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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

12 day old not pooing?

4 replies

Induced22 · 10/12/2022 10:28

Our 12 day old is exclusively formula fed. He is eating a lot more than he "should" be doing (4 or 5 oz every 3-4 hours). Health visitor said we should feed on demand whenever he is hungry.

From the beginning, he eats very quickly and struggles with gas. We have switched to mam size 0 teats, feed him upright and take breaks to wind him. We have also started using infacol which does seem to help.

A few days ago he hadn't had a poo in 24 hours (after usually pooing several times a day) so I called the health visitor. She said not to worry as long as he is still producing wet nappies and that I should probably expect a poo explosion soon. She told me to do bicycle legs and massage his tummy. She was right and he had a poo a couple of hours later.

However, another 48 hours have passed and he hasn't had a poo again. He is still eating a lot, still producing wet nappies and still sleeping but there is just no poo. Sometimes he makes uncomfortable noises which I worry are him pushing.

I've tried rubbing his tummy, I love you massage, bicycle legs, a warm bath and rubbing his bum with warm water on a cotton wool ball.

How long do I leave it before it is a worry? When I called the health visitor she didn't seem concerned at all so I feel a bit silly ringing back to say the same thing. But at the same time, although she has confirmed that 24 hours without poo isn't a concern, there must be a certain amount of time that does become a concern surely?

Thank you from an anxious first time mum.

OP posts:
EloiseMidgen · 10/12/2022 21:29

Have a Google of Grunting Baby Syndrome (infant dyschezia) - does that fit?

my baby is 14 weeks now and has always been a very inconsistent pooper! Would spend days trying to push one out - as soon as baby has wet nappies and seems happy enough then I wouldn’t worry (although obv speak to HV if you like).

PritiPatelsMaker · 11/12/2022 11:28

Any poop yet @Induced22?

trrk · 13/12/2022 13:17

My FF baby would only poop every 2-5 days at that stage. If you have a bouncer you could try that - at one stage it was guaranteed to generate a poop explosion for us.

The health visitor told me to phone GP if it got to 5 days but we usually had poop before that point. We did get prescribed lactulose once but never ended up using it.

I would only worry if he seems uncomfortable.

Since my LO did start to seem uncomfortable we tried changing the formula from Aptimal to Kendamil and now get poop 2-3 times a day.

Induced22 · 13/12/2022 22:24

Sorry for the delay in replying to this. Things have been quite hectic here. We had poo - looks like he just only goes every 2 - 3 days. I saw the midwife who said that I should contact the gp if it goes for more than 2 days. Today I went to the gp about his reflux but the gp didn't seem concerned at all about the infrequent pooing. For now I am going to go with as long as he has wet nappies and seems okay then I won't worry about it unless it's been longer than 3 days.

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