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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

EBF but very few poos - any advice?

15 replies

Neeko · 13/04/2010 13:13

Hi. DD2 is 15 days old and EBF. She only poos about once every three days and really struggles with wind and a sore tummy. This means that we have a lot of crying and wanting to feed constantly which is exhausting for us all. When she poos it is soft so she's not constipated.
Does anyone have any advice as to how I can ease her pain by changing my diet etc or is this something she will grow out of as she gets older?

OP posts:

Zil131 · 13/04/2010 14:31

15 days.. could be anything.
If she is latching well and gaining weight, then I really wouldn't worry about the frequency of poo (think yourself lucky!)
As for the windyness, I wondered with my DS if it was my diet, but general opinion was that it wasn't. You could try some of the wind remedies, one may help, some babies do just seem to suffer.
And feeding constantly - that's pretty normal. I think I spent about the first 3 weeks with my boobs out...
Sorry, not a lot of practical help, but most of it sounds pretty normal, maybe ask your midwife about wind medicine though (never used them so can't really advise)

Original poster

Neeko · 13/04/2010 16:27

Thanks. Been trying to tell myself and concerned relatives that it's all normal so it's lovely to have someone else say it. Health visitor coming tomorrow so I'll speak to her.
Mainly concerning because all the guides say she should be having several dirty nappies a day. I know they are just guides and she's an individual person but... Probably if she weren't in pain I wouldn't think twice about it.

OP posts:

Shaz10 · 13/04/2010 16:31

When my son was breast fed he only went once every 4 or 5 days. He was also very windy to start but about 6 weeks in seemed to get a lot better. Just hang in there for a bit, maybe mention it to HV if you're worried.

Original poster

Neeko · 13/04/2010 16:33

Thanks. Have no intention of stopping as bf DD1 for 5-6 months. Maybe her body just needs time?

OP posts:

Mrs1GeneGenie · 13/04/2010 19:36

Have you tried infacol? I was really against it with my DD as didn't want to give her medicines etc too quickly but it really helped. Important to use it before every feed though.

The other thing which helped with wind was feeding at an angle to the wind could rise as she fed instead of her laying completely flat.

I also changed her winding position as winding her over my sholder didn't seem as effective as sitting her up so her back was straight with my supporting hand in front of her.

DD used to go about every 3 days which 8 months on I would love to go back to! Hope this helps, please don't worry about her not going

Original poster

Neeko · 17/04/2010 08:39

Hi. just wanted to update. We've been using infacol for a few days and things are easier. Thanks again for all your help.

OP posts:

Chestnut99 · 17/04/2010 16:40

Bit slow off the mark with this response - sorry! My DS only filled his nappy max twice a week, sometimes once a week, when he was EBF. Everyone said it was normal except for one paediatrician who said it could cause constipation probs when he was weaned (what helpful scaremmongering ...). In fact now he is weaned (7 months) we get dirty nappies about 3 or 4 times a day and I think it was either all that rice and roughage or the switch to FF which made the change.

Generally though, he was windy when he was tiny and it just changed and shifted as he grew - I thought of it as having kinks in his guts which just smoothed out as he grew (and sometimes new kinks grew back for a while).

The only other thing to consider is that some people say when they don't poo much it can be because there is nothing left to come out and they have absorbed everything. My DS's weight gain tailed off a bit after a couple of months and on the times when I did try to get him to eat more, he did fill his nappy a bit more frequently. No one really made the link at the time but, with hindsight, I maybe should have taken the empty nappies as a signal to get him to feed more and longer (ha ha - easy to say!). But if your DS's weight is trotting nicely up the lines, then this para is irrelevant to you!

Mrs1GeneGenie · 17/04/2010 19:46

Am so pleased the infacol is helping. It became second nature to use it in the end and we really noticed if we had to not use it for some reason, so ended up with bottles of it in every room in the house!

Hope all continues to go well

Original poster

Neeko · 19/04/2010 14:08

Health visitor weighed DD today and she is now 9lb 10.5 oz! That's 7oz in 5 days so she's clearly getting enough. We had another rough day on sunday after a chinese on Saturday night so I'll need to be more careful with what I eat too.

OP posts:

rbinthegarden · 19/04/2010 15:53

Just so you know I have basically the same probs - my health visitor said bf babies can go up to TEN days between poos and that's fine!

mears · 21/04/2010 13:03

I wouldn't be too restrictive about your diet to be honest. If you star worrying about what you are eating then that can transmit to your baby. Unless there is something really obvious (one of my friends it was eggs) then I wouldn't get too hung up over it. When I was feeding I ate what I liked and knew that if I had an Indian meal then I might have an off day the next day. Babies can often be colicky till at least 12 weeks and it isn't related to bowel movements as such. An established breast fed baby can sometimes not pass bowle movements for up to 10 days! This is normal. Colicynth granules are a really good homeopathic remedy which you can give when the colic is there. Also baby massage is good at relieving wind. There are baby massage classes in some areas, your health visitor could advise? Sounds as though you are doing a great job on the feeding front

mears · 21/04/2010 13:04

snap rbinthegarden

Original poster

Neeko · 23/04/2010 08:57

Hi mears and thanks for the reassurance. Think I'll just have to be more patient and realise that I probably don't remember all this from DD1.

rbinthegarden nice to know I'm not alone

OP posts:

mama2moo · 23/04/2010 12:24

My 12 week old dd was exactly the same! I took her to my GP and he said it was normal!

Now, at 12 weeks she will go 3/4 days for a poo and its fine now.

deleting · 23/04/2010 21:36

i think it's quite normal to go longer between when they're slightly older, but not when they're only a couple of weeks. ds went once every 10 days or so, but not until he was 10 weeks I think. ds2 was low birth weight and had problems latching on etc and didn't put on much weight in the first couple of months and only went every 3 days. he also had a really bad wind problem. we took him to a cranial osteopath and it worked wonders. he passed loads of wind while they treated him and always pooped straight after and it slowly got better. whereabouts are you? if you're in london there is a great osteopaths i could recommend and it's a charity so you just pay what you can.

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