7 week old not pooing

[E899]

My little one is 7 weeks old and from birth he has never been regular with poos - maybe one every other day but when it happens there’s lots of it. However just lately it’s been 4 or 5 days in between each poo and he looks so uncomfortable. He is breastfed.

I have tried stomach massages which he hates and screams at, we give him a bath every night and we do bicycle legs various times throughout the day. I have also tried gripe water on him and cooled boiled water yesterday. The past couple of days he has been screaming in pain and looks really uncomfortable... sometimes he’s even straining when passing wind.

I’ve rang the doctors and have a telephone consultation with them tomorrow morning but just wondered if anyone had any other advice to try?

About normal for BF babies to start taking longer between poos around this age. We had this and he was uncomfortable on the days he did poo but it didn't take long before that eased as he got more mobile.

It is because there is so little waste in your BM. Keep boobing ! It is also a natural laxative. Please leave the water etc, they don't need it

Is he breastfed? If so then this is totally normal. Mention it at the Health visit/check up, but it's a known thing that shouldn't be cause for concern.

Don't give him anymore water unless advised by the doctor. They shouldn't have water until they start solids (unless there are unusual extreme circumstances)

He looks so in pain though, is that normal? Like even passing wind he really strains and wimpers. Other breastfed babies I know poo various times a day. If breast milk is a natural laxative then surely he should be doing it more than 5 days? The midwife mentioned to give him water so we have him a tiny bit.

Totally normal. Had five kids - all breastfed. My first had one weekly poo - enormous ones. Second one pood several times each day. The others fell in between that. It only is a worry if not breastfed.

Completely normal for breastfed babies, there’s so little waste in breastmilk they don’t need to. Dd regularly went 7-10 days between poos from 6/7 weeks onwards.

Do not give him water, that’s dangerous advice from your midwife.

My daughter was like this and was breastfed and my doctor told me to give her cooled boiled water think it was 1oz too as the straining was making her bleed, Also gave her stomach massages as she was pooping, it cleared up after a few days x