5 month old... 2 weeks no poo!

[pinkkpenguin]

Sorry I had no idea where to post this!

My DS is almost 5 months and ebf. He last had a poo 14 days ago.

He seems well in himself, doesn't seem to be struggling to poo or in pain.

Should I be concerned? I read online it could be because he's having a growth spurt he's using all of the milk. He's weeing totally as normal.

My instinct is to not be concerned as he is healthy aside from this but others (DM!) seem to this it's terrible and I need to take him straight to the gp...

Thank you

2 weeks with no poo as a small baby is a clear GP visit, he’s probably absolutely fine, but that’s for a doctor to decide.

How's his weight gain? If it's tapering off, I'd be concerned he's not feeding enough, as fewer poos could be a sign of that. Do you feed to a schedule or on demand?

Thank you both.

Still feeding on demand and he is a good size, recently gone in to size 9-12m.

Our baby was a very infrequent pooer at that age - we had a couple of times it got to 14 days without one but he was always fine! We took him to the Gp twice over it when it got to around 10 days, they prescribed some laxatives on one occasion but I don’t think we ended up using them. They will be able to check he’s not constipated so definitely worth taking him!

Do you have him weighed to no if his weight gain is staying on track though?

I was always told by the HV if babies do not poo for 5 days or more then a GP visit should be arranged. My DS was only pooing ever 2/3 days at times and I was worried then but was told to refer to GP if 5 days or more. I would book a GP visit. 14 days to wait for a poo in my opinion is too long.

Even if he's bigger than average for his age, his weight gain could be slowing due to some recent problem so it's worth weighing him regularly just to see roughly. Eg just holding him while standing on bathroom scales and subtracting your own weight.

Another thing just to check, sounds stupid but, has anyone else looked after him lately, and that person might have changed his pooey nappy without mentioning it? Like MIL or someone. I've made this mistake before of thinking dc hadn't pooed in a while but it'd been happening at nursery and I hadn't read the updates

I was always told by the HV if babies do not poo for 5 days or more then a GP visit should be arranged.

Was that with a BF baby? If so I have no idea why they would be wasting the GP's time.

Usually anything upto 14 days is fine if they're EBF.

If he's gaining weight well and isn't unhappy I would be too concerned even at 2 weeks.

Try some no nappy time so he can have a good kick or put him on something like a jumper ok or a sling and go for a walk. A bath and done tummy massage should help too. There's lots of videos on YouTube of how to do tummy massage on babies.

Until the big event arrives, I would make sure you pack at least a full set of clothes for him wherever you go and lots of wipes.

DD did 12 days and it was even it her hair when it finally arrived

No formula fed baby. I’m only telling what I was told in my experience. I think if something worries you as a parent there is no such thing as wasting GP time.

With an ebf baby this is not unusual. Assuming your baby is happy and has plenty of wet nappies I would not be concerned. Agree with @CadyEastman make sure you take plenty of wipes when you go out as there will be a poonami

The advice for FF babies is so very different though. A FF baby not pooing for five days would be a concern but a BF baby not pooing for 5 days at this age would just be normal for most BF babies.

my breastfed babies only ever pood every 7-10 days. Totally normal. The HV was wrong here.

I think I’m more inclined to trust my gut when it comes to my baby. So I’d act on my instinct rather than advice from anywhere really. I think as parent me our instinct is much more reliable.