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Original poster

my newborn SCREAMS when trying to poo. it's awful- help!

22 replies

weebigmamma · 18/04/2014 21:58

typing one handed as he does it. he is pooing but it's quite small and hard. he's on sma but we're going to try him on aptimel later on. we've tried giving him orange juice in water already, and cycling his legs/ rubbing tummy. i just feel really sorry for him. any suggestions? he is a week and 2 days old.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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MacademiaNut · 18/04/2014 22:04

I would call HV or Midwife or OOH GP as I have never heard of a baby that young doing hard poos.

For an older child small hard poos mean constipation and you would normally treat that with lots of extra fluids.

My own DC didn't do hard poos until well into weaning say over 6 months, so I would seek a medical opinion. Baby poos are normally very runny.

rootypig · 18/04/2014 22:08

Lying him on his tummy will give gentle pressure that can help if he's happy in that position. Also gentle clockwise massage round the belly button with one or two fingers, and massaging the feet quite firmly (across the ball).

I'm no expert but orange juice sounds all wrong for a baby so little. Agree about consulting with someone. Is he otherwise well, taking his feeds and sleeping ok?

StrawberryMojito · 18/04/2014 22:19

Agree change his formula. Take him to GP/out of hours bank holiday service. In the mean time, small amounts of cooled boiled water. I am no medical expert though.

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ChocolateCoveredMisery · 18/04/2014 22:21

Poor little soul.

Cool boiled water might help, but please don't give him orange juice however diluted.

Can you call the midwife? Does your local one have a 24 line, or even the maternity ward if you're still not signed off from the midwife.

Original poster

weebigmamma · 18/04/2014 22:29

midwife was the one who suggested the orange juice! we'll see if a formula change helps. thanks all x

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LittleBearPad · 18/04/2014 22:36

I'm sure you are making his formula right but just in case - you are scraping off the top of the measure aren't you so there's a flat spoonful. I know someone who didn't and their DD got constipated because her formula was too thick.

Hope he gets better soon.

Original poster

weebigmamma · 18/04/2014 22:40

yes his formula is fine, and he's eating and sleeping really well. he is doing poos but i know they should be softer. will give it a couple more feeds from new formula to see if it makes a difference. really do hope so.

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littleducks · 18/04/2014 22:52

I didn't formal a feed but that sound very very wrong to me. I thought all baby poo was liquid? As in liquid in and liquid out. I think you should phone the past natal ward.

littleducks · 18/04/2014 22:52

I didn't formal a feed but that sound very very wrong to me. I thought all baby poo was liquid? As in liquid in and liquid out. I think you should phone the past natal ward.

BadFam1 · 19/04/2014 08:09

I had the same issue with my ds. Sma really clogged him up. Have you considered trying comfort milk? It is broken down so makes it easier to digest (although gives them green poo and awful smelling wind!)
I found it helped my ds. After a few weeks when his gut matured I was able to put him back on aptimal 1. His poo was still quite thick though so the doctor prescribed lactulose.

rootypig · 19/04/2014 08:56

SMA really constipated DD too. We finally settled on Hipp milk, as her poos on that most resembled her breastfed poos, interestingly, yellowish instead of black, and soft instead of hard. This was at 6mo though. As for midwife advice, ime midwives and HVs can say the strangest load of shite things.

HolidayCriminal · 19/04/2014 09:21

@Littleducks, formula-fed babies have fairly different poo from breastfed. It's one of those things that shows how different the 2 types of milk are absorbed.

Sorry I can't think of anything to help OP.

ChocolateCoveredMisery · 19/04/2014 10:20

How is he this morning?

Original poster

weebigmamma · 19/04/2014 17:04

He had a more normal looking poo yesterday thankfully. We have him on the comfort formula so hopefully that will help. No screams today, hooray!! You can expect formula-fed babies to have thicker poo than breast-fed babies, but it should be no harder than toothpaste. We know this from our first who was also formula-fed. Not nice to see them straining so much so if he doesn't continue to have softer poops then we'll have to get the doctor to intervene I think. Thanks all! xx

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Newmum0113 · 19/04/2014 23:27

Hi op

My dd was terribly constipated with SMA as a newborn - screaming poos all the time. It was heartbreaking.

2 days of aptamil comfort and she was a different baby. Sometime it was still difficult, even now, tonight, as I'm sitting up with my now 27w dd, she has a bad day here and there but it was the best change we made.

And my GP also recommended diluted oj for her at an early age so don't worry about that. She loves it actually!

I hope it gets better for you soon as I'm sure it will

Original poster

weebigmamma · 20/04/2014 00:01

Thanks Newmum. A couple of hours ago he did a normal size/consistency poo. Hooray! It was green however... so now I have something else to be worried about lol. The NHS says that some formulas make the baby's poo green so maybe I'll save that worry for tomorrow. I am relieved that we actually did have poo-off in the end!

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Newmum0113 · 20/04/2014 09:59

Glad that he pooed! DD waited until I gave her her porridge this morning at 8 to poo, and it was very runny and extremely smelly (open all the windows kind of smelly) :)

I did get a couple of hours sleep luckily as my phone ran out of battery just as you posted that!

Hers was more greeny coloured but evened out to an English mustard sort of colour/consistency (sorry to put you off your mustard!) after a few weeks. It's now blotted with bits of banana and carrot and sweet potato, but that a whole other ball game! ;)

BadFam1 · 20/04/2014 15:08

Don't panic about the green poo :)

It's something to do with the comfort milk - we had the same thing here and apparently it's normal.

If you think the colour is bad, you wait until you get the smelly wind - it is atrocious

s88 · 20/04/2014 15:16

Lactolose is great , my newborn was prescribed it

mrsleomcgary · 20/04/2014 15:17

We started DD on SMA after 3 weeks on breastmilk and only ever bought one tin,she wasn't constipated but she really struggled to poo. Strained for hours then it would pour out of her like water. But green . Even thinking about it now makes be heave. We changed her to cow and gate and she's had no problems since.

mrswishywashy · 20/04/2014 15:23

Comfort milk does make babies poo a vibrant green. If doctor says keep him on that's good. If you do change back to normal formula I've found pre made can help loosen things up. Plenty of cycling legs, tummy time ans stomach massage should also help.

babybearsmummy · 20/04/2014 17:12

Get lactulose prescribed by your gp, it's like a sugar syrup (so it's not got any nasty chemicals in it) and it makes their poos softer and easier to pass. They can have it as often as needed and until they're at an age when things settle down as it doesn't do them any harm x

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