Gripey 5 week old

[Wotuser]

5 week old DS is ebf and doing well generally but we’re having real problems with his poos. He’s doing around 10-12 full dirty nappies a day and becomes gripey and distressed every time he feels a poo coming on. He’s also quite gassy and this is often accompanied by small bits of poo. This means that he barely gets any respite from straining and fussing. He’s also starting to get nappy rash, despite me making every effort to change him any time I think there’s the slightest bit of poo.

He likes to comfort feed during these periods, but I do wonder whether the constant feeding could exacerbate all of this. We’ve tried a dummy instead but he’s hit and miss on whether he will accept it. Gripe water isn’t really helping.

I was hoping this was just something developmental he would grow out of but we had a really bad night last night and I’m starting to wonder whether things are within the normal. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Is it worth a call to the GP/HV?

Might just be a phase, he will be going through a growth spurt and so feeding more now.

Things that come to mind are: nappy rash - I found pampers nappies/wipes the best and drapolene cream. Huggies wipes just didn't agree with my dd. Try changing nappy brand or cream?

Any signs of tongue tie? Sometimes that can cause you to oversupply the foremilk which can cause some discomfort for them. (I had this).

Any other changes eg introducing formula?

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

Using pampers pure, water wipes and bepanthen at the moment, will look at getting some drapolene.

Don’t think he has tongue tie, his latch is usually comfortable, but he did struggle with latching initially in hospital so maybe? I wondered about foremilk imbalance as I do seem to have a very good supply and rarely feel like he fully drains one side. That was part of the logic behind trying to stop him from comfort feeding every 20 minutes. I might try calling a breastfeeding advisor and see if they have any thoughts- thanks!

If it’s too much foremilk his poo will be green, instead of yellow.

If it helps my son went through this at the same ish time, pooped constantly haha, it was a continuous cycle of pooping and eating, it eventually petered out and he only pooed once or twice a day as his feeding settled into a schedule. I think it’s all a little up in the air before 3/4 months, because he’s figuring it all out. I wouldn’t worry if his poos are the right colour and consistency. I’m sure it will resolve itself 🙂

Thanks @tulio, it’s really reassuring to hear that this can be normal and settle down eventually! His poos are yellow and look pretty normal so it sounds like foremilk isn’t the issue.

My DS had TT and pooed a lot. Feeding was comfortable but he had long feeds. Have a read of this on Milk Matters.

It night also be worth reading about dairy too.