What have I done?

[CoteDAzur]

DS (3 months) is exclusively breastfed. Last Wednesday night, I had food poisoning. I passed baby to DH who gave him bottles through the night.

In the morning, with breasts so full that breast pump wouldn't work, I Googled and read that I could breastfeed baby despite food poisoning, that it wouldn't pass through the milk. My symptoms passed that morning as well, so it wasn't gastro. All well and good.

The problem is that baby DS, who until that point would have 7-8 full nappies per day, now has maybe 1. Last one was last night, the one before that was 36 hrs before.

Does anyone know what is going on?

BY full do you mean solids or fluids?

Really you should re-post this in BF & FF, you'll get more replies that way.

It's quite normal for BF babies to go five days between pooing so your DS is well within the normal range! It could well just be coincidence that his habits have changed now. Does he seem constipated or in pain when pooing?

Don't worry about having given him formula, you did what you thought was best at the time, you were only trying to protect him after all! The virgin gut will have been restored already by your continuing to BF. Honestly all is well!

I mean poo - can't say his are solid at all

I don't feel guilty for the bottles. I feel guilty for believing KellyMom and breastfeeding him while suffering from food poisoning. It can't be a coincidence that he stopped pooing after pretty much every feed at that exact moment. He pooed 4 times since Thursday morning!

is it not more likely to be that he isn't pooing much due to the formula (if that is what was in the bottles?)

could the formula have bunged him up a bit, I think it did when I gavethge odd bit of formula to my 2?

and 4 poos since Thursday is completely normal, I really wouldn't worry

Both my DC stopped pooing after each feed at about 4 - 6 weeks so 3 months seems quite late to make the change to me. DD was daily and DS is every other day (he's 13 weeks ATM).

The formula is more likely to have changed his habits than feeding whilst you were ill. A tummy bug would surely make him poo more rather than less...

Is this your first BF baby?

I think KellyMom is trustworthy. I would never hesitate to breastfeed a baby whatever illness I had. Much more likely that the formula bunged him up a bit, and unlikely to be anything to worry about.

I bf'd DD as well, so do know that poos settle down into a lesser frequency, but still... from 7/day to less than 1/day in a matter of hours? Iirc, it decreased gradually with DD. And the timing is very conspicuous.

He hasn't done it all day today. He's been grunting and pushing and crying. I'm having trouble believing that 2 bottles of formula from last week would still constipate him, given that he has been bf since then.

I really think you should post this on Breast and Bottle Feeding, you'd get a lot more information and advice there.

I don't understand why you think it's more likely to have been your breast milk than the formula. KellyMom isn't the only source that says BF is fine with food poisoning by a long chalk. Having the formula whilst you believed it wasn't safe to BF him is the only thing that's changed for him. Your BM will have been the same all the time (well changing slowly with his needs).

Formula can be very consitipating. The change of milks is likely to cause this, i bet after a few weeks of BF pooing will return to normal

If he had a tummy bug he would be pooing more and vomiting surely?

It wasn't a tummy bug, since my symptoms lasted only one night. It was just bad seafood, I think.

I'm worried my breastmilk may have somehow damaged his digestive system because I can't believe two bottles from a week ago would still constipate him so much that he wouldn't poo even once in 24 hours.

I really wouldn't worry. Breastmilk is great for illness, it is massively unlikely to have done him any damage. Fwiw it was around this age that my friend's ds started having 10 day gaps between poos suddenly from many in a day. This also happened to DD although the gap was smaller.

Cote, it is not possible in any way that your food poisoning, or the seafood, has damaged your baby's gut at all.

The food poisoning bugs do not reach the breastmilk. They cannot. Infection does not get into the breastmilk (only HIV reaches breastmilk).

Your baby sounds fine. Babies do grunt a bit sometimes when trying to poo. It does not mean they are constipated. The gap between poos sounds normal and the timing of the change pure coincidence.

No need for you to feel bad about this.

Cote - I have breastfeed my daughters whilst suffering from common colds, gastronenteritis, and suspected swine flu. They were not affected. Please believe me, you did nothing wrong.

breastfed

Thank you all for the reassurance