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Original poster

Newborn not pooing

91 replies

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 18:52

Ds2 is 7 days old, his last poo was on day 3 IIRC. It was a mega-poo, with the meconium starting to change colour, and some yellow streaks. He's had plenty of wees. He's breastfed, and I know that bfd babies can go for days between poos, but I've never heard of this happening in such a young baby before he's got rid of all the meconium.

Any experiences?

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DumbledoresGirl · 22/10/2006 18:57

All of mine were breastfed and on one hand I had one who pooed every time he fed, and on the other hand (of interest to you maybe) I had one who pooed about once a week. I believe both is normal. Does he seem OK otherwise? I know it is hard to tell in one so young, but this is not your first is it?

BTW congratulations on your new baby!

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 19:16

He's no3, but I've still got 'new mum syndrome'

Generally I think he's doing fine, but he sometimes seems really bothered by his tummy, wwith lots of parping.

With ds1 I was pressurised into ff, partly because he had not got rid of all the meconium by day10 or thereabouts.

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Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 21:07

Bump

I'm supposed to call the midwife if he didn't poo by today, have put it off until tomorrow because I feel so anxious about being pressurised over feeding.

If anyone knows what's going on or has had this happen to them, please tell me about it.

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MrsApron · 22/10/2006 21:11

mine did this wll post more when feed ovwr

MrsApron · 22/10/2006 21:20

riiiight!

Mine did this from about day 4 to day 8 I think. I did call the midwife because she looked a bit yellow to me. I was told not to worry as long as she had plenty of wet nappies which she did. It was a massive nappy when it arrived. Weirdly though it was kind of proper poo shaped rather than BF baby squelch IYKWIM.

Mine went from poo as you describe mostly meconium to nothing but yellow poo, weird cos it was much more gradual with dd1.

Funnily enough for the first six weeks this has carried on with BF baby squelchy poos only starting this week. She is fine though gaining weight and very bright eyed and bushy tailed so I stopped fretting about it baby number 2 here btw.

JiminyCricket · 22/10/2006 21:34

My dd used to go only every four days for the first few months of her life - it was great, once I got used to it! At the time the midwife told me doctors only get worried if its 10 days! And I believed all the rubbish about giving water with a drop of orange juice to make her go at the time. Obviously just breastmilk was all she needed.

funnypeculiar · 22/10/2006 21:50

My first pooed every 5 minutes - or so it seemed - my second pooed every 4/5 days right up until she started solids. From pretty much day 1 I think, but couldn't swear to that.
Can't see why ff would be better at clearing meconium out...or have I misunderstood ??

hunkermunker · 22/10/2006 21:53

This is concerning, I think - Tiktok always says that a bfed baby of this age should be pooing more often than this.

He's not done a mustardy poo yet then?

How often is he feeding? Does he feed well? How long is he going at night? I know he's very little to have any kind of idea of a "routine" but is he doing a long stretch of sleep at any time - his "night" may be daytime for us!

It is normal for a bfed baby to be pooing infrequently - but not this young.

mears · 22/10/2006 22:04

He should be pooing fairly regularly. I would make sure that he is being fed at least 3 hourly at the moment, if not more. Is he sucking well? Do you feel your milk is in?

mears · 22/10/2006 22:05

It doesn't necessarily mean he need topped up with formula BTW, but it could be a sign he is not feeding as effectively as he could be. As his last poo was changing colour, that is a good sign. You will probably get a blaster up the back soon

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 22:32

I've never looked forward so much to a blaster - I carry spare clothes where-ever I'm going right now!

Frequency of feeding and length of sleeping seem fine to me right now. Feeding roughly 2-hourly, a bit more frequent in the evening, sometimes 3-hourly at night. Feeds can be anything from 20m-1h, I always offer both boobs, but he doesn't always want more than one.

I'm not convinced though that he's actually getting enough bm, as he keeps dozing off during feeds, and doesn't do that long swallowing action for any great period of time during the feed. Also, he is rarely 'drunk' when the feed finishes. I tend to finish the feed because I haven't been able to get him to swallow for a while, depite all the usual toe-tickling, bottom-slapping, half-undressing him business. OTOH, although he doesn't go drunk, he also doesn't seem unsatisfied, but settles down for a nap on my or dh's chest.

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mears · 22/10/2006 22:35

He should poo soon by the sounds of things. I remember he was 11lbs so he may have a larger than expected weight loss when he is weighed. Sometimes large babies do not feed as well as they could because they have huge stores that they use up. If you find he is awful sleepy during feeds, try feeding hime skin-to-skin. That tends to stimulate better sucking.

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 22:40

We've been sleeping skin-to-tkin for the last couple of nights, and I think he may be feeding better at night than he was.

For skin-to-skin feeding during the day, we may have to turn the central heating on, but I will certainly try it!

On day 3 his weight had gone from 5kg at birth to 4.6kg (what's that in lbs?), but my milk had already begun to come in by then. He hasn't been weighed since.

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mears · 22/10/2006 22:43

Not sure off my head what weighloss was in pounds but it was within 10% that keeps the paediaticians happy. You won't need to put central heating on to feed during the day skin-to-skin, just place a blanket over him once he is on. Everything sounds reassuring - poo will be here soon

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 22:53

How long do they hold to this 10% rule? What are they looking for weight-wise at his next weighing which should be on day10?

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tortoiseshell · 22/10/2006 22:59

Tiktok always says that at this age you should be getting 2 or 3 poos a day, so I would just feed as much as you can - I've had 3 big ones, and they've all lost loads of weight - ds1 and ds2 were over 15%, and they didn't start pooing till they started putting a bit of weight on really. Sounds like you're doing the right things though - don't let him go too long at night, and if he's dozing off in feeds, keep waking him up to prolong the feed. I also gave EBM when ds2 was particularly dozy, as he was being threatened with hospital, and it did perk him up enough to give him enough energy for the next feed. As Mears said, don't let him go more than 3 hours.

Hope he poos soon!!!

mears · 22/10/2006 23:00

There will be an expectation that he will have gained weight and be close to birth weight. I have seen large babies lose more weight before they gain because there is a natural readjustment to be made for some babies to reach the centile they should have been had they not been born so heavy. These babies can take 3 weeks to regain their birth weight (or more).
There are some schools of thought that babies should not be weighed at all, but be assessed in other ways such as feeding pattern, alertness etc. Weight gain is an emotive subject and can worry women no end. If I had babies again, I would not have them weighed reguarly unless there was a health issue. I religiously got my children weighed so I would compare their charts. My last DD hardly gained at all compared to her brothers which bothered the HV more than me. It can create a pressure that is not needed.

tortoiseshell · 22/10/2006 23:02

mears, that's just what mine did - they went from 98th centile to 25th, 50th and 2nd. And they all took upwards of 6 weeks to regain birth weight.

tortoiseshell · 22/10/2006 23:02

Oh, and my friend who's a paed said the birth weight is largely irrelevant to the expected size of the child! Which is comforting when looking at the centiles I think.

GoingQuietlyMad · 22/10/2006 23:08

A similar situation happened to us.

dd2 was 100% breastfed, and had always pooed about once per day from being born. At 2 weeks old she didn't poo for 5 days, but was otherwise absolutely fine.

I phoned NHS direct to check if this was normal. They told me to contact the GP. I phoned the GP, who decided he wanted to have a look at her, so we took her into the surgery. Doctor examined her and decided in the end to get a second opinion at the local hospital. We sat in A&E with both children for about 3 hours, at which stage dd2 was looked at by the junior doctor. She just rolled her eyes and said "She is fine. Don't worry". After 8 days she did finally do a poo.

As I remember, the signs to look out for were a distended stomach, pain or discomfort and being sick (more than the normal posset).

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 23:13

Too right about the weighing being emotive! I'm so glad he's not weighed every day here, as his brother and sister were in London.

Good point about the distended stomach and being sick. He doesn't have either of those, and you would expect something like that if he was suffering some sort of 'blockage'.

So should I call the midwife as instructed, or shall I follow my instincts that he is fundamentlly well? Or is my stress over this and memories of what happended with ds1 messing with my brain?

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Pollybloodyanna · 22/10/2006 23:19

my dd3 (breastfed) only pooed about once a week for the first few weeks of her life (they huge explosions ). I asked my midwife about this at the time and she said it was entirely normal.

mears · 22/10/2006 23:19

I would call the midwife as instructed as he should have pooed. She will want to come and review him if he hasn'r, wheras she could leave you a couple of days if he has. However, if the midwife tells you to top-up with formula, ask her to come and observe a feed and discuss the situation fully.

Original poster

PrettyCandles · 22/10/2006 23:25

Thanks everyone. Heading for bed and some skin-to-skin now.

OP posts:

mears · 22/10/2006 23:26

Night. Let us know how it goes.

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