What are your ideas on this?

[MarineWife]

My 3 week old has two strange (to me, anyway) things going on. First, he seems to have a really hard time pooping. He grunts and groans and his face turns red and sometimes he even cries and screams. He is exclusively breastfed so I don't see how he could be constipated. His poo looks like normal breastmilk poo, yellow and curdy.

The other thing is that sometimes he appears to be foaming at the mouth, not right after nursing, either. He'll be asleep and start to wake and be fussing a little and foamy at the mouth. Could it be reflux or something like that?

He's not otherwise fussy, although he does seem to have some trouble with gas, mostly farting. Burping seems easier for him. He doesn't cry unless I don't get him and feed him fast enough.

He is the 4th baby I have breastfed and I've never experienced either of these before. Any ideas?

[lifeguard]

Ds used to do the pooping thing - I read somewhere that sometimes they strain but are not releasing the sphincter at the same time so the straining is against their own body. When they stop straining & relax they suddenly poop. Made sense to me since that was pretty much I saw ds doing. Eventually they learn to synchronize their body a little better.

Not sure about the foaming at the mouth thing though.

[MarineWife]

Thanks for answering. I was wondering why I hadn't gotten any replies to this and then realized I must have forgotten to subscribe to my own thread.

So the straining while pooing is not something to necessarily worry about, then.

The foaming at the mouth is more like foamy bubbles than tons of foam like you might imagine from a rabid animal. i haven't noticed it for a few days so maybe he's over it.

[LineUponLine]

The poop thing is totally normal. I have no idea about the foaming. Hope all is well.