My daughter is barely pooing and is always crying but isn't constipated- any advice?

[ClaireH26]

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, my 2 month old baby has one from having bowel movements at every feed to one every 3 or 4 days, I know that can be normal but she is crying and fussing almost constantly with colicky symptoms. She had bad wind when she was a month or so old but it had been improving until she stopped having bowl movements regularly, and now it is much much worse, and she is screaming in pain. When she does go to the toilet it is soft so I dont think she is constipated, but her movements are darker brown and foul smelling when before they were yellow and sweet smelling (she is breastfed). she also is breaking wind alot which she didn't do before. She often seems in pain when she feeds and breaks off during a feed screaming in pain. I spoke to the health visitor and she was quite unhelpful- she told me it was normal and to try giving her fresh orange juice in case it was constipation- this just made my baby very sick and didnt help her bowel movements so i stopped.

Has anybody else experienced this- I am only concerned because it has come on very suddenly and I am worried that it might be a symptom of something more sinister- please help if you have any advice.

[3littlefrogs]

She needs to be examined by a paediatrician. There is clearly something not right. Have you taken her to your GP?

Make a diary of feeds, wees and poos, as far back as you can remember, in particular when things changed, and take her to see your GP asap.

If she is vomiting/ not weeing/ or feverish take her to A&E.

[3littlefrogs]

Meant to ask - how are you feeding her?

[3littlefrogs]

Must go to bed now. Please take dd to GP asap.

Sorry - just seen that she is breast fed - her movements shouldn't be brown or foul smelling - she needs to be checked over.

[3littlefrogs]

How are things today?

[blowninonabreeze]

I agree - you should get her checked, but to reassure you that you're not alone, DD2 was exclusively breast fed and for the first 2 months had frequent stools, then it suddenly changed to very much how you describe, once a week, dark brown and horrendous smell!

She didn't however cry and have the other symptoms you describe. They changed again once we started weaning.
I assume nothing else has changed? no medications? etc etc

Let us know what they say.

[Beachcomber]

I would consider a dairy allergy. Her symptoms sound very similar to my two and that was that was wrong with them.

The protein from cow's milk passes into breast milk and can affect babies in many ways particularly colic and strange poos plus straining to go.

The only way to find out if it is this is to cut all dairy from your diet for at least three weeks. To do it properly you have to be really vigilant and stop all dairy sources so not just milk, cheese, yoghurt but also all dairy in processed foods. You need to do it for three weeks to clear all the dairy out of your systems but if this is what is wrong you should see improvement in a matter of days.

If you do a search on MN you will find lots of threads about this.

Having said that I do think you should get her checked out by a doctor. Many doctors don't seem to know much about breast feeding and allergies so it is no guarantee that they would advise you eliminate dairy from your diet but I would definitely give it a try.

Good luck.

[ClaireH26]

Thanks for advice, she seems to be better at the moment...it was almost like she was so backed up after not going for 3 or 4 days that it was hurting her to eat- after filling her nappy spectacularly 3 times in a row she is now much brighter and her poo is looking more normal. I am taking her for her jabs tomorrow and will mention this to the nurse and see what she says.

If it recurrs then I will definitely take her to the doc as it was quite worrying.

[ClaireH26]

Actually, having sat down and thought about the food allergy thing, I think that you may be right. I doubt that it is an allergy to lactose as I do eat alot of dairy and this problem has come on suddenly, plus she now seems to be better. But I was racking my brains to think of anything unusual that I ate around the times the symptoms came on and I suddenly remembered that I ate mussels for the first time since I got pregnant about 10 days ago.

Apparently allergies can be hereditary; I have allergies including hayfever and have had a severe allergic reaction to food before although not shellfish.

The symptoms do seem to fit, but not sure how to find out whether this could be it or not..the obvious thing would be to eat some more mussels but hate the idea of making her sick again!

Thanks for help all

[Beachcomber]

Just to clarify I mean an allergy to cow's milk protein (casein) when I speak about dairy allergy. Lactose intolerance is a different thing altogether.