Possible tummy trouble or is this just normal???

[Mafiti]

First time mum alert

DD (5 months) makes a lot of straining noises, always has, but they do seem to go through phases lasting a few days of being worse. She makes the noises but it can be up to 24 hours before a poo appears. For the first 12 weeks she wasn't a big pooer - she'd go once or twice a week. Now she poos once to four times a day, occasionally during the night (lucky me!)

She sounds like she's in some kind of tummy/bowel distress most of the time, but her stool is soft and orangey. If anything I sometimes worry it's too runny.

She's exclusively breastfed with the occasional (less than once a week) bottle of formula when I've had to be away. She may display more of these "symptoms" after a bottle, but I'm not sure. The last bottle of formula she had took 24 hours to show up in her poo.

Is all this normal or should I get her checked out?

IME this is completely normal. I think they find the sensation of pooing weird and so make funny noises! I think if her poo is yellow/orange and runny she is fine. They do grow out of it but if she seems uncomfortable you could try baby massage.

Obviously if you are at all worried check with your health visitor.

So did yours make the noises even though weren't actually pooing at the time? Like I say, it's not uncommon for her to be straining and gurning away but no poo for hours and hours and hours.

I've been doing a bit of massage but maybe not frequently/consistently enough. Will try that.

Yes! Lots of straining/grunting, apparently it's really rare for breastfed babies to be constipated and if they are they have poo like pebbles. I think all the noises are mostly due to wind. The best baby massage technique for us was gently pushing each knee to the opposite shoulder and holding it there for about 20 seconds. Lots of farting would generally ensue!

Thanks for the tip! That's not a move I had in my repertoire. :-)

Sunday mornings used to be about brunch and papers, now we are talking about poo! Oh the glamour. Hope it works for you.