No BM for two days, is this a problem?

[alexmommy]

My 6.5 mo old DS has had no BM for two days. He's had the normal amount of wet diapers. No food changes. Rectal thermometer trick didn't work. He seems happy and fine, other than a snotty nose, which he's had for a week. He usually BM's once or twice a days, but sometimes does every other.

Should I worry? If not now, then how many days do I wait before worrying? (So I can plan. :) ) TIA

[catsnkid]

DS went about 3.5 days one time..

[gobadgers]

Is he breastfeeding? Before solid foods, DS went more than a week once. But I think once solid foods start it should be more often. I'm no doctor but I wouldn't be worried at two days yet.

We had to use glycerin suppositories - less icky than I thought it would be and it had immediate results :thumbsup: My pediatrician said if we still had trouble we could give a little pear or prune juice. You may want to check with yours - we didn't ever end up doing this because he just seems to young for that.

Have you introduced prunes yet? :wink2:

[slworld]

Guess with BM its the the consistency rather than the frequency. Guess you could try some watered down pear juice and see if it helps.

[brittone2]

My kids were infrequent poopers once they were past the newborn stage. THey sometimes went 3-5 days. For DD it was never a problem (other than some mild bouts of constipation). DS got into a pain/withholding cycle that was not pretty. As long as DC isn't in distress when having the bowel movements and they aren't hard in terms of consistency, I wouldn't worry.

[bigpassport]

I can't say how many days you should go before worrying, but our 6 mo old DS has gone 4-5 days without a BM twice in his little life. An ounce of apple juice did the trick both times.

[Dr C]

Agree that 2 days is no big deal. It's really common for stools to change as you introduce more solids. I'd give it another 1-2 more days days OR if he seems uncomfortable, you might want to try some baby food prunes or prune juice or pears/pear juice. The glycerine suppository is also safe and would be a good option if the prune/pear doesn't work or if he seems uncomfortable.

[alexmommy]

He is mostly BF. We have introduced solids sort of, but he takes no more than 2 Tbsps/day, usually about a tsp. He doesn't seem miserable yet, just a lot of gas and pushing. We haven't done prunes yet, but I have some juice in my fridge. We'll see what tomorrow brings, I guess. Thanks for the advice. Out of curiousity, what is the longest that is okay for a BF baby?

[Dr C]

Exclusively breastfed babies can easily go for a week with no poop--mom's milk is sometimes just that well absorbed! Once you start solids they do tend to poop a bit more often and you want to consider whether it's true constipation... but you would know that because the stool would be hard little balls and your baby would be uncomfortable.