9 days without pooping (and his dr said up to 14 days was normal for a baby that is ebf) but definitely did not poop every day.

[Friday13th]

Hi, I'm from your DDC! Congrats on your little boy.

Anyway, DS1 passed a TON of meconium during birth and the rest on day 2, I believe. It was another few days before my milk really came in and he didn't poop until 12 hours after that happened and it was normal BF poop. Basically once all the meconium was out of his system he was absorbing and using up all the colostrum and early milk so there wasn't anything to poop out. He was peeing well the whole time so as long as your LO is peeing regularly and your milk is coming in, I'd guess he'll be pooping up a storm really soon.

[mambera]

Hm, I would check weight gain. EBF babies are supposed to be pooping 5x/day by their fifth day of life. My DD was pooping usually only 1-2x/day at that age, I wasn't worried at the time but later found out she wasn't getting enough milk. Poops were the only clue for us, her wets were fine.

Baby should be gaining 1 oz/day (or 5-7 oz/week depending on whom you ask).

[LindsC]

Sounds pretty normal to me too. As long as he is eating well, having plenty of wet diapers and gaining weight, I would keep an eye on it. DD was a super pooper for the first few weeks, but all of a sudden at 6 weeks old she didn't poop for a week! Turns out she is a 2-3 day a week pooper. She goes multiple times on the days she goes, but does not go everyday and is growing normally.

[tzs]

my memory is hazy on this but my babe pooped meconium not only during birth but also all 4 days in the hospital without a real poop. i guess the first real one was soon after. and she was a super duper weight gainer.
good luck with the new one!

[Mom2M]

Since he is so young he should probably poop more often. I was told the same thing as mambera, 5 times on 5 days old.
Later on it's normal for a bf baby to go longer between poops but especially till he passes all the meconium you need to watch it.
I think it's good that your midwife is coming to check him just in case.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Mom2M

Since he is so young he should probably poop more often. I was told the same thing as mambera, 5 times on 5 days old.
Later on it's normal for a bf baby to go longer between poops but especially till he passes all the meconium you need to watch it.
I think it's good that your midwife is coming to check him just in case.

a good resource: http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/L...Jan98p123.html

[Knitting Mama]

He may have already passed all of his meconium at 5 days. My daughter was done with hers by 3. But I am interested to hear what the midwife says!

[Elecampane]

Hugs mama. I just went through this myself. My DD passed meconium in the womb, had one huge mec poop the night after she was born...and then nothing until day 5. I was so incredibly stressed. When she did poop it was normal yellow bf poop. I took her to the ped on day 3 and then again for a weight check on day 5 (before the poop happened) and she gained 5 ounces in those two days so it was clearly not a milk intake issue. I think some babies just absorb more. As long as they are peeing and don't seem dehydrated I think it's fine if they deviate from the prescribed number of poops per day you see all over the place. I think it's good to be alert to the possibility of insufficient milk, by counting poops, but every baby's body is different.

A lactation consultant I spoke to during the time of no poop asked me what I think is a great question: Would you be worried if the baby were pooping? My answer was no--DD was alert, peeing, growing, etc.

I bet he'll poop soon if he hasn't already!
Posted via Mobile Device

[prone_to_wander]

I was just writing about how he still hadn't pooped and how this horrible, grand-standing pediatritian was saying how he could have a bowl obstruction....and he POOPED! a huge and massive poop!! and the 10 minutes later again....Poop!!! beautiful, wonderful, yellow poop.
I never thought I'd get so excited about poop in all my life.