3-week-old no poo for 24 hours - worry? V grateful for advice

[OhGood]

HI all, grateful for advice. My 3/4-w/o has been slow to pick up weight so I am particularly anxious about him.

Anyway - he has had no poo for 24 hours + now - is this a sign he is dehydrated? When to worry? Plenty of wet nappies and he seems fine 'in himself' (as they always ask.)

hello, congratulations !
is he exclusively breastfed? from what i recall it's not uncommon for EBF babies to go for a while without a poo! wet nappies are always a good sign.

My friend's bf baby regularly goes up to 2 weeks at a time without a pooh and then has a right clear out. It's perfectly fine as long as there are no other worries.

don't worry! my DS would only go once a week ( he was BF) !

Normal in all newborns, although ebf tend to go longest without pooing. My HV loves to tell her 1- days later poonami story.

My BF ds once went over a week. I thinks it's normal in BF babies.

After about 4-5 weeks, some ebf babies slow right down in the poo rate. After that time, we no longer use poo rate as a way of judging milk transfer. Some ebf babies can go a week or even longer between poos and it's not a concern provided what comes out is soft, weight gain is fine and we're not worried about anything else.

However under 4 weeks, we still pay a bit of attention. Ideally we would see 2-3 poos (the size of a £2 coin or bigger). That's a good sign that milk is transferring well. So if we're not seeing that, we just want to check everything else is OK. We'd look at wet nappies (6 in 24 hours), weight gain and overall demeanour. If that isn't going well, we'd look at breastfeeding management: Make sure baby has a good latch, make sure baby is feeding enough, look generally at supply.

Obviously your baby is right on the cusp of when that transition can happen! Confusing, I know. So honestly, we can't definitely say your baby is getting enough milk at this point as you've mentioned weight gain hasn't been ideal. We can say that if he's getting at least 6 wet nappies in 24 hours, he isn't dehydrated. The wet nappies will indicate whether he's dehydrated and all that all sounds positive. And you're probably planning on getting him weighed again soon anyway. Hopefully you will continue to get good breastfeeding support and his weight gain will reassure you.

You could phone the national breastfeeding helpline on 0300 100 0212 if you want another opinion. (I'm a bfc on the helpline and a lactation consultant).

Sorry, should have added under 4 weeks we should see 2-3 poos £2 coin size or bigger in 24 hours.

Tambajam (and everyone) thank you so much for taking time to write such detailed advice. Will get him weighed sooner rather than later. Thanks again.