8 week old, no BM for 24+ hours?

[LivingSky]

Hi all,

My DS is 8 weeks 5 days old today. We BF on demand and he is eating well, but he has not had a bowel movement in over 24 hours. Not even a wet fart. He has his normal amount of wet diapers and has been passing gas regularly, but nothing but gas is coming out. I can hear lots of movement in his gut and he has been quite squirmy and uncomfortable about the gas.

So, two questions - how long is it okay for an 8 week old to go without a BM? And what action would you take to help him out?

Thanks!

[Adaline'sMama]

Its totally okay. Sometimes infants go up to a week without pooping. My DD regularly went about once every three days those first months. I would make sure he is nursing enough, and maybe rub on his belly or bounce him on your knee and see if it relieves some of the pressure from the gas. I assume you arent wanting to give him gripe water or gas x or anything?

[stik]

Both of my kids could go for days, too.  Clockwise belly rubs and bicycling their legs sometimes helped when they were uncomfortable, but they weren't always uncomfortable.  

[RaspberryLeaf]

DS2 is just over 7 weeks and his BM's have slowed down as well.  I think at this stage they are just getting into more of a routine.  When he goes he GOES now though!  We've had blow outs the past two days...lucky Mommy; we've been out both days.  

[sunwise]

My DS went 13 days between poops when he was 5-6 weeks old. That was the first time he had ever skipped a day pooping. I of course freaked out and we ended up taking him to see our pedi after about 7 days because it just seems *wrong* to go so long without poop! But she said he was fine and sent us home. Sure enough, he pooped a totally normal (i.e., not constipated) BF baby poop on the 13th day. (The poop was huge though!) After that, he never had a 13 day span again, but he did regularly go 3-5 days without pooping until he was about 4 months old. During that time, we could always tell when a poop was imminent because his farts would get stinky. Nowadays I look back fondly on the times when we didn't have to deal with poopy diapers for days in a row!

I would not necessarily recommend doing anything to "help" him go unless he seems uncomfortable. There's really no need. For us, nothing we tried worked until he was ready to go - we bicycled his legs and even did a rectal temperature, but nothing happened. After that, we just let nature take it's course.

During the times when he didn't poop for days, I just kept reminding myself that he was getting so much goodness out of his breastmilk that there was simply no waste left over. He was using it all to grow! I'm sure your little guy is too!

[Evergreen23]

My son went a few days in between poops when he was about 8 weeks (he's 11 weeks now.) I eventually decided to take his temperature rectally to try to stimulate things. Oh wow - he had three major blowouts within the hour. As long as your LO is having a sufficient number of wet diapers, you're totally fine.