Newborn doesn't poop

[L J]

I am very frustrated and a little scared. My baby was born 9/1. She passed meconium the first 2 days, and had one transitional poop on day 3. Then, a normal ebf poop on day 10. On day 19, I gave her a suppository after encouragement from the pediatrician. She was jaundiced and he wanted her to poop to get her levels down. It was a ton, and a normal ebf poop.

Because I have been stressing about her not pooping, I took her in again after meeting with a private IBCLC for a before and after weight. She transferred plenty of milk, and even though she was a bit slow to regain her birth weight, she is gaining well now.

The pedi we saw that day told me that day to start giving her milk of magnesia every day. I did it for 4 days, and it made her gassy and uncomfortable, but she didn't poop, so I gave her another suppository and she pooped (day 30) and is fine now. No more MOM; that was a terrible idea.

I brought up my concerns that she may not be getting enough calories and both pediatricians we saw are not at all concerned. The IBCLC said her latch is good and she is swallowing. She has 12+ soaking wet (absorbent obv fitted) cloth diapers a day. She is happy and has great muscle tone. She is alert. She sleeps well, nurses often, isn't fussy and is a happy, always-in-arms baby. I nursed my oldest with no supplements for 3 years, and I feel my supply is good and she is getting all of the hind milk.

She saw a chiro right after birth and was pronounced healthy from that perspective.

I don't know what to do. Could this be a variation of normal? Or, should I keep pushing the doctors to determine the cause of this? Should I give her probiotics? Should I do an elimination diet, even though there are no indicators of a food sensitivity?

Even though she seems like a perfectly healthy, happy baby, I can't help but feel that it is not okay for a one month old baby to have only pooped 4 times in her life, and two of those I facilitated.

Anyone have any thoughts, ideas, personal stories, opinions?

[Tear78]

L J, hey CONGRATULATIONS on your baby girl! I missed your birth announcement. YAY!!!

I can't offer much insight here. I know that it would make me nervous, too. However, my pediatrician keeps saying to almost all of my concerns, "Does she seem happy? Is she gaining weight? Does she seem dehydrated?" I have heard that some babies, even breastfed, just don't poop as often. It seems like maybe she lets out a large reserve all at once? My advice would have been to talk to your ped, but it sounds like you did that. Probably, given that she seems like a healthy happy baby, all is well.

Hopefully other people will jump in here with more experience with this than me. SO happy for you and your little baby, though!

[MamatobabyA]

My EBF baby pooped a billion times a day for like a week.  Then he started going once a week.  We even introduced some prune juice at advice from the ped.  Worst idea ever.  When I just left it alone he was happy, healthy and pooped once every 10 days or so.  It was a ridiculous amount!  I would say by 4 weeks it was 1 poop every 7-10 days.  Will she poop on her own without a suppository?

[L J]

Tear - thank you so much.

MamatoababyA - The first 2 times she pooped was naturally, The last 2 were with a suppository.

[redpajama]

My oldest did almost exactly this as a newborn.  But, like your daughter, he was gaining well, wetting, and generally developing normally, so my pediatrician said it wasn't a problem.  He once went more than 2 weeks between bowel movements.  He eventually started pooping more frequently--I don't recall exactly when, but probably around the time he started solids.  

He's a perfectly healthy 6.5-year-old now.  (And my next 2 babies were both the type to poop nearly every time they nursed.  I have a 9-day-old now, and she poops more than once a day.  I dunno.)

If everything else looks good, I wouldn't worry too much.

[eastmillcreekmama]

This happened with my oldest too, for the first 6-8 weeks, she only pooped every 4-9 days. I was worried, my ped wasn't. I finally talked to a number of people who had seen the same thing, and considered it normal, even though all the books say they should poop several times each day. My midwives suggested that some babies use their breastmilk so efficiently, there's just not much left over to poop out. Eventually, she began pooping at least once a day.

Good luck! I wouldn't worry about your little one's bowels :)

[Gabesgrrrl]

Hello All,

I am the proud mama of a 7 day old baby girl named Arabella. She had her meconium stools, and then 2 regular ebf stools, and then....nothing for going on 36 hours. My midwife seems very concerned, and wants me to bring her in today to be weighed. She is sleeping more than she was before, and I have to wake her to feed, which the MW said is a bad sign-but I'm not exactly sure why. I mean, she screamed the entire night for the first 4 nights, so I'm more inclined to think she's just tired!

Any idea why my midwife might be concerned? Baby is otherwise very healthy, happy and had begun to gain back the weight she lost after birth-at least last time she was weighed 2 days ago.

I feel stressed out by this midwife, and wish she would just relax-but of course I don't want to miss something important either!

Marcie

[crayfishgirl]

Congratulations on your little one.

My son (now almost 7 months) only pooped every 7-10 days until we started introducing solids (about 3 weeks ago).  Our ped said to introduce rice cereal, which we didn't do; and everything I read suggested that EBF babies can have pooping rates that vary from after each feeding to every 2+ weeks.  If your babe is otherwise happy, gaining, and urinating frequently I would try not worry about it and enjoy the fact that you won't be going through as many wipes.  :)

[Kedrosami]

Yes it is a variation of normal for EBF newborns. My 10-week-old DD is an infrequent pooper too. The important thing is that when she does poop, you want the poop to be normal-looking and in big amounts. If it's more than, say, 2 weeks between poops I might be concerned, but it sounds like your baby is normal.

[Mommel]

My babe hasn't pooped since yesterday morning after pooping frequently every day until now. He's 19 days old.

I have to say this thread has made me feel MUCH better about this, so thank you!

[Megan73]

Infrequent stooling (along with being hard to rouse) can be a red flag that a newborn isn't getting enough milk and breastfeeding and weight should be assessed. If babe is happy and gaining, then it's no problem but multiple daily poops are the norm for most breastfed babies until 6-8 weeks.

[HeatherB]

L J, congratulations on your DD! How is she doing now?

I also would be far less concerned about a happy, growing, peeing baby who poops a copious amount infrequently, than about one who poops infrequently but in small amounts or has unusual stools. While I've not had one myself, I have heard plenty of stories of babies who do stool in great intervals, and it seems they are entirely healthy. I wouldn't even think it worth trying elimination unless there are other, accompanying symptoms. But, hopefully by now you've gotten it sorted out.

Gabesgrrrl, did you figure out what was going on with your DD? I hope she is doing well, now.

[AliceMay]

I haven't read all the replies but this was TOTALLY our experience!! After passing the meconium dd didn't poop!! We did suppositories once in the early days.... but then she would go like once a week!! Doctor sent us to a ped. just to be on the safe side (DD was also jaundice in the beginning, and very small) but everything is fine. Apparently it was just her way. Some have said she was very "efficient". The once a week thing continued for a few months, I think. Then it was a bit ore frequent. I think it is always wise to check up on things when they seem "not normal" but when you've done that remember that seeing a happy healthy baby is a good indicator that things are going well.