does anyone have a breastfed baby with really infrequent bowel movements?

[Zose]

Hi, my daughter is 5 months old and EBF. Since the new year her bowel movements have got less and less regular to the point that she is going every 10-15 days only. She is not in any discomfort, eating fine and passing lots of wind. The doctors couldn't feel any blockages but have prescribed Movicol (laxative) to try and get things moving. I'm reluctant to use this given its normally prescribed to toddlers and older children and she shows no distress and when she does have a bowel movement it is not hard or pellet like. Just wondered if anyone else has a baby with such infrequent bowel movements as mine?

Also, I have tried baby massage, reflexology, water, fruit puree, warm baths, cycling leg motions to get things going and nothing makes things move any faster...any other suggestions?

I thought infrequent poos were pretty common in EBF babies? Because they are only getting what they need, so there is not much waste ? My HV tells a tale of a little girl who only used to go every couple of weeks, but when she did it was explosive! Sorry I can't be much more help, neither of mien were bf for very long, but just to let you know that I don't think it's that unusual.

DS1 was abit like that - no poo for a week or so and then a poonami! Have you tried some diluted fresh orange guice - that seemed to help accelerate DS1's poos. When she starts on solids, she may become more regular (DS1 did).

My DD was infrequent, around 7-10 days when she was exclusively breast fed, but boy what a poo when it happened. It would explode everywhere, and fill the legs of her babygro

There's some info on kellymom about frequency of pooing and though 15 days is longer than I've heard of before, if she is fine and not in any discomfort, I'd be inclined to leave the movicol alone.

My DS was like this. I found that MY eating dairy slowed his gut motility. Me removing all dairy helped a lot. He is still an infrequent pooer at 3 though nothing worrying now but if he eats more than a smattering of dairy he struggles.

If you wanted to go dairy free I'd trial it for a fortnight.

Nope, but I have one friend whose EBF baby only went every 5 days and another whose EBF baby goes once a week (if that).

I don't know about the maternal dietary changes you can make but do recommend prunes for when baby gets to solids! I've been buying real prunes (not mush) and squeezing out a bit of the middle for my DS (9m). He only has enough to cover the top of my thumb but it does do the job. Fairly mushy too, so difficult to choke on :)

Poonami :o Exactly dinkystinky!

Thanks for the words of advice, it is so stressful waiting endlessly for a poo to arrive and to feel that the only thing left to try is laxatives which scares me a lot, as I hate to think that she will become reliant on them to go! I barely eat any dairy at all as this was causing her to be gripey in the early days but I will try to cut out the splash of milk in my decaf tea and the slither of butter on my toast that I still consume and see if that has any effect.

Poonami is a good one...I referred to it as the 'MegaPoo' but I like poonami more!

My DD used to only go every 5-6 days when breastfed but not as long as 10-15 days. I don't think its particularly uncommon though as there is no waste from breast milk. If your DD is not uncomfortable, in pain etc that I would not be too concerned. I appreciate that its a bit disconcerting though to only have a poo every week or so. Once they are on formula/solids its a lot more regular.

poonami is a good word but does sound a bit too much like poonani for me (anyone remember Ali G?)....

Maybe take care saying it when you're out and about!!

ha ha ha!

yes i wouldnt be that inclined to worry tbh. my dd went every 10days or so, as others have said theres v little waste in bm so therefor much less to get rid of. I echo what others have said about explosions when they do go, its shocking when they do go how much comes out of such a little personand dd would get it in her hair even!

My edf DD would go as long as 9 days or so before the aforementioned poonami! She also wasn't distressed or upset when she finally pooed. Im sure she became a bit more frequent once she started on solids.

Sounds a lot like my 5mo DS zose - he was daily (sometimes multiple up until new year), now his new normal seems to be 5-7 days, occasionally up to 10. I've taken him to the Dr twice and everything has been fine.

It's normal, but it's nothing to do with 'no waste' from breastmilk (if it was to do with no waste, there would not be the HUGE poos after X days). It's to do with the way the gastro-colic reflex changes after the newborn period.

HI, yes, been there, I took some advice from a retired midwife, you suggested a small amount of pure orange juice each day, at breakfast. If the baby has pain when pooing they will delay it hence it becomes less frequent, backed up and painful. The Orange Juice worked for my son, he now does one every day at about the same time, and the small tears created by the back up have healed up nicely and he is no longer afraid of the poo urge

I was also told that a clockwise circle on the tummy for about 5 mins also pushed the poo down and my son also liked this, before his warm bath

Hope this helps

DD1 was like that and even when on formula she still only went once or twice a week. The big difference on ff poos was they stunk, bf ones were just messy

Yes, when my DS was EBF he only used to poo about every 7-10 days (but when he did go another outfit would be ruined... If she's not in any discomfort I wouldn't worry.

Imo this is perfectly normal. Your dc is 5months so using up all the food u providing with bm. My dd2 hardly ever did a poo. If u haven't started solids yet when u do, I think u will see a huge difference & if not, then u can use some of the things suggested above.

both my daughters used to go every 7-10 days up to 6 months (from about 6-8 weeks). i did consult several hcps and paeds (abroad) and they didn't seem to know or care!

neither child seemed bothered, poo was never hard and they never ever seemed in discomfort.

with the second child i didn't worry and enjoyed it. she's a month into blw now and yuk, it's a pancake of evil, sour plop every few hours

can I just add that this IMO this is perfectly normal when BF. With formula is is more likely a child would actually be constipated and may require suggestions as above.

DS only pooed once per week when ebf, for about 5 months. Once or twice he went for 10 days. Once he started solids he started pooing several times per day. It was a bit of a shock having got used to buying nappies on a monthly rather than weekly basis!

Personally i wouldn't give the movicol. I questioned using it when my dd was about 1andhalf yrs because it says it's only for 2 yrs and up. I did give it in the end because she was in so much pain feom being constipated. I think, from experience of my dd, that if your little one was actually constipated you would see some kind of discomfort.

As newborns my dd pooed v frequently and my ds only poos about weekly, but I can just tell that he's perfectly fine.