EBF newborn constipated?

[maestramommy]

Okay, I know I saw this thread a few days ago, but I've been searching, nothing's turning up, and my brain is too fried from lack of sleep to look harder. Is it possible for a 1 month old EBF baby to poop only once a day or less and have nothing wrong? This is Arwyn. When she finally poops, it's a huge event, like she's been saving it up. It's also got the sour smell rather than the hot buttered popcorn gone bad smell (sorry was that TMI?)

She is also constantly grunting, writhing, kicking, etc in her sleep during the night. This is what wakes me up. When I try to nurse, at least one of those (3) sessions lasts 10 seconds or less. So, I'm assuming she's not really hungry, but something is waking her up. What could it be?

BTW, I'm taking her in to the ped on Wed. to ask her about reflux.

[Jenn98]

DD#2 is EBF and pooped about once a week from very early on to now at 6 months. It's totally normal. She, however, doesn't have any other signs of distress. She can be a teeny bit cranky in the 12 hours or so before she does poo, but not terribly bad. What she does to her outfit is another story, though-man, can she blowout a diaper!! Also, do not let your Pedi tell you to give her Karo syrup! That's an old suggestion that is terribly outdated, imho.Iirc, both DD's were little grunt machines at that age and it just worked itself out and they were fine after a few weeks. HTH!

[masha12]

Our EBF baby poops about once a week. We were concerned the first time she went more than a few days, but our pediatric nurse practitioner assured us that once a week is fine as long as the stools are loose.

[maestramommy]

Okay, thanks ladies, that relieves my mind :-)

[shilo]

yep, ditto the pp's. after the first few weeks, sam settled into a pattern where he would go only once every 4-7 days. he was pretty much EBF to 6 mos. he didn't start back to a regularly daily bowel mvmt until he started solids. my pedi said at the time to give him a call if it went more than 10 days or if there were signs of distress, change in behavior or nursing, etc - there never were. the pedi said some mom/baby pairs just have really low 'residue' b/c breast milk is so well absorbed. it doesn't sound to me like you have anything to worry about unless arwyn is having other symptoms.

i so hear you on the noisy sleeping/grunting waking you. you didn't ask, and i'm not sure what your thoughts are on this, but i'll share b/c it was such a struggle for me when i was where you sound like you are now. sam went to his own room at about arwyn's age b/c it just wasn't good for the two of us to sleep in the same room/bed. what little sleep sam gave us at that age seemed to be in longer stretches in his own room, and it was the only way i got _any_ sleep. my mama ears were just too sensative to tune any of it out, and a girl can only go so long on 2 hrs of sleep a day. we initially tried keeping him w/ us and my wearing ear plugs. i got a little more sleep, but sam didn't. it wasn't until we started putting him in the crib in his room after nursing that he started doing better with sleep. went against all my 'attachment' instincts/wishes, but it's what he/we needed, so it's what we did.

hth, lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

ETC: typo and clarify two diff. uses of bm in one post :P

[maestramommy]

Thanks Lori. We actually experienced this with Dora. She was also a grunter. I had no idea sleeping babies were this noisy until she was born. When we moved her into her own room, we all slept great! Unfortunately, we live in a 2 bdrm apt, so Arwyn is stuck with us until she is sleeping through the night, or down to one feeding. Sucks, but there it is. My sis strongly suggested a white noise machine. Dh and I aren't used to white noise, but it may come to that if the situation doesn't improve or gets worse.

[lisams]

Is she on any medication? When DS started Prevacid his poops at first were more frequent but now they are less frequent and "pasty" like - nothing like DD's ever were. I kind of wonder if it's the medication.

Just something to throw out there. If she's only getting breastmilk (no medication or supplementing) then everything I've read says it's totally normal! It's always an adventure when DS goes after not going for two days,lol!

[maestramommy]

heh, no she's not on any meds. But like I said, I'm getting her checked out for reflux Wed. I'm glad I read the thread in Feeding Baby because I see there are other signs of reflux Arywn has that I didn't know about.

I'd like to ask a question about reflux meds, but I'll save that for another post.

[brittone2]

DD was never a big pooper. By 3 weeks she was down to once a day or every few days. She eventually moved onto going about once a day or every other day pretty consistently, which is what she's doing now at 6 months (and has probably been like this for about 2-3 months now?).

As long as she isn't in any major distress I wouldn't worry. DD did get a bit distressed because she would hold it all in so long, and pooping is just hard work for newborns. But no major distress, and it was soft when it came out.

[nfowife]

Lisa, that is interesting you notice that. DS is on prevacid and his BM's are very pasty too, not curdy like DD's were. Still yellow, but more like paste or pudding, no curds to speak of! I never thought it might be the prevacid! He also only goes every few days, like 2 times a week.