breastfeeding, anusol and constipated baby - advice please

[waahwaah]

Hi, DS is 8 weeks old, exclusively breastfed and has always had 3-4 dirty nappies a day. hasn't had one for two days now and it's causing him grief - much grunting, straining, crying etc especially during feeds. heaps of wet nappies though. I started using anusol suppositories two days ago and it seems more than a coincidence... has anyone else come across this? if so, I guess the obvious answer is for me to stop taking them but I really want things to clear up IYKWIM!!

You're using the anusol suppositories on you, right? I really doubt they're causing problems in him - they're really just affecting the local area, aren't they?

If he's exclusively breastfed, maybe he's moving to pooping less often. I'm assuming his weight gain and general health are both good? Small babies often seem to struggle with pooping, but unless they're actually producing hard poos (very rare in breastfed babies), it's not actually a problem, iyswim ...

lol NQC
That was my initial concern.

Sounds fine to me-they make many dramatic noises which don't mean they are straining.
I'm sure b/fed poo is always soft.

hee hee, fair point! yep, they're being used on me - I will get better at this I agree, just thought it was one of those "phases", just seemed to coincide exactly timewise. he is otherwise healthy and happy and gaining weight. the GP did mutter something very quickly about how they might cause diarrhoea in the baby. so I thought perhaps they'd had the opposite effect...

I can't see how they'd do anything to the baby! I'd be surprised if anything from them ends up in your bloodstream, never mind your milk!

Seriously, the anusol works by (locally) constricting your veins, right? If it got into your bloodstream and constricted all your veins, I think you'd be in too much trouble to notice your DS straining out a poo! (Ok, that wasn't entirely serious, but still ...)

eureka! we struck poo!! you should have seen the smiles on his face (and mine)! thanks for your posts - NQC I see what you mean, good point. will ask GP what he was on about when I next go

NQC is correct, however if you had steroidal pile cream it can get into your blood stream (the french stick most of their medicines up their bums apparently b/c it is a good way to ingest it quickly). My DD sometimes doesn't poo for days (we put the flags out to celebrate though).

Just a warning though, sometimes they save up lots of poo for when you are out and don't have any nappies/changes of clothes left in the bag.