4 month old not pooed for a week

[ratxc]

Hello! My 4 month old has not done a poo for about a week now. He is almost exclusively breastfed save for one bottle of formula he has every evening.

I've tried warm baths, baby massage, bicycle legs etc but nothing. His farts smell something awful!

I was at docs for unrelated issue and she said oh formula fed babies can have boiled water so try that. I wasn't sure whether he really needs this? I know ebf babies can go up to 2 weeks without pooing but as he does have some formula every day im not sure what to do. His tummy is soft and he doesn't seem to be in discomfort.

Advice welcomed! 💩

It’s a bit old fashioned I think but when this happened with DD at that age we put about 5-10ml of orange juice in her bottle (so only a tiny bit) and it sorted it out. I’ve read about people on here saying to do it too.

Around the same age, my DS went from 4-5 times a day, to once every other day, and then nothing for 3 or 4 days.
He was EBF, hadn’t started weaning, just a random ... pause... in his routine.

He always did a poo as soon as we sat down in baby cinema ... so I took him there and lo and behold... the worlds roundest, hardest poo and we were back to normal. He wasn’t in pain at all, no soreness etc.

This doesn’t help you materially- but just to say that at this age they’re quirky little sods and if your baby is happy, not in discomfort and drinking enough milk, id wait and let nature take its course.

Is baby happy or uncomfortable and in pain?

No he's fine

If he's fine, I really would worry if he's only having 1 bottle of formula a week. BF babies can easily go for 2 weeks at this age without it being a concern.

Breastfed babies can go up to 10 days without a bowel movement I’m sure! I know the “rules” differ for breastfed babies.

My EBF baby went two weeks without pooing at a similar age. He was in no discomfort (but did have the worst smelling farts). Eventually he did poo, and we didn't need to do anything.

Prune juice

Absolutely no need for prune juice, I have to disagree. Nothing the OP has said is a cause for concern and the baby isn't in any discomfort.

Also, all babies need for the first 6 months is milk, be it ebm or formula.

You could try drinking orange juice and a mild laxative effect will come through your breast milk

My nearly 5 month old EBF baby has pooed once every 7 or 8 days for a couple of months. I wasn’t sure whether to worry at first but it’s now her normal and she’s happy and well. The wind a couple of days beforehand is truly grim. Poor thing. But she doesn’t seem to notice!

Normal. If you were worried he was constipated I'd miss out the formula to try and get things moving. Mine were all EBF till solids at 6 months and my eldest would go days and days without pooing. After about 6 days without a poo I wouldn't leave the house without 2 changes of clothes and about 4 nappies because the poonami when she eventually pooed would get over everything. I don't miss those days!

Have a read of this on Kellymom OP.

Again, this is normal.

My EBF son sometimes goes 3 or 4 days without a pooh. I increased my fruit intake for 2 weeks and he started going 3 times a day then I guess his digestive system got use to that and we have now gone back to him poohing every other day. I took him to the doctor's several times because he strains when he attempts to pooh or pass wind and tenses his whole body but the doctor said some babies don't figure out how to relax enough and they have to learn. He wasn't unduly worried coz my DS was still having bowl movements and I was advised that he is thriving

I remember my brother as a baby being constipated, this was in the 80's and the health visitor said to put some soap up his bottom!

My EBF baby’s record was 14 days! During that time she kept doing unbelievably awful farts but didn’t seem uncomfortable or in pain. However the first poo after that was epic (looked like an entire jar of melted Nutella...lol sorry for spoiling that for anyone).

Well i let nature take its course and yesterday we had a poonami of epic proportions 😂 so he wasn't constipated, just being your usual bf baby!!