Feeding 8 wk old water for runny poos?

[vanimal]

DD is 8 weeks old and exclusively breastfed.

At her 6 week check up earlier this week, I mentioned to the Dr that her poos are always very runny (always dip down her leg or up the back of her baby-gro - lovely..)

She has gained plenty of weight (jumped up by 9 centiles) and has lots of wet nappies etc. Poos every other days, and then it's usually 2 or 3 times in that day.

The Dr suggested I give her cooled boiled water, 2-3 ounces twice a day to replace the fluid being lost in her runny poos.

This advice just 'feels' wrong to me - surely she has fluid enough from BM, is not unhappy, and water would just fill her up and mean she won't drink her milk? Am happy to get her trying out a bottle soon, but would prefer it be filled with expressed BM than with water - what are people's thoughts on this?

nooooo. breastmilk is all she needs

lots of GPs don't know a whole lot about breatsmilk so no surprise there.

little baby's poos are runny, they do go all the way up their back, especially if they were in their car seat at the time! tis loverly

My BF babes always had runny poos. Quite normal afaik.

I never gave them water till they could hold a cup by themselves.

I thought so - blimming GPs. He sounded very convincing too.

omg - how on earth would I clean her obviously designed by a man non-removable car seat cover if she pooed on it? She's already pooed through her clothes, my duvet cover and stained the duvet inside this morning!

have you tried other brands of nappies? bf babies (indeed formula fed new babies as well) always have runny poo, but if it's dripping down her leg it suggests the nappy's too big, or the wrong kinda shape at least. try a few brands.

Your baby just needs breastmilk and nothing else - your milk is tailored to have everything in it she needs!

Aitch - have tried Pampers, Huggies, and now Asda's own brand, but have had the same problem each time.

She is a small baby with skinny legs, so I am hoping this will get better as she fattens up.

I agree with others, sounds like a nappy problem rather than a poo problem. Have you considered cloth nappies? IME they leak poo a lot less than disposables.

Also, this is appalling advice from your GP. Firstly pathologising normal poo, and then giving poor advice on the strength of it! If you feel up to it maybe a letter to the practice pointing this out would be in order?

I had the same thing with DS and used cloth nappies. These seemed to contain the poo much better than disposables. He was fairly small and skinny too at first.

Can't believe your GP gave out that advice. Well done for asking if it was correct and not just following bad advice from a crappy GP.

Vanimal, deffo try washables, much more containing

Personally I would speak to the gp about the advice he gave you, it could potentialy have undermined your breastfeeding. My gps surgey has a suggestions box and a form you can fill in.

Also as for the car seat we have a padded insert that we put in the carseat I think its made by sunshine kids its nice and soft, washable with a waterproof backing.

Has saved our carseats from everything from vom, poo to spilled drinks and lollies.

Its a stage - it will pass

Or just buy a couple of wraps and put them over the disposables, if you like. You can get some really nice pretty ones at www.usednappies.co.uk .

Are you sure the carseat cover is non-removeable?? That seems like a ridiculously bad design - what if you have a travelsick baby?

Are you eating anything that is disagreeing with her?
Runny poos are the norm,but leaking through everything?

I'm having great success with Nature Babies on my 5 week old DD and BF runny poo's - they seem to be better containing than the Pampers were. Also the Vanish bar for removing the poo stains seems to work
Oh the glamour of it all!

I am trying to eat non-spicy, non-gassy (!!) food to keep baby's tum happy, so I don't think this is the problem, I think it is down to badly designed nappies.

This morning I was b-fing her and realised there was poo dipping out of her nappy leg onto my hand and all over my trousers

Will try the Nature Babies ones.

(Congrats on the newbie JetLi!)

I would second what everyone else has said.

This sounds like normal bf poo.

Your GP is talking rubbish, no water required.

Try a washable wrap over the disposable to keep the poo in.

Also, I would complain about the GP.

Are the nappies tight enough around the leg?
Also, are you changing them often enough?
If they are quite wet, then the poo will run out the sides as there´sno where else for ir to go.
I used huggies or pampers with both of mine & only had leaking if they were ill.

Hi, same as everyone else - rotten GP; try different nappies; and check out car seat liner.

Giving water to baby will actually make her poo runnier, and run the risk of impact on breastfeeding. BF poo is often runny - both my DS leaked out sides of nappy, sometimes 'cos they were sitting or laying down and often 'cos they didn't poo for couple of days so next one would explode in the nappy!

DD was very dainty and skinny - also used to lay down with legs straight rather than bending at knees - very awkward for nappy-changing and most styles of nappies! Started using Huggies (red pack, not supreme) which have a narrower, shaped fit around the thighs - good success with these.

Poo to your GP.

BF baby poo is always runny: young babies also swallow quite a bit of air when feeding, so often poo with er, some force.

DD1 was a skinny minnie and we found nappies that had an elasticated back (eg Huggies or Nature Baby) were better at containing them. Also worth making sure you are doing them up tightly enough,