New Mummy - help/advice please!

[Poppet1308]

Hi everyone,

My baby girl is 5 weeks old today and she is so amazing with everything, we have been so lucky! I'm probably worrying too much but I'm a first time mum so was hoping for some advice from all you experienced ladies out there!

She was pretty much taking 4 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours and over the past few days I have noticed she is grazing more and only having 1 or 2 ounces at a time. She seems tired and generally falls asleep as I'm feeding her. Could this mean she needs the next size teat? Maybe she is having to work too hard to get the milk?

Also does anyone have any tips on helping with constipation? She generally has a poo every 2 days and it's soft but she seems to cry and push down in her bum a lot like she is straining and trying to go. I've tried giving her a few sips of cooled boiled water but that doesn't seem to have helped.

Sorry if these seem like daft questions but I would really appreciate any advice!

Definitely sounds like time for the next size teats. Well done for recognising it.

Babies have to learn how to poo. How mad is that! Baby massage (look at the north east sling library anti colic massage on YouTube) and bicycling legs can help.

Thanks, I've already got the next size teat, just wasn't sure as the packaging says 2 months plus. I suppose each baby is different though.

I'll have a look on YouTube Thanks, I've been massaging her tummy tonight and that seems to have settled her 🤗

The guidance on the teats is only general - trust your instincts! Ditto for the amount of milk they are supposed to consume.

If the poo is soft it doesn't sounds like constipation (trust me, you'll know all about it when you have to stick your figure up there to claw out a pellet!). Probably just learning to poo as PP said. My DS is 18 months and still has a hilarious poo face (I suspect we all do but just don't have a mirror in front of us when we're pooing!)

I would try the next size teat and see if it helps. It might or it might just be shes going through a phase and things will change up again soon.

I wouldn't be worrying about the poo. That doesn't sound like constipation to me. They really do need to get used to the experience of doing a poo and it can look uncomfortable, but it's just because it's so strange. Every 2 days is good and if it's soft, that's great. I would only worry if it was coming out as hard pellets. Mine routinely went 4-6 days between poos up til 6 months. I did tend to give her some gripe water if it had been 4 days and she seemed uncomfortable and that helped move things along, but as long as what comes out is soft, I wouldn't be too worried.

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful

We have had two poo's since yesterday lunchtime so definitely not constipated! One was a complete explosion and ended up all over her clothes and mine ha ha

We also changed the teat and she seems to be doing loads better and gone back to finishing her full bottle again.

Trying really hard not to be a stressy new mum ha ha. X

My baby suffered a lot from severe constipation since the first month of his birth uptil 3 months and the only thing which relieved his chronic constipation was Babies magic tea. Still I give one to two times this tea to him for easy bowel movement and it helped.