8 days and no poo...

[kiwibella]

As the mama of a newborn, I'm wondering what to do. Dd is now eight days old and hasn't pooed since her meconium - which she passed three or four times over her first two days. Since then, nothing. On Friday the midwife asked us to take her to see the dr. He wasn't worried and after checking her over thought everything seemed ok. Another midwife checked her on Sunday and also thought she was fine and suggested that she was taking her time to work things out. Bubs is happy enough, sleeping five to six hours at a time and wanting to feed constantly when she is awake. The midwife isn't due until Wednesday but I am considering calling her back in the morning.

It is normal for 100% breastfed babies to not poo for days at a time but NOT until after the first few weeks.

Given that she's seeming ok in herself it's unlikely to be something serious, however I would personally take her to the docs first thing in the morning just to make sure.

In the meantime if you have any concerns overnight, take her straight to A&E. Especially if there's any vomiting.

Please, don't be panicked - babies tell you quickly if there's something wrong - but at the same time you don't want this to continue.

Emma

As you know, this isn't normal in a newborn (although perfectly normal in an older bf baby) and you have been very wise to get it checked out. My personal feeling is that given she's seen a doctor and a midwife over the weekend and will be seeing the midwife the day after tomorrow and seems happy and is feeding well then I would leave it to Wednesday rather than call tomorrow. But I don't have any medical qualifications and if you are really worried then absolutely you should call.

When you say that she is "sleeping five to six hours at a time", though, is that every time (which would imply perhaps she ought to be feeding more often) or is she doing say one five to six hour stretch and lots of shorter stretches? How often is she feeding in 24 hours and what kind of space is there between feeds? Is she producing plenty of wet nappies?

How many times is she feeding in a 24 hour period? How long does she feed for? Does she alway sleep 5-6 hours at a time? How many wet nappies is she having in a 24-hour period?

It's not usual for a bfed newborn not to poo - by this age they're usually doing several soft yellow poos a day.

I would say phone the midwife first thing tomorrow - but if they suggest you give formula, ring a bfeeding counsellor - you need someone who knows about breastfeeding to check your latch to make sure that your baby is transferring milk properly.

I really don't want to worry you - it might be everything's fine - but it might also be that there is a problem (albeit it may well be an easily fixed one if it's something to do with your baby's latch when breastfeeding).

But do seek help tomorrow. And keep posting here - I've put a link in breast and bottlefeeding to this thread so that Tiktok (an NCT bfeeding counsellor who posts brilliantly on MN) will hopefully see it too.

thanks for your replies!! Bubs is sleeping two or three long stretches in a day. Definately around six at night and four or five during the day. Each nappy change is a wet one and I suppose we would have around five changes in a day. She also farts loads.

Her awake time feels a bit challenging. When she wakes she looks for a feed almost instantly. Today we have begun feeding on both sides because as soon as she is finished, she is looking for the next one - crying and trying to stuff her fist in her mouth. Even so, she is only lasting about an hour before wanting another feed. I think that everything is ok with our technique and hope that she is getting enough nutritious milk.

thanks hunkermunker... I was looking for the most appropriate place to put my qn and must have missed that thread.

Are you timing her feeds? By that, I mean are you clock-watching so she has 20 minutes on the first side, then switching her over?

Because if you are, don't. Let her feed on the first side till she's had enough - till your nipple falls out of her mouth - don't take her off yourself (unless she's making you sore, in which case, relatch her in a more comfortable way!).

I do watch the clock but more out of interest to see how long she feeds for rather than to time her. I feed her until she drops off or stops sucking regularly. She is hurting my left side as she latches on so I am going to watch that today and see if she can't get a better grip.

Bubs has just woken, I can hear her stirring in her bed. She has been asleep since around 10pm last night!!

I think you need to wake her in the night to feed her if she doesn't wake herself. Have you spoken to the midwife?

Kiwibella, I have come here in response to hunker's call

I think you are right to be concerned about this - I strongly urge you to see the midwife today and to have your baby weighed on electronic, digital scales to check she has not lost too much weight.

Today - in fact now.

The behaviour she is showing is really unusual - no poo since the mec at 2 days, and these long sleeps....and a 14 hour sleep since last night.

She needs weighing and your feeds need observing.

All may be well, but it does need checking out.

Please let us know what happens.

Sorry - maths gone wrong! She slept 10 hours not 14

Even so....it's a long time and she still needs checking out.

thanks... I have put in the call - well, I got hubs to because I was afraid all I would do was cry down the phone! I think the fact that mw spoke to dh says enough about my emotional state right now. Even though I had a great sleep last night, it has been a tough day. Bubs has not settled and she has wanted constant feeding. MW suggested calling the bf'ing support people. They have been before, when we were first starting out, and were brilliant. She also suggested expressing in to a bottle and feeding bubs to check that she is actually taking my milk. I'm going to get that ready in a minute.

As for the pooing, she wasn't concerned because bubs is still producing lots of wet nappies and some great, stinky farts. MW told hubs that when it comes, it will come! We can try putting some vaseline on her bum to help soften it. I've tried really hard with my own diet today to see if we can't encourage things along. I don't know if it works that way... but I've made sure to have loads of fruit and fibre.

I so appreciate your comments so far and hope that I have some news for you soon.

Oh Poor you. It is soooo hard at the beginning. You're trying to juggle so much, so many changes, and your hormones are all over the place to boot - but without them it would be really emotional anyway!

You're doing just the right thing, though, getting advice from the right people. You're doing fine, have faith in yourself, your hub and your bub.

It really does sound like she's not feeding right. The BF support peeps will sort this out for you I'm quite sure and you'll be all set.

A bad latch or poor feeding position would make her want to feed all the time. Is it the NCT bf people you're calling?

Has your milk come in yet incidentally? A friend of mine didn't have hers come in for around 10 days for all 4 of her babies.

Yes, your diet will affect your milk - I know that if I ate beans, my DS - um - reacted Not sure if eating high fibre will directly help her pass but it can't do any harm!

Good luck and keep us up to date. Deep breath honey, you're doing really well and you're dealing with the situation brilliantly.

Emma

kiwibella, thanks for the update. Good for you and your dh to have spoken to the midwife.

Expressing - well, this will of course allow you to see your baby is taking milk, and this could be important if she is not transferring milk correctly. One of the reasons why we worry about lack of poo is that lack of poo can be a symptom of lack of milk in a newborn (not always - that's why it would be helpful to know how much your dd weighs, 'cos if she is an appropriate weight, we don't need to worry about intake).

The constant feeding could be a good thing - it might well mean your dd is making up for a lack of milk because of the unusually long sleeps, and we would worry more if she continued to sleep for a long time. So as long as she is transferring milk, then constant feeding is fine.

When constant feeding is not fine, is when the baby is never satisfied....because that could be a sign that milk is simply not being transferred effectively.

That's why if the bf support people are fully trained (ie breastfeeding counsellors and not peer supporters - who are great but who are not trained to do an assessment of a feed), they will be able to observe a feed and assess this for you.

There is nothing you can do with your own diet, by the way.

The vaseline will not help - the lack of poo is not because she is constipated in the usual sense; however when a baby is like this there is (very rarely) an underlying cause of her lack of poo, unrelated to milk transfer, and I feel after this time, this could be checked for, too.

Nevertheless, she may well do a huge poo any moment now, as a result of the improved frequency of feeds and improved milk transfer, and we will all cheer

If things are still the same tomorrow, though, then I do still feel weighing is in order.

Ds2 didn't poo for the first 10 days. He was also very sleepy and I had to wake him every 3 hours to feed and he slept through at that stage if left (only happened the once after that I started setting the alarm clock to feed). None of the midwives we saw over the first 2 weeks were concerned about him though and I didn't give it any further thought. He was piling on the weight and obviously content.
Someone on here said it may be indicative of other problems though, so I'd definitely seek further advice. Would also think about waking him for feeds. I'm not sure babies are meant to go that long between feeds. The other thing is that I think babies have a growth spurt around 9 days which extends feeding times anyway, so things may ease up on that front in a few days.

tiktok, HM, and other gorgeous advice / reassurance givers... We've had some progress and I've been trying to get back here to update you! Firstly, the midwife came and checked her over and concluded that she was a hungry girl. She had lost four ounces - 7lb 14oz birth weight down to 7lb 10oz. I had a fabulous sleep yesterday morning and woke feeling so much better, although the flood-gates opened when the mw visited. We got her on and she had a great feed. Afterwards she pooed. It's as if a good sleep and a cry was what we needed. Anyways, we made the decision to supplement her feeding. I had expressed in to a bottle in the morning and the twenty minutes I had spent getting 20mls or so was gone in minutes which was heartbreaking. So, we opted for a formula top-up after each feed. Hubs made up a 4oz bottle and, thankfully, bubs drank around an ounce. It looked like she was ploughing through it but my pride managed to remain in tact when I saw how little she had needed. The rest of the day was magic - I could see in her face how much better she was feeling and there wasn't the crying. Today has been good and we are much more settled. She really didn't want much of her bottle this evening so hopefully this won't last much longer.

I can not thank you enough for your support - the reassurance what just what I neeeded.

Kiwi,

I'm so pleased things are looking better for you both.

Just one thing - I can see where you're going with the top ups - makes a lot of sense and I know many people who've had this work well - just as long as you know (and I'm sure you do so apologies if I'm stating the obvious) that your milk builds up the more your baby feeds, and adding in formula can reduce your milk over time. That said, initial mixed feeding can be an immense blessing and just what you need, so as you're doing it with advice you'll be fine.

Incidentally, it's really early to be trying to express any amounts of milk. Trust me, it gets easier and you get a lot more over time. I had to express 60fl oz when DS was 3 months old (took me two weeks) so I'm an expressing expert hehe. I had to start, though, at 2 weeks old as he had bad reflux and needed Gaviscon mixed with milk. It's not easy and you only get a few drops to start with. I found an electric pump the best - Medela make a good one.

Emma

thanks Emma... she has hardly had a mouthful of her bottle this morning which feels really good! Unusually, this was the first night that she hasn't slept through in awhile so I had the joy of feeding at 2am though she wasn't sleepy afterwards and even making an ounce of formula didn't help. My breasts are heavier today. MW is coming back too.

Thanks for the recommendation for a breast pump. I was going to do some research today. It will be a useful purchase anyways.

kiwibella - thanks for the update.

It's great your baby seems to be doing better....and I think it was certainly the case that for the first 9 days your baby wasn't transferring milk effectively. This should have been spotted - you had three different healthcare professionals in the first 8 days reassuring you all was well. I don't think anyone has actually observed a feed until now.

That's shocking. None of their reassurance worked, because you were still worried, and came on the boards to share the concerns. You were let down, I think.

I can't really comment on the weight, as I don't know what her interim weights are, and whether she was weighed accurately, but an effectively feeding baby would not usually be 4 oz below birthweight at 10 days.

Topping up with formula after every feed is a sure way of reducing your milk supply.....even if the baby only takes an ounce. There is a case sometimes for using formula in a crisis, but this is rarely needed at every feed. So it's good she seems to be managing with less

Do talk to the midwife about ways you can protect the milk supply. Remember - it's frequent, effective feeding that drives the supply, and in a baby of this age who needs to make up for a slowish start, 10, 12, 14 visits to the breast are not a bad thing