Explosive excessive pooing in breastfed 4 month old

[kernow13]

Hello mums & dads. I wonder if any of you have expereinced this and if it is 'normal'? Our breast fed 4 month old used to have the usual 6 wet and/or soiled nappies a day. But for the past couple of weeks has been having 2 days without pooing (plenty of wet nappies though)then having a sudden 'explosive' poo that is very runny and escapes out of the nappy. There is so much poo it leaks out of the legs and the front or back of the nappy. Today it went up her back and reached her neck!! This is very distressing for her and for us and always involves a full change of clothes, often a dirty car seat and if we are out, an upset and cold baby in the change room. I am really anxious too in case it happens when we are swimming. She is showing signs of teething and I wondered if it was related or something else? Any ideas? Many thanks x

It is quite usual for bf babies to go days without poos and then when you finally get one for it to be huge. I was worried when my bf did lots of poos a day compared to other babies but about 4 months his digestive system seemed to mature a bit more and he often went 2 or more days without a poo and then when it came it was enormous and escaped everywhere. I remember at my antenatal classes being warned about explosive baby poos (and there were gruesome photos to prove it).

I found teething made him poo more often and there was a definite acidy quality to it that made it smell different and gave him nappy rash.

You maybe could try different nappies to see if they can contain it better. With us cloth nappies resulted in poo carnage, pampers leaked out the legs and huggies were the best as they channelled it up the back.

Oh yes, this is very normal, unfortunately! In the first few weeks, breastfed babies will do 4-8 poos in a day, but when they get to about 3-4 months this can change and they can poo once every few days, but it always seems to be explosive. (And always seems to happen at the worst time!) - in my experience this didn't get any better until DS went onto solids at 6 months, sorry! You could perhaps get a wrap meant for washable nappies to put on over the nappy, when it has been a day or so without poo, this might contain things a bit better?

Thanks bertiebotts and paddypoopants! Yes we use huggies as found pampers leaked out the legs. I will try a wrap as suggested. Just have to wait for another couple of months til weaning starts then by the sounds of it ...