Nursing my adopted son - gaining but not pooping

[CrunchyChristianMama]

My son was born 5 weeks ago.  At the time I had a biological daughter who was 22 months old and still nursing.  She weaned while we were gone for 2 weeks picking up her brother, and he took over my milk supply.  It's gone great.  I was able to nurse within about an hour of birth and we haven't had to supplement at all.

From the beginning he was a gassy guy.  Lots of burps and farts.  It has slowly gotten worse and worse though.  He is now up a lot in the night in pain and is often grunting and straining while awake or asleep.  He's now stopped pooping unless he is assisted with a little glycerin enema.  We've only done so a couple times, but he is always so happy afterward and sleeps great.  That is until it's been about 12 hours and he's in pain again. 

Our pediatrician thinks it's a milk supply issue, or that perhaps he's not getting enough hind milk.  I'm not sure I agree.  He seems very content with the quantity and I know from all the pumping I've done to make this work that my milk is pretty fatty.  Dr. recommended some pedialyte which I don't want to do as well as breast compressions while he's nursing which I will gladly add. 

Could it really be a supply issue if he's gaining and doesn't seem hungry?  He was born at 38 weeks and weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz at birth, 6 lbs. 5 oz when we left the hospital, and is just over 9 lbs. now at 5 weeks. 

I'm just really upset about this right now.  I've worked so, so hard to make this possible and be able to nurse him.

[Springshowers]

*hugs*

No time now.... but are you burping him? My DD never needed it... but my son was miserable if I didn't. But burping after every feed helped so much.

Maybe he is sensitive to something you are eating? That seems more likely than supply.

Hope you get lots of ideas here. So great your supply worked out like that.

[greenemami]

This sounds more like a food sensitivity to something in your diet. I had to cut out dairy with both kids, along with beans and certain gassy veg with my son. Also, he usually only pooped every few days to a week, so if the pain goes away, that can be normal.

[artekah]

I agree that it doesn't sound like a supply problem. Is he peeing normally?

Newborns don't always poop regularly, so I wouldn't be at all concerned about that. They can go 10 days or more in between poops. My son pooped several times a day at that age, and my daughter pooped maybe 3 times a month for her first few months--and she is/was totally healthy.

I'd be more concerned about the gassiness and discomfort--I agree with the others that dairy is a likely culprit as its the most common food sensitivity for babies.

Pedialyte? Huh? Don't listen to that doctor! Good luck!

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Peeing very regularly and a good amount.

The poop onl ybothers me because it seems to borrow him. When we did the enema after 4 days he released 4 days worth of poop and slept the first 5 hour stretch of his life that night. It really seems to be a problem otherwise it wouldn't bother me.

I had to cut out dairy with the girls but was super hopeful I wouldn't have to again. I'll try it for a week or two and see what happens.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

My DD is going through NAET treatments right now, and while there today I had Abraham tested for sensitivity to my milk and he came up clear.  So apparently it's not something I'm eating.  I'm going to hope/think it's just an immature digestive system (he was born early) and hopefully with time it will improve???