Mostly breastfed baby, 6 days old, only done one poo. Is this normal?

[AnguaVonUberwald]

Please advise, my baby is only 6 days old, probably didn't get anything from me for the first three days but now very happily breastfeeding with the occassional topup.

There was meconium (SP) in the waters when he was born, and since then he did a poo on day 3 and then nothing since then. He is weeing fine BTW.

Should we be worried?

my mw told me that it is a greater concern if not weeing, my ds used to go a few days someimes and then do an enormous up the back one! Fon't think there ois anything to worry about.

eerm one handed typing meant to say Don't think there is anything to worry about.

Lack of poo in itself is not a worry, but it is a sign to check for other things. Is he getting effective milk transfer (get a trained breastfeeding counsellor to check)? What's his weight doing (when weighed naked on digital, recently-calibrated scales)?

As a general principle, it may be a good idea while you are following that up to feed him more often. How often is he feeding at the moment?

PABLOP -- once they get to 5/6 weeks it's perfectly normal not to poo for several days or even up to a couple of weeks, but a newborn baby woud normally be doing several poos a day. As I said, it's not necessarily a problem, but it's something that ought to be checked out by someone who knows what they are doing.

thread here with good info

PortandLemon

We saw a breastfeeding expert a couple of days ago and ended up using a nippleshield.

We are pretty sure he is getting a good amount of food. Last night he wouldn't settle after a breastfeed so we topped him up with a bit of formula (in a cup, have done that a few times)

The midwife saw him yesterday and he has only lost 5% of his birthweight so she was really happy with him, especially as he had trouble feeding at first. She also said his colour was really good.

He is feeding every 3 hours approximatly, I am just putting him to the breast whenever he wakes up and he is sucking well (though he seems to have one long sleep a day of about six hours)

The thing is, he still hasn't pooed again, so am starting to worry!

PortAndLemon yes you are right, my ds was about 6 weeks when he had a few non poo days. I stand corrected.

Angua - the fact bf got off to a slow start might be the explanation for the lack of poo at 6 days, but it is something to watch and to be aware of....the weight sounds ok, but only if he was weighed naked on digital scales. If he was on spring balance ('hammock' type) then the result is not to be trusted.

Use of nipple shield is something you need to be wary of as well, as it cuts down the amount of milk available to the baby and does not help the baby learn to position and attach well. Any formula is bad news at this stage, and it does not matter that it comes in a cup...if he doesn't settle, he needs to be put back to the breast again, or your breasts don't get the message they need to make the right amount of milk for him. It is fine, and normal, for the baby to feed lots, and from three or four breasts at each feed.

Yes, sometimes formula is unavoidable, but it really does risk messing up your breastfeeding, and you don't want this, after your slow start

Good luck!

thanks Tiktok, it was from a hammock scales, so I will be wary of that.

OK, so moving forward, if he won't settle I will continue trying on the breast for much longer.

Re the nipple shields, he just wouldn't latch on, we tried for three days and he just was not getting it, went to see the local breast feeding councellor and she suggested them, he is certainly getting much more milk than he was before!

What I am worried about it when and how do I stop using them, now that he has got the message that there is milk in my breasts.

Any advice gratefully recived!

DD is seven days old ( where has that week gone?) and is pretty much always unsettled after a feed (especially in the evening). This basically means I swap her back and forwards between sides for a long time (yesterday I wondered if she was ever going to stop) until eventually she does settle, and it's that that will eventually boost my supply to the point where in a few weeks she will be satisfied with what she's getting in a one-or two-sided feed. If you are topping up when your DS seems unsettled then you are bypassing this natural means of building up your supply and it might start to dwindle instead.

I don't want to be a doomsayer, and some women are perfectly happy just to let their milk supply tail off and switch over entirely to ff, but it sounds as though you've gone to some effort to get breastfeeding started so it's worth bearing in mind.

Sorry, type too slowly and cross-posted!

Stay in touch with the person who suggested the shields, Angua....you may need her help in getting him off.

When my baby boy was about 2 weeks old I so couldnt get him to settle & was absolutely exhausted. He was hopping from one breast to another for a good 2 hours & clearly still hungry... I was so sore... I was at my wits end - so near to nipping up Tescos & getting a carton of formula.

Anyways I expressed off some milk & gave it to him. He settled immediately & slept for 4 hours. So can only think he couldnt get any milk from me. They advise against giving bottle if breastfeeding as it can cause nipple confusion - I didnt have any problems & my breast pump was my saviour on such occassions.

I am so glad that I persevered with BF. I found it so hard in the beginning. The hardest thing I have ever done.

Tiktok, taken advise from Marslady and am going to try and see a lactation consultant, (a proper one) to try and get him to latch without the shields.

The good news is: He did a second poo yesterday AND we didn't top him up last night at all, he was fine on just breast milk!

Hi Angua -

Just spotted your thread as it sounded so similar to mine which TheBlonde linked to below.

Just wanted to let you know that at 8 days old my DS has just started pooing regularly after nothing for 3 days and only one horrid brown nasty one per day for 2 more days. He was completely dissastisfied with colostrum only and I think he wanted to know that there was proper milk on tap, so it took a lot of decent breastfeeds before he would let go! Maybe your LO is the same - so hopefully now you are making progress with breastfeeding then your LO will start to poo regularly.

Good luck with it all!

HQ

Thanks HQ, he has produced two TINY amounts in the last two days, so I am hoping this is the start of bigger things to come, its good to know it got going for you.