EBF baby & poo.

[SmilingandWaving]

DS is 17 weeks & thanks to lots of great advice from here is still ebf. I keep reading things about ebf babies going up to two weeks without a poo & how this is perfectly normal & is down to there not being much waste from bm. DS however goes at least 4 times a day and it's always accompanied by some serious farting as well as being quite smelly. Is this normal, I really thought it would have settled down by now.

He's a very happy little boy but I have had a few comments about his weight from the HV as he started just above the 50th percentile before dropping to the 25th at about 8 weeks, but since then he has followed the 25th percentile line exactly. Could it be that he has a problem digesting the milk properly & this is effecting his weight gain? We do get the occasional green poo but usually only when he's only fed for a very short time, also it's probably not connected but he does have very dry patches of skin which the doctor won't confirm or deny is eczema. He also had an allergic reaction to the Oilatum cream that was prescribed.

Am I being a bit paranoid? He's my pfb & I'm very touchy about his weight as I'm constantly being told how tiny he is as well as people commenting on the number of dirty nappys. Could it be the dairy in my diet, I didn't think I ate a lot but is it worth cutting it out?

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for reading.

Hi Smilingandwaving

Can I gently suggest you go back and read your own post. Because you're saying that

a) he's very happy
b) he's following a weight gain line like a textbook baby

25th centile is fine. The 50th or above isn't something to aim for, it's just part of the range of normal! Obviously if his weight was continuing to drop down the chart then your HV would be justified in expressing concerns. If it's any consolation, DD1 started at 25th and dropped to 9th, and has stayed there for 4 and a half years, perfectly following that line. He may just be a compact baby. 25th centile isn't tiny, really it isn't.

I'm sure others will arrive and regale you with tales of newborn poo, but to kick off, DD1 pooed almost every time she fed for months, whereas DD2 pooed about once a week for ages. We're all different, and if there are no other indications that there is something wrong, there probably isn't something wrong.

Keep going back to the kid: does he looks happy, healthy, alert, hitting milestones (with a bit of leeway of course - they're all different), not having trouble passing those motions, feeding well etc etc? If the answer is yes, see if you can give yourself a break. And try, really try, not to look at other babies off the top of the weight chart and somehow think they're doing 'better'. Bigger isn't better, it's just bigger.

Sending chill-out vibes.

Mine is a big poo-er too, but perfectly fine.

With the dry skin/eczema - ds has this too and reacts to creams. We've now got stuff called hydromol which is like a thick grease - we put it in his bath instead of soap and smear him in a thick layer of it before bed. It's done wonders for his skin.

Meant to also suggest good old olive oil for dry skin, if it's just the odd patch. IME babes do grow out of it, which is maybe why your GP is reluctant to commit to a diagnosis.

DS is still pooing 3-4 times per day at 16 months!!

and I'd just like to second what Mij has said about the growth lines. They are a range of normal all it means when he is on the 25th percentile is that only 25% of normal babies weigh the same or less than him. IYSWIM? Also, growth charts aren't meant to be looked at on their own. They one part of the assessment of a developing baby.

FWIW, it sounds to me like your DS is doing fabulously.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I had a feeling I was worrying over nothing, think I need to block people out when they offer an opinion from now on.

MBJ I thought that was what the percentile lines meant, think someone needs to explain that to my hv though. She seems to be fixated on the fact he dropped a percentile at 8 weeks even though he's followed the line perfectly since then.

Rita thanks for that suggestion I think I'll try to get hold of some. Olive oil just doesn't seem to help & he's always trying to itch it by rubbing against me, especially in the hot weather.

Don't know what I'd do without MN

Yup, there are some brilliant healt visitors out there (I'm) told but most of them seem to have a very tenuous grasp on the basic facts of infant growth and development never mind breastfeeding.

Excuse my punctuation there. Should read: ...out there (I'm told) but...