DS, 4 days old, not opened bowels for 72hrs

[IckleJess]

DS was born late Saturday night and over the following 24hrs he had 4 meconium nappies. However, he has passed nothing since.

I did read somewhere that nothing for 48 hrs is common after they have passed all their meconium especially in breast fed babies, which he is, but am starting to be a little concerned. However, the rational part of me is saying that as my milk only came in during last night that he doesn't have much to pass yet. He is feeding really well, sleeps lots but is very alert when awake. He doesn't appear to be at all uncomfortable.

He is having wet nappies and passing some lovely smelling wind but should I be worried?

Have MW coming out tomorrow - am happy to wait to ask her but DH is flapping about the lack of poo lol and making me worry!

congrats on the baby

i think it is time for mummy instinct to kick in ... you know your baby

Nothing to worry about. You wait till it does come.!!

He should have pooed at least once a day - I would phone the post natal ward (number is in your notes) and ask them what to so.

They may well tell you to wait to speak to the midwife, but better to be safe than sorry with newborns.

Congratulations!

DD is BF. My HV told me that it is entirely normal for BF babies to go anything up to 10 days between poos as breastmilk is such a perfect food, there isn't much waste. Pooed once a day is probably for the FF babies.

Plus, as you've said, your milk is probably just coming in so there's probably not a lot to pass.

If he doesn't seem uncomfortable I'd wait and speak to the mw tomorrow. I remember when my ds was tiny he went 8 days without pooing once, he was fine but when he did go it was HUGE! My midwife told me some breastfed babies can hold on to it for 2 weeks with no problems. Congrats btw, little boys are great!

Sorry but ime this is a problem - look at the kellymom or lll websites foe example.

Usually a sign baby is not getting enough milk. Maybe call a bf support line for advice?

I went with the 'it will probably be fine' and it wasn't. Ended up having to top up with formula, which was disastrous as he had a cmp intolerance. It all went downhill from there, and I will always wonder if we could have done better if I had got a bf advisor to help that first week.

Alcrowley, that is only true after 6 weeks at the earliest

I agree it could be a cause for concern- I would ring the labour/delivery ward tonight and ask to speak with a midwife. You are technically still under their care for 28 days post-partum. Try not to worry- it probably isn't an issue- but do get it checked out.

Generally it is the case that BF babies don't poo as much as FF, and as such can go days without a poo, but not in the first few weeks.

There's info from the NCT here: www.nct.org.uk/info-centre/information/view-44

I think you should ring. My MW told me baby should poo every day for the first few weeks. Always better to check with someone if you're in doubt.

Thanks everyone. His bottom exploded with great aplomb overnight and has done again and again throughout the day!

MW came out today and said he was perfectly ok, it would have been a different matter had my milk come in and then he had not passed anything for a few days but as he clearly wasn't getting much from me over those days that he didn't poo then she wasn't concerned at all.

He was weighed too and has lost just 5oz since birth which is less than 5% of his birthweight so that's pretty good going and she is happy to discharge us on Tues if things continue as they are.

Thanks again for your advice last night, I love MN