CMPA or dyschezia

[catlikereaxtions]

My 3 week old seems to constantly be trying to push / strain to poo. Particularly at night time when he writhes around stretching himself out then scrunching. Weirdly when he is in our arms he doesn’t do this very often. He isn’t constipated, does a good amount of poos a day and they’re normal consistency etc.

After googling it seems to be dyschezia wondering if it could be CMPA. I don’t want to cut dairy out needlessly because I’m worried it could in itself result in an intolerance.

is there a way to distinguish between CMPA and dyschezia?

I should say constantly is probably an exaggeration (although it feels like it sometimes) but he will go through hours in the day where he isn’t doing this. It’s definitely worse at night though

Sounds more like infant dyschezia. It’s worse at night because they are flat on their backs for a long time. I saw an interesting IG post from an IBCLC that said dyschezia isn’t a thing in cultures where babies are held a lot more and overnight. It’s just started settling with us at 8 weeks.

I think dyschezia my boy had the same

i think with CMPA as far as I’m aware babies normally have other signs too eg diarrhoea or a lot of poos a day. Skin issues etc

I’ve had two children with CMPA and it doesn’t sound like this. But to check (if you want) I was recommended a full exclusion diet for three weeks and then a blow out of dairy and then see if there’s any noticeable difference.

Just realised this is advice for breastfeeding, but your post doesn’t say how baby is fed. Not sure if advice for formula fed babies. Would probably involve changing to hypoallergenic milk, so maybe more disruptive.