6 day old, no poo

[JoyfulJoyful]

Hello
My baby is 6 days old but hasnt done a poo in 4 days yet he farts a lot. Midwife said to give him a few spoons of water which I did but all he does is fart.
I try to wind him after every feed (strictly breast feeding).
Can anyone advise what to do?
Thank you in advance

[changeforthebetter]

This is a concern. She is newborn and should be producing 4-6 dirty nappies a day with each poo bigger than a £2 coin. (WHO Baby Friendly training)Please see another midwife. Advice about water and sugar is outdated and wrong. Try a bf counsellor to get your latch checked and do lots of skin to skin, baby in bed with you, nothing but bf. Please do this quickly. Newborns can become very ill very quickly.

[JoyfulJoyful]

Hello everyone and thank you so much for all your advice. This is day 6 now and he has not pooed yet. I am getting a lot of stinky farts and wet nappies but no poo. I tried giving him a few teapoons of water 3 days ago but nothing has happened yet.

I feed him on demand which is about every 2 hours although he does sleep for about 3 to 4 hours sometimes.

DH thinks there is nothing to worry about because he's farting a lot but I want poo. I will take him to the GP on Monday.

How can I tell if he is latching on? He seems to feed well because my nipples are in his mouth and he sucks but I don't know if this means he's feeding. He's lost a bit of his birth weight which MW said was normal.

[MrsHoarder]

You should still be under the post natural ward, give them a ring. Seriously, don't leave it until the gp opens.

[CelticPromise]

Hi again Joyful.

I don't want to scare you, but I do think it is a little worrying that he has not pooed, and I think it should be your top priority for someone who knows what they are talking about to observe him feeding.

However, there aren't many BF drop ins at the weekend, and I think you need to see someone before Monday. Post natal ward is a good idea. You could also call one of the BF helplines, they are open at weekends.

Every two hours sounds ok. Is that from the start of one feed to the start of the next? Round the clock more or less? He should be feeding 8-12 times in 24 hours. Are you offering both breasts each time? Standard advice is to feed on one side until baby stops/falls asleep, then change nappy or rouse them some other way and offer the other side. It's not uncommon for young babies to need waking up to feed.

How long is your baby feeding for? Very long feeds can be a sign of ineffective feeding. To assess effective feeding, you can look for big, slower jaw movements when baby settles into a feed, you may be able to hear swallowing, you may sometimes see milk in his mouth. But I think it's best to get a feed observed asap.

It is usual for babies to lose some weight- up to 7-8% of birth weight is not a concern.

[JoyfulJoyful]

Hello again
Thank you for the advice. I called the MW helpline and was told to go to A&E which I did, my baby was assessed and Dr said everything is fine. 10 minutes later, it was poonami!! I have never been excited about poo in my life but I have to say, I was elated!
He's done a massive stink and I'm one very happy mom.
Thanks again for all the advice.

[CelticPromise]

Ah how brilliant. Glad all is well.

[MrsHoarder]

Fabulous. Babies often decide to poo/do the big burp/sick that's been bothering them when presented to a doctor.

[noyouhavehadawee]

congratulations on yours and his delivery

[GingerDoodle]

We had exactly the same thing. The NCT breastfeeding counsellor scared the life out of us saying that if she didn't poo the midwives would make us go back to hospital. Midwife just shrugged and said it was very common.

She poo'ed after we started toping up with formula (which i am happy with, we mix fed for 3 months then switched to formula - my milk never properly came in). That said she only ever poo'ed every couple of days. its only now we are weaning there is a lot more poo!