Severe constipation in a new efb baby -paeds appointment later

[Essexmamma]

Hi all, so i'm after some advice about the next steps to take for my ds2. he is7 weeks old and since birth has a gap of 8/9/10 days between dirty nappies. He is efb and has gained weight really well and is generally thriving and happy other than this issue. It causes him so much pain and you can hear the rumblings in his poor little tummy. The only way i can get him to go is if i drink bucket loads of orange juice. He get a lot of wind from that end too, much more than you'd expect from a baby and always has done!

I've spoken to hvs and all have said its normal for bf babies to go up to 10 days but i'm not buying that anymore as that might be ok for a one off but not everytime. We are currently on day 9 and have an appointment with the paediatrian later as the on call gp was baffled when i took him yesterday. My gut is telling me something isn't right so i'm determined not to get fobbed off with 'sugar in boiled water' (which they tried to tell me yesterday) this afternoon. I've heard that it could be caused by dietry intolerance so would be interested if anyone has any experience of this so that i can discuss with the doc later. Any words of wisdom welcome - thanks!

I always say it to any mum with a bub that's constipated. Try cycling his little legs to get his bowel moving. Works every time. Hth.

A tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice works wonders at that age (for your DS, not you). Just make sure you put him somewhere which can be wiped clean for when the inevitable happens!

What is his poo like when he does go? If it's hard then yes he probably is constipated. If its runny then it may just be his natural rhythm. My DS was once a week at best for the first few months.

It can be absolutely fine for a bf baby to go 10 days between poos as a regular thing. What seems more concerning thoguh is you say he has been like that from birth and from birth is not normal. What was he like in the first week or so? Did he do several poos a day as the merconium etc came through?

Baby massage. If you cant find a class, look on youtube for a video. After baby has had his bath, take him to a warm room and give his tum a good massage with baby oil. Its a lovely bonding thing too x

It really is perfectly normal for them to go up to 10 days between poos. What is it like when he does poo? The leg-cycling tip really works too. Just because his stomach's making noises doesn't mean he's constipated - sounds more like wind.

I could have written your post a year ago - My ebf daughter only went every 7-14 days from 4 days old til she weaned at 6months. I was worried at first and tried the Orange juice etc . But it made difference and her poos, when they eventually arrived (the poonami as we called it) were not hard, so we gave up giving orange and just accepted that was her way!

It was fine though she did have bad wind & gurgley tummy as well which was a separate issue - this was helped a lot by Colief (a real life saver for parents at their wits end!)

Have you thought about cranial osteopathy?

I had good results for my DS after a chiropractic version and my sister's DS seems to be benefitting from the osteopathy.

HTH

It is normal for ebf babies to go a long time between poos, my dd used to go literally weeks.

What is not nomal is that this started at birth. Emphasise that to the paed. It may be nothing, like smaths experience, but I was told that if there is a physical cause for constipation it will start to happen in the first month of life, not just after six or sevn weeks (the normal not pooing). Don't piss about with oj etc.

Probably worth posting on the breastfeeding board.

Fwiw my EBF baby goes every 7-10 days and he's fine. There was a stage when I thought he was constipated because he looked like he was straining and going a bit red in the face. I understand though that this is just their new digestive systems getting the hang of things. They aren't constipated in the same way adults are. It passed after a few weeks iirc. Not nice at the time though as there's nothing you can do.

Every 10 days is normal after about two weeks of age I think. Second the recommendations for massage and leg cycling.

I had this with my Ds4 he was straining and gurgling and didn't poo for about 16 days, so we took him to hospital over Easter weekend and they gave us suppositories - oh my word it was like mount Vesuvius errupting! But such an obvious relief for him. It took a while for him to settle and start pooing regularly but he was fine in a few weeks iirc . Good luck.

Oh yes and they also got us to massage him and do the leg cycling thing, which did help too.

How can it be normal? My DD did this and was not happy.

Some say it's because BM is perfect that they use most of it up - I say rubbish. If that was the case then why the jeff do they do so much of it when they do go?

OP - my dd has intolerances and reacted to a lot of things I ate. Once I stopped dairy and soya plus citrus she was much better. I was also convinced that when I drank more water, she pooed more. Could be wrong though.

Even now when on solids, she has poo issues and can be constipated for up to a week. One particularly traumatic time, it got stuck half out :( since then I've been very careful with diet.

Good luck OP, hope the paediatrician helps.