To poo or not to poo

[LuckyC]

Hi all

My EBF 4mo is a terrible pooer. She will go days without pooing, getting increasingly grumpy and uncomfortable until she eventually poos. Her poo is then appallingly smelly and about the texture of a gluey cake mix.

HV says give her water but she just is not having it - makes a face like she is being poisoned. Anyway, she is not dehydrated as far as I can tell - lots of wee, fontanelles fine. I know BF babies don;t necessarily poo all the time, but what do you think? Should I be trying harder with the water?

Also, HV said give her diluted prune juice if she's really not managing it - as she's only 4mo, I am not keen. Again, what do you think?

Thanks!

DS2 is just over 4mths, 24 days is our current record and that was the Monday before last so at 10 days now.

No prune juice or water here. She will poo when she is ready, it is quite traumatic though when it comes I warn you.

Think of the infrequent poos as a benefit of breastfeeding.

Ditto what morloth said! Only not 24 days (gulp) - think 11 days was our most...

What colour is her poo? Does she have wind? My DS's poo smelt but was quite sickly sweet. I'm wondering if something's up? Only possibility is she might be intolerant to cows milk - are there any other signs of intolerance (sniffles, ezcema, windy)?

Iggly, she shows no signs - she is pretty cheery and contented and pretty much happy as Larry most of the time. Colourwise, it's breastfed baby colour, just a thicker and gloopier consistency.

God, am about to have supper, you would think this would repulse me, how weird is it that your LOs poo is so non-repulsive?

I know! I'm always discussing DS's poo especially since he's been on solids (they hum).

Have you tried feeding more often? I used to do this when DS got bunged up. After a day of extra feeds all would be right again!!

Extra feeds? How much and how often? Worth a shot, definitely. And thanks.

Oh and morloth 24 days?????

She sounds absolutely fine to me.

My DD1 could go ages (not disimilar to Morloth's baby)

It'll speed up when you wean. In the meantime, ignore the HV. Prune juice? She isn't constipated, she's normal.

Your HV clearly doesn't understand breastfed babies She doesn't need water, or prune juice. This is all within the realms of normal :)