worried about 3 week old - no poo for 24 hours!

[glittercaz]

Hi all,

Sorry, this is a bit long! Would really appreciate some advice about my newborn son....will give a bit of background as my experience over the past few weeks has made me especially nervous! Started off BF at birth - all seemed to be fine but after some initial post birth weight loss, he regained a tiny bit but then at the next midwife visit ( he had lost weight. Found this all very stressful and upsetting...was established that his attachment wasn't right, have been working to correct it and giving him a small bottle of formula in the evenings.

Over this time I had been getting wet and dirty nappies, even when I wasn't feeding right. When I worked on the attachment we got more, which of course makes sense. However, over the past 3 days the number of poos has been decreasing - and now we have had nothing since yesterday evening and I'm pretty worried. Have had various mothers and midwives say this can happen at this stage and could be the sign of a growth spurt (using all the energy to gain weight), and reassure me that this is fine, but I'm still pretty worried. He is still doing lots of wet nappies, so he's not dehydrated...also yesterday we gave him a little bit more formula than usual which I'm wondering could have affected things.

I can't help but be quite beside myself with worry - the weight loss thing really knocked my confidence with feeding etc, so now this change with the poo is filling me with more worry! Has anyone experienced this ? I'd really appreciate some words of reassurance...thanks so much in advance.

anyone?

getting a bit tearful now, would love to hear any words of wisdom! xx

Really don't worry, it may be that you have given him that extra bit of formula which may make him poo less often, its very normal for this to happen, my BF DS once went for a week without a poo, then pooed about 20 times in 1 day, it varies and as they grow things change, don't worry , if he is well otherwise then carry on , the poo will come eventually I can assure you!!

You're doing a fab job

Really, you mustn't worry - I remember the HV saying to me that anywhere between seven times in one day or once in seven days is normal for tiny babies. My DS was more like seven times in a day but my friend's DD (same age) only pooed once every five days, regular as clockwork.

Ah bless you, and congratulations on your new arrival! There are various times when little babies have growth spurts, every few weeks for the first few months it seems! I can't remember the exact times now as it is a little while ago for me, but i'm sure it went 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks etc - something like that! All babies lose a little weight after birth, it's expected - because babies don't establish feeding, from breast or bottle immediately, they use their extra baby fat they've gained in the last few weeks of pregnancy for energy. And it can take a couple of weeks to put back on. So long as your LO isn't losing drastic amounts he should be ok. If your midwife was worried about his weight she would tell you because she's there to look after him after all. And the poo thing (bet you never thought you could be so interested in dirty nappies!) probably is just him using up as much as possible for growing, which is a good thing re the weight gain! And you know he's not dehydrated so that's a good thing. And babies poos change constantly in the first few weeks/months - my DS's were green for a good while which is a sign of growing i believe! Some go every couple of hours and some not for 2 or 3 days at a time. I was a very worried mum for the first few months and the thing that really calmed me was reading "Your Baby and Child" by Penelope Leach - it just tells you stuff about babies, which sounds obvious but there is no agenda behind it, it's just like having a supportive and informed friend really! With the formula feeding, if you want to eventually BF when you're giving the formula i would express a little bit at the same time to keep your supply regulated, but if you want to keep that feed so that you can have a break fair enough, it's a sensible move probably!And i used to find that formula seemed to bung up my DS a little, because with breast milk there is practically no waste, but with formula there's a little more to digest - not that it does any harm to have it in their sytem a little longer, it can just slow things slightly. I wouldn't change the way you're feeding him just for the poo is what you're doing suits otherwise. I have written so much, sorry about that!! Reading your post brought it all back to me (my DS is now 18months nearly) and i wish i'd come on mumsnet and asked then! ANyway i'm sure you'v had a huge nappy while i've been typing this. I hope some of my ramble helps, and remember that if you're ever really worried just speak to the doctor, phone the out of hours service or whatever, they never mind! HTH

Glitter, there is a point in the first few weeks where babies' bowels do mature and change pretty much overnight. Tiktok, who is a bfc and gives lots of advice on here, will be able to reassure you more but I'll see if I can find an old post from her saying when that change occurs.

Hold on, I'll be back....

thank you ladies,so reassuring...finding it so hard not to get overwrought about things at the moment. hasn't helped with the feeding/weightloss problem, and also that my book says that 5 movements per day are a sign of enough food - midwife said ignore this though...xxx

Is he happy?

I am looking around for tiktok now as I know that bf babies do to a long time between but can't remember how early that happens. She does

Found this one:
'it is normal for a fully breastfed baby of a few weeks old to go several days between poos. If you wait, the baby will poo'.

but I know I've seen one that mentions a physiological change at so many weeks, will keep searching.

sorry, typing with one hand due to holding bf baby, and posted before i'd seen recent posts! this is all sooooo helpful, you are wonderful and it's great to hear this is not a cause for concern...would love to read tiktok's post if that could be digged out! xxx

Definitely try not to worry - breastfeed babies don't go very often. My 2 boys would go 3 or 4 days without doing anything at all. If he doesn't appear in pain or uncomfortable and is doing wet nappies I would think he is fine.

But watch out when he does go - they can be spectacular after saving them up for so long.

was only meant to lurk this evening, but had to reply to you. My 11 week old DD started off life giving us 12-16 pooey nappies a day [shcok]...then at about four weeks she changed to one poo every two to three days. I was very worried but have been assured this is normal. We now get a single humungous poo roughly every 2 days, but sometimes, if we're really lucky she goes four days and we get two poos within an hour of each other.

she is happy and healthy and growing lots (approx 0.5lbs a week!)

Don't worry and enjoy your infrequent pooey nappies!

From 4 - 6 wks, bf babies begin to poo less frequently. read this link from Kellymom which, if you want to cut to the chase, go to the heading 'Is my baby getting enough milk?'. A US quarter is the size of a 10p piece.

this gut is becoming more efficient in digesting milk which is why you get all the wet nappies but less poo. Mother nature doesn't do leftovers.

Are you still giving formula topups? I don't think that these were necessary anyway and as long as it is just one bottle in the evening still, you ought to be able to drop it and return to exclusive feeding. Just offer unlimited feeds in the evening to make your supply recover.

was the attachment issue sorted? if you think there may still problems with it, i definitely recommend calling one of the bf support lines for a chat.

Still searching for the stuff from tiktok with more details but found this link via Kellymom.com which is a great site for bf info if you haven't already seen it.

I copied this bit in case you don't have time to read it all now:
'In fact, at 3-6 weeks of age, breast-fed babies may only have one stool a week. This is because breast milk leaves very little waste in the intestines to be passed. Again, if the stool, when passed, is not hard, this is completely normal. In general, it is almost impossible for strictly breast-fed babies to become constipated.'

wow, you are all amazing! mumsnet is truly a lifesaver

I can't find the thread I'm thinking of but I'm sure tiktok will see this at some point in the next couple of days and reassure you herself!

glittercaz, no, I am not going to reassure and tell you this is all normal because I don't know and can't tell!

It could be normal, but there's not enough info in your post to be sure.

You don't say if your baby is now gaining weight normally, and feeding effectively from the breast. If both of these aspects are ok, then it's likely all is well.

I agree with the points raised about the use of formula - are you sure you still need to give this? You may need to work on your milk supply to take the place of the formula.

Post again if you want to, with more info!

thanks ladies. tiktok, I THINK the breastfeeding is now sorted - when the problem was identified he had lost 9% of his bodyweight. was weighed again the next week and he had gained 100g which I was assured was a good sign that he was now feeding normally and well. (though i've since read that 170g is an average weight gain for a newborn per week, which concerns me). when i asked the midwife if the 100g was a good gain, she said absolutely as we had the probs to begin with and also he is a big baby ( 9lbs 1 at birth).

the problem with the feeding was that he was going for the nipple rather than taking a big mouthful of breast. he still 'faffs around' a bit when i'm getting him attached properly and i often have to correct the positioning before it seems right. he does seem happy and well - very alert when awake, looking around, a good pink colour etc (he has never been jaundiced). however, as i really got into a state about the weight loss i'm aware that the anxiety could have increased my milk supply, and it's so hard to tell if he's attached properly, so I could be creating a vicious circle of him not getting enough food. also a bit scared to stop the formula bottle because of this. he is going to be weighed again on tuesday and i'm hoping to see a big gain, but of course the concern with the lack of poo is that he suddenly might not be getting enough food (though he was pooing quite a lot - 4 or 5 a day) when he wasn't feeding properly. so all very confusing, and now despite the reassurance on here, i'm worried again! be great to hear your thoughts, thanks so much...xxxx

sorry, i of course meant anxiety decreased my breast milk!

also, another point it might be worth mentioning is he has been doing some rather bad farts over the past few days, but again have been assured this is normal....x

glittercaz - honestly, everything sounds fine, and the extra info in your post makes me think the lack of poo is just a normal development for your baby.

Anxiety does not reduce milk supply - really, it doesn't. Stress can sometimes interfere with 'let down', very temporarily, but being anxious and worried has no effect on the amount of milk you make.

A nine per cent weight loss would be regarded as comfortably within normal limits by most people and not a sign for formula, and you rightly got help with amending the attachment....it really does not sound as if he ever needed formula and I can't see a reason for a bottle now, especially if the only reason you are using one is because you think anxiety effects the milk supply and I have hopefully scotched that one

Your baby is gaining just fine from what you say and now could be time just to relax about everything

@ glittercaz: Just to add from my experience that a "poo strike" is very normal in babies under a couple of months. I think the longest stretch one of mine went was 3 days. It's lack of wee over 12-24 hours that is the only think to be concerned about and you say there's plenty of that.