NO poop....Help!!!!

[aburton]

Yesterday, after approximately 40 hours of no poop and at the advice of my pediatrician, I administered 1/2 of an infant glycerin supository on my 3 week old. Boy, did it do the trick. The problem is that is has now been 19 hours since the supository worked and she has not pooped yet. She is farting and doing some pushing, but with no results. Is she constipated? Can I give her prune juice, as your book says, at such a young age? I recently started giving her formula at every other feeding, alternating with expressed breast milk. Again, at the advice of my doctor we switched to a lactose free formula which has seemed to reduce fussiness. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yesterday, after approximately 40 hours of no poop and at the advice of my pediatrician, I administered 1/2 of an infant glycerin supository on my 3 week old. Boy, did it do the trick. The problem is that is has now been 19 hours since the supository worked and she has not pooped yet. She is farting and doing some pushing, but with no results. Is she constipated? Can I give her prune juice, as your book says, at such a young age? I recently started giving her formula at every other feeding, alternating with expressed breast milk. Again, at the advice of my doctor we switched to a lactose free formula which has seemed to reduce fussiness. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


I have a 3wo (almost 4!) too. :) On my due date board I asked about ds' pooping b/c he was only pooping once a day and the rest of the time we might get a spot of poop or just a lot of straining. It turns out that it was very normal for breastfed babies. My dh researched and found that the straining is not constipation but the fact that the anal sphincter is tightly closed in utero and baby has to learn to relax it. Constipation is a matter of the bms consistency (hard, small poops) NOT the frequency. I hadn't known that. Now that I do I am far less stressed.

Now, I know that the above applies to a totally breastfed baby. But, it could still give you some reassurance that 19, even 40 hours, is not a big deal. If their belly feels super hard and/ or they are just miserable all the time then I would act on it. But straining sometimes and making soft poops would not have me concerned.

I wouldn't do something like prune juice. You don't want to fill the baby up on something other than breastmilk or formula. Oh, and, remember that the 3 week growth spurt is coming up. Baby may seem like a bottomless pit but if you are bf'ing keep baby on the breast as much as they demand so you can build up your supply. If you want to bf you may want to put the formula aside for the growth spurt days just so your body gets all of baby's supply needs and cues. My ds was attached almost non stop for a day, didn't really sleep and was fussy. It was a long day but now I have more milk (I can totally feel the difference). I thnk week 3 was really hard- hang in there. :)

GL!
Beth

[Marisa6826]

No! Don't do the prune juice! Her digestive system simply isn't ready to deal with something like that. If you really feel she needs it (and I doubt that she does), you can give her some previously boiled water (like a couple tsp full). It's just at three weeks, their little intestines are starting to get used to themselves and gas is kicking in. It's totally normal. Not necessarily nice, but normal.

Don't go crazy switching all kinds of formula around. The faster you switch around, the more difficulty your baby is going to have getting used to it. So unless you see *major* issues with her spitting up, or screaming/crying, I would hold off buying everything off the shelves.

Seriously, my Ped said that they didn't worry till it was long as four or five days between poopy dipes for a baby.

Question for you. Do you *like* your Ped? Sounds like this one might be working off of some really outdated information. I've been through about six of them before finally finding one that I truly love. Now, it's kind of like finding a pair of perfect shoes. No pinching, no pulling, and everything is wonderful (but that's a different thread ;) ).

Also, check out askdrsears.com and kellymom.com for some good articles on feeding. You can also check out mothering.com, though they're significantly more crunchy. I don't know how much you'll find there on formula. FWIW, I did a combination of EBM and formula for both my kiddos, and both have turned out fine (so far). :)

Good luck and congrats!

-m

[kochh2]

nak

ITA with PP's about liking your pedi and outdated info... babies fuss for a reason, and very rarely are allergic to breastmilk.. though i am not a doctor... But that 3 week period is typically fussy, IMO-- have you considered going back to just breastmilk and maybe giving baby probiotics to help their gut to relieve fussiuness?? remember, babies cry to tell us something, so maybe it's just an adjustment to being out of the womb!! you could try a sling or some other swaddling device to eliminate the fussiness as well, and if you don't worry about the poop, it may resolve itself. The advice i was given for my EBF'd daughter was that some babies don't poop as often. This came from many lactation consultants and ped's that we trusted wholeheartedly!!
breastmilk, at least, is so good for them at providing what they need that often times, not much waste is made at first!! remember that when you think "why isn't she pooping"! it's just that her body is using every last bit of it's nutrition, and as long as baby is wetting enough diapers, trust your body and your instinct!!!
good luck, but no... to the prune juice as others have said!! and i hear the suppositories burn, and are tough to wean off... so be careful with what you put in your LO!!!

[jhrabosk]

Ditto the others...we got very stressed out about our DD not pooping when she was that age and found that it was about "learning" to poop. Our ped gave us a little plastic probe (think rectal thermometer) and said that we could use it every few days as necessary to sort of "get her going." We only had to do it once or twice and things started functioning normally.

ITA also about not switching formula around too much...their little digestive systems are still SO immature. They need time to adjust.

Good luck!