Breast feeding - no dirty nappies??

[Lmcx]

Hello everyone

anxious ftm 🥹

my baby girl is 4 weeks and 5 days old.

she lost 12% of weight when born as delay in milk supply so spent some time in Neo natal. Breast feeding isn’t going great still, but I have been using express bottles every feed basically. It’s been hard work but she is being assessed for tongue tie tomorrow to rule out due to poor latch.

she has consistently had at least 1 dirty nappy per day since being born, sometimes 2 or 3 but always had at least one. That was until Sunday, she had a dirty nappy at 2pm. Then that was it, it got to past 48 hours and went to doc’s who felt tummy and said not much build up and nice and soft, so sent us away with lactose which worked within 3 hours, pretty explosive. So this was Tuesday evening. I’m now on Thursday evening and I have not had any dirty nappies since.

everywhere I look online it’s that breastfed babies don’t get constipated, she has lots of wind and wet nappies so I’m not concerned about her being dehydrated.

has anyone had this and it’s not been sinister?

When my son was that age the health visitor told me not to worry if he didn’t poo for up to a week. This can be normal for breastfed babies apparently. He always went several times a day so I never had this issue, but all babies are different. I wouldn’t worry too much unless she stops having wet nappies or it does go over 7 days.

DD1 was exclusively breastfed and I remember being extremely concerned on day 9 with no dirty nappy!! My HV came round and said it’s normal and be prepared for an explosion. Low and behold an hour after she left it was a nappy like I’d never seen before

The stool pattern of a breastfed baby can change between 4-6 weeks. Breastfed babies from day 4 ish should be pooing at least twice a day. This should continue, but can change around your babies age (4-6 weeks ish)
If she is gaining weight then it's usually nothing to be worried about, and she won't need lactose.
If you have weight gain issues you could look at getting some support.

This was the age DS started going at least a week between poos. Very common in a breastfed baby. His record was 10 days

My sons record was 11 days. What a time that was I was legit going insane with post natal anxiety and he threw this into it all.

He was completely fine though a bit windy before hand. Pooped like normal on the 12th day and then fell into a pattern of every two days

My little one didn't poo for four days several times at that age, really smelly farts though! Doctor was happy she was passing wind as showed no blockage, and if poop is soft when it appears it's not constipation!

If baby isn't uncomfortable, it's fine. It's normal for EBF babies to have more variance. I think from about 8 weeks, my girl went around once a week, whereas as a newborn it was every nappy!

I was led to believe it wasn't an issue for breastfed babies to go long periods without dirty nappies at the same age. For us it went hand in hand with slow weight gain and colic like symptoms, it transpired it was a tongue tie that meant he wasn't transferring milk effectively and it took several weeks after his tongue tie had been divided to relearn how to feed and follow a centile curve.

So although it may well be your baby just finding their rhythm, it's worth just digging a little deeper to make sure it isn't part of a bigger picture. A lactation consultant will be able to help if you're unsure, I remember how worrying it all was, you're doing a great job!

I wish they would remove that advice that ebf babies don't get constipation. My dd was ebf and at one point went 17 days without pooing! We had to keep going back and forth to childrens a&e to get checked and have them administer a suppository.

We were finally referred to a paediatrician when she was coming up to 6 months and as usually happens it has sorted it's self out by the time she was seen. She has started solids and is going every 3 days max now.

So just to say this does happen with ebf babies but if you are concerned or regularly going over 1 week push to get referral for your own peace of mind.

A friend of mine had a breastfed baby who simply never pooped, but had lots of wet nappies. The doctor said not to worry. The baby turned into a strapping lad with a huge appetite even as a toddler.

I’m surprised a doctor would give you that after only 48 hours seems a bit excessive. Don’t think it’s abnormal - my first two were pooing constantly but my third much less so and it slowed around four weeks too. Health visitors weren’t concerned. She’s 11 weeks now and totally fine, just doesn’t poo as much as her siblings!

guys, thank you so much.

when I was looking it up, the NHS states that babies between 4 days and- 6 weeks should go at least twice in 24 hours and to contact gp/health visitor if baby hasn’t went in 24/48 hours.. hence my panic! But this has been reassuring.

I was thinking the absolute worse 🥹 I did give her the lactose after visiting GP, her words were “this will get everything going again, hopefully she won’t need to use it regularly” I obvs wouldn’t be comfortable doing that anyway, gave it a go but back to square one but she doesn’t seem in pain or excessive straining etc.

thank you!

Mine didn’t poo for a week once or twice (EBF). DD didn’t seem concerned at all, I was. And then , on the seventh day, a milky poonami to be reckoned with came 😅 It’s funny how a pop can make a parent so happy 😅😅

My daughter went nine days once. And then produced what for ever after became known as “an all up the back job”. It actually came out of the back of the neck of her vest.

It might well be fine but it is a flag to get feeding checked out, especially as it hasn't been going so well. Can you ask your HV to refer you to infant feeding support. GPs aren't usually trained to assess breastfeeding, and the specialists will be able to make a plan with you to move away from bottles of that's what you want.