No poo - day 12...!

[monkeypuzzeltree]

Ebf baby, totally happy otherwise and he is 12 weeks. I know they can go a long time but is this too long!! May require a gas mask for smelly gas though! Many thanks!

No its not too long at all. DDs record was 12 days. All I'm saying is make sure you take a full change of clothes with you everywhere you go, in fact take two .

Day 14 and still nothing. Been to doctor who said to keep doing the sugar water thing. Have massaged tummy, drank lots of juice myself, warm baths. Now have over tired baby as not sleeping and very fussy when feeding. Please give me your magic cures!!

Sugar water pointless and not a good thing to give. Massage, warm bath prob pointless. Drinking juice yourself def. pointless.

Even 14 days is on the normal spectrum for a healthy, beyond newborn baby.

Appreciate that sugar not exactly what I want to be giving him but you mean it doesn't even work?!
I've been spooked by doctor saying 7 days is about the limit, a HV today who was telling me to go massage at the same time as giving me a withering look as son has only put on 8 oz in 4 weeks - it puts him in 50th centi - all round rubbish day! I've worked so hard to get back to bf was not what I needed, he's fine!

So on the poo front sounds like I just have to wait, thanks tiktok will give up the water.

Babies (or anyone else) who are constipated benefit from extra fluids. Sugar makes plain water more palatable, and there may be some stool-softening effect of the sugar in the water.

Your baby is very unlikely to be constipated and very unlikely to have hard stools that need softening. When the poo comes it will be soft and copious :)

Make sure you have a spare outfit for yourself at all times, as well as for the baby.

If you want to get things going, try saying loudly to the baby "oh mummy only has a couple of wipes left in this packet, never mind we will get some more at the shops." Baby will then produce several pints of shit before you arrive anywhere selling wipes, guaranteed. Ah happy days

Very true, Grumpia.

You can also try saying, 'oh, lets take a bus/train ride of at least an hour and lets dress you in this very nice white garment.....'

DD (EBF) went for 21 days once. I was extremely worried, after about 14 days, and got zero response from anyone (GP, health visitor, etc). Eventually I gave her a dose of lactulose (at GP's suggestion after repeated calls to him saying WTF.) She picked 10 mins before start of ceremony at friends' wedding. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether it was the lactulose that shifted her.

She had problems with pooing until she was well established on solids. Periodically would just stop, and I would worry, and then OK for a few days again. She's 2.5 now and fine, though at drop of hat will get a bit constipated again, or have a bit of a funny tummy.

Her NCT friend had similar issue but got worse and worse, even when she moved onto solids (oh and she was FF). So bad her bowel stretched and she had complications - and had to go and see a 'constipation nurse' - and sort of had to learn to poo again. She's also fine now.

Anyway, my point is, keep an eye out, trust your instincts.

Have you tried prune juice? We used it our little one when she went days without a jobby. Our longest was probably 4/5 days and I was getting worried then. Good luck!

You might need to dilute the prune juice first depending on your babys age, but it worked nicely for us.

Thank you ladies you have made me laugh on what has been a challenging day! So, I need to go and put him in his best outfit and go some place where I don't want him to do it!!

I don't think he's actually constipated as in it being hard, his tummy is quite soft. There has definitely been more smelly air today so maybe it's coming. Best leave him with dh for an hour or two tomorrow!

My little wolfcub does this. When he was around 4 weeks old he hadn't been:

Day 3 or 4
Regular appointment with HV. Mentioned that he hadn't been, she said not to worry breastfed babies could go for about a week or so.

Day 10
He hadn't been over the weekend so I called HV to ask at what point we should be worried. He was feeding fine, having plenty of wet nappies, passing wind normally and seemed well in himself. She said he was probably fine, but if he hadn't been by the following day then we should see GP just to have him checked out. Suggested cooled boiled water. I decided not to give him this because he wasn't dehyrated.

Day 11
Got same day appointment. Doctor felt and listened to his tummy. Said his tummy was working fine but we could try giving him cooled boiled water or apple or orange juice to get things moving. DH and I decided not to do this, he was well, I didn't want to give him something just to make us feel like we were doing something, so we stopped worrying (mostly) because what we were concerned about was whether his tummy was working. Doctor said we should bring him in if he started vomiting or showed signs of distress.

Day 12
HV regular appointment, she saw how well he was (playing with gym) and agreed that he didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Day 13
My 6 week check. Asked different GP because I'd forgotten to ask the first one, if there was any point at which we should begin to worry and bring him in even if he was otherwise well (feeding, wet nappies, passing wind, calm and relaxed, not vomiting). She said no.

Day 16
Wolfcub waits until DH had gone back to work after long weekend off. There's a little strain, and I massage his tummy and cycle his legs (I did this to soothe him, I think he'd have managed without) and he fills his nappy at last. It isn't hard at all, maybe a little pastier than his newborn ones, and more orangey (Tikka Masala rather than Korma... ) and it stayed within the confines of his nappy! (Though I did manage to mess his clothes up when I cleaned him up.

After the 16 day marathon, he went 6 days, then 4 days, then 7 days (that was 2 days ago and its the first one to escape the nappy... and filled one leg of his sleep suit!). The last couple have been back to more yellowish but I don't know if there was a significance to the colour.

We haven't done any of the remedies, just held our nerve after he had had his tummy given a clean bill of health. He hasn't been constipated with solid stools as such, he's just been taking his time.

On a less happy note, he's managed to avoid doing any of them whilst DH has been home, so he hasn't done a dirty nappy since he went back to work at 5 weeks even though his son is 9 weeks old and he's in charge of most evening and weekend nappy changes!