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Infant feeding

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

Daft question alert - would you describe this as constipated?

6 replies

TheHopefullyAndTheIvy · 12/12/2008 21:44

DS is 12 weeks old. until recently he was having 5-6oz of formula for his night feed (started at 9 weeks). He did seem to be really struggling with his gut, only pooing about every 4 days, and really miserable for the 24 hours before he went.

Over the past week/10 days I've managed to express a little bit (thanks to all the great advice on here!) to reduce the formula quantity, and he's begun to cut back on the night feed, so he's only taking something like 2oz of formula most nights, with the odd 5oz bottle if I've failed to express and he's starving.

He's no longer having the miserable 24 hours, but he is still going every 3-5 days and really really straining when he does go. When it finally happens, poo is really quite solid - hard to compare to anything, but perhaps you could describe it as the consistency of nearly set concrete?! I would say it's a tad softer than a normal adult poo. (sorry, TMI!) It's a normal mustardy colour
though, and not as much as I'd expect after 4 days, and certainly not as much as it was at 8-10 weeks. Does that sound like constipation? Should I be doing anything for it?

Incidentally, the 'constipation' has coincided not only with dropping the volume of the night feed but with us stopping giving infacol and gripe water before/after every feed - no idea if the 30-40ml extra liquid was affecting anything?

Should I just wait to see if things improve on their own? or should I contemplate some extra water? Seems silly when he's only having that tiny bit of formula...

OP posts:
DLI · 12/12/2008 21:56

why did you stop the gripe water? what about every other feed giving gripe water?

TheHopefullyAndTheIvy · 12/12/2008 21:58

We only stopped because he didn't seem to need it any more - he doesn't have such a problem bringing up wind now.

I'm not averse to continuing to give it at all, but if I'm only giving it for water value, perhaps I should just give him some water? Or maybe ease him off the gripe more gently, every other feed like you say?

OP posts:
DLI · 12/12/2008 22:03

or what about giving him a drink of water (a small amount) between two of his feeds?

TheHopefullyAndTheIvy · 13/12/2008 17:29

I'm not at all averse to giving him water, maybe I'll give it a shot.

I understood that BF babies shouldn't have this problem, but since he's having a formula feed every now and again maybe that slightly discounts that advice.

OP posts:
believer07 · 13/12/2008 21:31

my bf baby only goes once a week. My other son went loads more but i think that infacol makes them go more. This baby never had colic.

Sidge · 13/12/2008 21:44

Constipation isn't about how often he goes, but what his poo is like when he does go and how difficult it is for him to poo.

For a breastfed baby to go 4 days between poos isn't unusual (not much waste with breastmilk!), but if it is quite firm poo that he finds painful to pass then he may well benefit from some extra water, or less formula and more breastmilk if possible.

Many babies will strain to poo to some degree, so that's not a problem, it's the pain and hardness of the poo that's the problem.

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