No poop, very gassy!

[WishIwasinMN]

Hi everyone. My 3 1/2 month old breastfed dd pooped just fine for the first month or so (several times a day-which my other two did), but then she stopped and would not poop for days. She is still doing this and as of today has not pooped for 6 days. She is also very gassy and it smells horrendous. When she does poop it is yellow/orangeish and it doesn't have the 'seeds' like my other childrens did. I had been worried that she was constipated, but the stools are not hard. We thought she must be miserable and during the nightime hours she is very crabby and draws her knees up to her chest (acts very colicky). But, I'm not sure because during the day she is a very happy camper who sleeps a 5-6 hour stretch. Only at night is she cranky and up all night--if this was due to her not pooping, wouldn't she be crabby all day? Thanks so much for any help you can give me!
Jaci

[mshollyk]

i was at the doc a couple of days ago, and she said it was normal for babies over a month to go for a few days or more without pooping. have you tried mylicon for the gas?

i hope she gets some relief at night, and i hope you get some sleep!!

[lexbeach]

Well I'm not surprised that she's up all night if she's sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch during the day! That's a longer stretch than a lot of babies her age will sleep at night! I think she's got her days and nights mixed up. I wouldn't let her sleep mmore than 3 hours in a row during the day. She should still be eating at least 8 times a day, so if she sleeps longer than 3 hours, she will have to be up more frequently in the night to eat. As for the poop: It sounds normal to me. My boys stopped having seedy poops too. Yellow/orange is a good sign too. As for the gassiness: could it be something in your diet? Dairy? Broccolli? When my babies are fussy-gassy and seem uncomfortable but won't poop, I always try takinng their temperature rectally. Sometimes this works to get things moving. My babies normally poop every other day, but it is definitely normal for bf babies to go up to 10 days without pooping. It just means that their digestive systems are more mature and are absorbing more of the nutrients from the bm, so there's less waste.

I hope your dd feels better soon, and I hope you get some sleep!

Lex

[Rebekah]

have you tried tummy massage for the gas? dr. sears suggests doing an I LOVE YOU pattern for massage in his baby book. so you might check that out. the book also has a great section on other tips for relieving gas.

sometimes my ds' poop is seedy other times not. i think this is all normal.

[Katie65]

its very normal for breastfed babies to go several days with no poop.

Aidan is 2 months old and goes about every 4th day. He gets VERY gassy on the 2nd and 3rd day and boy does that gas stink! which is funny since his poop has very littel odor!

Aidans poop is not seedy anymore either..its like a thick yellow mustard consistency.

[3_opihi]

hi
I have a three month old too. He was also having really smelly gas, it turned out he had thrush, even though I had no symptoms. In, fact the only symptom he had was a whitish tongue. As for the poop, it sounds like a normal color, it doesn't matter whether its seedy or not. If your baby hasn't pooped for six days though, you might want to call a doc. That's kind of a long time.

[cvidito]

My 3.5 month old son is also a poop holder. He will go weekly and sometimes will go up to 10 days before pooping. When it first started happening around 1 month, I was really worried, esp. since the gas was so stinky. But he is thriving and happy, and I've asked more than one doctor about it, and they all said it's nothing to worry about if there is obviously not anything wrong with him (vomiting, has a fever, etc.).

As for the fussiness, it's probably a separate unrelated issue, but if you feel something is truly wrong with your baby, follow your instincts and keep pressing your doctor.

[alderson_gal]

My dd was like that. She started getting better about the pooping thing around 6 months when we gave her cereal for the first time. (I am not advocating giving your baby cereal early it is just part of the timeline) The gas smelled better when she pooped more often, it is just one of those slightly embaracing things that you hope no one thinks is you! Good luck and I would try the massage it worked wonders on her night time woes.

[Sharlla]

Originally Posted by Katie65

its very normal for breastfed babies to go several days with no poop.

Aidan is 2 months old and goes about every 4th day. He gets VERY gassy on the 2nd and 3rd day and boy does that gas stink! which is funny since his poop has very littel odor!

Aidans poop is not seedy anymore either..its like a thick yellow mustard consistency.

same here