Breast fed newborn only pooing once every other day

[ilovetosleep]

He's 5 weeks now but since his poos became yellow in the first week he has only ever pooed every other day.

He has plenty of wet nappies and is putting on good weight, following 75th centile (although not been weighed since 2/3 weeks but I can tell he's getting heavier and I did attempt to weigh on home scales which, although inaccurate, showed definite weight gain.)

Anyway the HV said there was nothing wrong with that but have since read on various sites that infrequent poos in breastfed babies is only normal after the 6 week mark and before then it really should be several times a day. Should I be worried? Can't get to HV til next week and am worrying now!

Mine was the same! Was very surprised as DC1 pooed in every nappy!

Every other day isnt infrequent really. My baby didnt poo for 9 days after day 5, thats the sort of thing they mean by infrequent!

My health visitor told me anything from 7 poos in one day to 1 poo in seven days is normal, once baby is well, wet and gaining any amount of weight.

Not necessarily Frusso, my breastfed babies poo loads!

OP, you're right that generally infrequent pooing in a newborn can mean that they aren't getting enough milk, but by 5 weeks, if he is gaining weight and is content and the HV has seen him and is happy then I wouldn't worry at all.

Don't worry. My ebf four week old did that in week two and hv said it was fine

Thanks for the reassurance. DS 1 pooed all day very day at the beginning so this is all new! Haven't actually seen hv in a fortnight but gp has seen him about someone else and everyone seems to comment on his ever increasing size so he's definitely getting enough despite TT - that's another story.

Thanks eveyone

Bf babies are very efficient at using the perfect fuel they get so one poo a day is perfectly OK. Weaning now and oh, my goodness. Three a day. And why do they all look like spinach? Why???

We would normally expect an exclusively breastfed baby to poo at least twice a day from day 5 to 4 to 6 weeks.

But as your baby is gaining weight well, I really wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks NotQuiteCockney. I had him weighed yesterday and he's jumped from 75th to 91st centile, so I don't suppose I should be worried!

Bit weird that he hasn't now pooed since wednesday though... and we started on gaviscon today so I'm guessing it might be even longer until we see any nappy action! So strange after DS1 and his many many poos!

Frusso my ebf baby had a dirty nappy at every change for months, so 5-6 poos during the day. I don't think statements like yours are helpful. That was your experience and the theory.