No poo

[IsabelandBigJohn]

My baby has had her meconium poos but now nothing. It's five days tomorrow and the Midwife is back anyway but I thought I might get a bit of advice here too. She's eating well and actually put on a little weight (she's now 6 days old).

I know we're probably worrying over nothing but we really want to continue with Breast feeding, which again the midwife says is going reasonably well, but if she's not getting enough to pass something should we be worried?

Oh and she has had a pee every time we change her nappy, which is every few hours.

Thanks for any help.

Issy and John.

With BF they can not poo for a long time because they are getting everything they need from the milk (ie no waste!) Breast milk is designed to be as efficient as possible. If your DD is content, relaxed and feeding I would not worry. Congratulations :)

Do you mean your baby is 6 days old and she hasn't had a poo for 5 days so she only pooed on day 1 and not since?

You definitely need to mention this to your midwife. This is not usual for such a young baby. It's not unusual in an older BF baby to go a few days without a poo but your baby is very young.

How often is your baby feeding?

Definitely speak to your midwife, it could be a concern that a baby this little isn't pooing.

peeriebear - that's only true in older babies, say a month+.

I did write "However if you are concerned do always bring it up with your MW" then deleted it by accident You do whatever you feel is right, and if you think something is wrong make your voice heard.

Are you seeing the midwife tomorrow?

If I understand correctly, you are saying that dd hasn't had a poo for 5 days.
This is v. unusual in a baby this young so definitely needs checking out.

Please do alert your midwife/GP.
dd2 was like this - passed meconium but then no poo.
we were advised by the GP to take her to children's ward for investigations. after a brief check over, taking some bloods and ordering a couple of tests, she was given a glycerine suppository. about 30minutes later there was a weeks' worth of poo all over the ward. turned about she just needed a little nudge to get things moving.

This exact same thing happened with my daughter-we had never experienced it with our son and therefore were quite concerned! The HV told us it was normal for them to go without for up to seven days (or something like that). We got as far as day six or seven and couldn't take it anymore and took her to hospital to be examined. The doc said nothing was wrong and then as soon as we got back from the hospital she did her poo! Never had such a long gap again.

sevenyearolds -was your daughter a similar age to the OP's though or older?

Same with DS. Didn't poo for days. Dr said they can do "10 poos in one day, or 1 poo in 10 days" and it's all normal.

When he finally did poo it was massive. I was gagging changing him and my DH and I were laughing so much that DS peed in his own eye. My mother was looking on thinking how irresponsible we were. fun times.

Do mention it if you are worried but it's probably quite normal.

She was born on Monday morning at 7am, a couple of those lovely black poos but nothing for the last five days.

OP, I don't want to frighten you but please ignore the, well meaning, people who are saying it's normal, it isn't normal for a baby as young as yours to not poo for 5 days.

If you think there is anything wrong that can't wait till tomorrow then you can ring the labour ward or if you have a mobile for the community midwife you can ring her.

Only passing meconium and no normal poo needs checking out.

DD2 did this as well. She had a week of meconium and then poo then nothing for about 4 days. Then a huge poo explosion whilst I changed her bum. She found it quite hard to go then we got a fountain of caramel coloured poo. Once that had happened she settled down to pooing every few days.

If I was you I would take her in as her poo should of gone through the changes of colour which would show your colostrum and milk had gone through her system. The many poos or many days between poos usually happens after a couple of weeks.

Have you tried gentle baby massage? There is a move you do on the stomach which helps the digestive tract and usually results in baby farting away and sometimes pooing

Yes, she was in her first couple of weeks.

When's the midwife coming?

We had merconium followed by one yellowy poo then nothing for over a week. Midwife wasn't worried, nor were the hospital when he was admitted with jaundice (although they were keeping a very close eye on wet nappies).

Having said that, he did take a long time to regain birth weight, and turned out to have a tongue tie, so with hindsight I'm not sure whether we should have been more concerned.

Since then he's been very variable in his habits! We have periods of days without anything and then other times when he's very regular for a few days.

The same happened to us with Ds (now 24 weeks) I kept mentioning it to the midwife who didn't seem concerned. we got to day 17 (with only 1/2 poos since the mecconium) and I took him to the doctor who sent us straight to the hospital for Ds to be checked. Turned out his weight had dropped and he was only taking enough milk to coast along but not enough to thrive. Began formula top ups on the advice of the hospital doctor and he had a dirty nappy about 10 mins after his first bottle and has been fine since. Still breast feeding now but with the top ups.
Is DD very sleepy? Ds was jaundice and very sleepy in the early days which I think was why my milk supply never got boosted enough to cope with his demands and although the top ups solved the poo and weight gain problem my milk will never catch up with Ds' demands. If this is the problem there are ways to boost your supply so you can do without the formula.

We went a few days without poos. Gave her a bath. And hey presto within the hour on both times- explosive poos.

Shes now 12 days old and settling down.

Isabel have you spoken to your midwife?

Just wondered if you had any update Isabel?

Hope everything is OK.