Constipation in 1 week old??

[BBeep]

A little background; My son is one week old and breastfed. He's lost a little too much weight since birth (9%) and the midwife has suggested pumping between feeds and giving it to him in a bottle to boost his intake. Other than this, he seems fine, is sleeping and drinking well and is having plenty of wet nappies of a normal colour.

But he hasn't done a poo in 2 or 3 days now. Anyone had this? Is it normal? I can only seem to find information on constipation in formula fed babies. He does seem a little uncomfortable at times and has been farting like crazy. I've tried the leg movements and going to try giving him a little warm bath. Is there anything else I can do? Has anyone been to the GP about constipation this young?

Thanks!

It's entirely normal at this age, especially for breastfed babies. Don't stress out about it unless it goes on for a long time. They'll poo when they're ready. I was told by both the midwife and the health visitor that this isn't a cause for concern in the early days.

It's very common for babies who have a large weight loss like this not to poo until they start gaining weight and have adequate milk intake.
Keep breastfeeding and giving top up as adviced by your midwife and he will soon poo.
No you do not need a GP for this.

Breastfed babies absolutely can be constipated and it really irritates me when the internet says they can't or to leave it until there's been nothing for "a long time"....

My son is a stool witholder and I am convinced it was because he was constipated as a baby and I read the posts of breastfeed babies not being constipated I did nothing about it. Leading to a stretched bowel.

NHS website says to seek midwife or HV advice if baby is over 4 days old but under 6 weeks old, breastfed and hasn't pooed in 24-48hrs. www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/feeding-your-baby/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-challenges/constipation

When is your next midwife or HV appt? Could you give them a quick text for some advice? My 3 week old has been the same over the weekend (she also had an 11% drop in birth weight and took 3 weeks to regain) so im going to a local drop in session tomorrow that our HVs run to hopefully get some advice.

(Hopefully) you might be about to experience your first poonami.

It’s really poor advice if anyone tells you this is normal for breastfed infants or that the milk is ‘low waste’. It’s simply not true, until roughly 6 weeks of age they should poo at least twice a day. Not doing so may mean baby needs more milk, how many feeds are they having a day? Both boobs?

I would suggest contacting a local lactation consultant and getting a tongue tie assessment, and some skilled help.

https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/

My breast fed babies pooed about every five days, so for us that’s normal.

Breastfeed babies may not poo particularly frequently from around 4-6 weeks and at that point it isn't concerning unless there are other signs of illness, discomfort or a feeding problem. However, at this age, in an otherwise well baby, it is usually linked to not quite getting enough milk. A baby who is feeding well should poo. A 9% weight loss by itself isn't unusual and isn't generally concerning but your midwife is quite right that in combination with the lack of poo it might be an idea to increase milk intake.

Hopefully your midwife has assessed a feed and looked at your positioning and attachment to make sure that your baby is well system during feeds and transferring milk effectively. I would expect her to have also discussed switch nursing and breast compressions. Both these techniques can increase active suckling at the breast and increase the volume of milk a baby takes. Switch nursing can also boost your supply. These measures may resolve the poo and weight situation without adding any other top ups. I would also expect her to have looked at the whole picture and consider any reason for delayed or insufficient milk. In other words do we have weight loss and lack of poo because of a lactation problem or a baby feeding problem. Sometimes it is a combination of things.

Over the internet it isn't possible to say what your problem is and sometimes people treat the symptoms (weight loss and lack of poo) without treating the cause and just jump right in to suggesting top ups. But without any of us being able to see your baby and assess these things then I would follow your midwife's advice for now and express and give top ups. Always give breast first and make sure you pace the bottle feed. Keep baby upright and held close, offer the teat and when baby opens mouth introduce it, keep bottle lowered for the first few sucks then lift to a horizontal position so just the end of the teat is filled with milk so baby needs to suck and doesn't just swallow milk dripping in to his mouth. When baby pauses, lower the bottle down and lift it back up when he sucks. Watch out for signs he is done like breaking eye contact with you or pushing the teat away.

More information about signs of an effective breastfeed and how to tell that baby is getting enough milk is on the UNICEF baby friendly website.