My newborn baby girl is breast fed. Even though she wets her nappy quite regularly, she does not soil often.?

Question

She only does poos every two days or so, is this normal? I'm concerned it may affect her sleeping if her tummy is not emptied more frequently even though she feeds all the time. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Answer 1

I breast fed my daughter exclusively for the first 9 months (that's right, she didn't have solid food until she was around 10 months) and breast fed her until she was 16 months old. She didn't really ever poop. She would have some runny yellowish poop mixed with her pee in every diaper but never solid chunky poop bottle fed babies. The reason for this is because breast milk is such a perfect food for your baby that they digest almost every bit they ingest so there is not need for them to poop to get rid of anything because they used almost everything out of it. I forget the percentage but it is like 95 % is used by the baby. There is no possible way for a breast fed infant to become constipated if she is exclusively breast fed. Your body is making the perfect food for your baby!

Congratulations on breast feeding! You are doing the best thing you an possibly do for you child. You are also the only one that can do this for her so that makes you so much more important and special. Don't worry about a thing. Breast milk is the best milk! If you still have concerns call you pediatrician and talk two on of the nurses (I did it also). They will put your fears to reast real fast.

Answer 2

I breastfed my baby and he pooped pretty much every time he fed. Your baby is normal. My baby was normal. Every baby has their own normal. As long as she is wetting her diaper often, you shouldn't have any worries. Maybe your baby is 'using up' all the breast milk you are feeding her and she doesn't have much to poo. Get your baby weighed. As long as she is gaining weight I wouldn't worry too much. I've read that as long as a breast fed baby poo's at least once a week she's ok. Here's a quote from the justmommies.com website:
< Once your baby is about one month old, he may start having fewer bowel movements. If your baby is breastfed, he may go several days to a week without having a bowel movement. This is nothing to worry about. Exclusively breastfed babies rarely have problems with constipation. If he goes longer than a week, he seems to be in pain, or if you are concerned, call your pediatrician.>>
Do exactly that, if you are concerned...call your doctor. Make sure the baby eats enough and she continues to gain weight.

Answer 3

From what the pediatricians have told me with all three of my babies, as long as they are having a bowel movements every two or three days, there is no reason to be alarmed. You only really need to be alarmed if she goes longer than three days without a bowel movement. Also she will go more frequently when she gets older and is eating cereal and other baby food. My suggestion is talk to your pediatrician for reassurance on this. But I believe you have no reason to worry, she is just a newborn right now. She is getting used to being outside of the womb, it takes time. Try not to worry about how many bowel movements she has as long as she maintains having one every two or three days. They wil increase in frequency....trust me!....been there. Make an appointment and get the reassurance from your pediatrician as well, for your own peace of mind. Your baby doesn't need to feel your worry. Good luck and congrats on becoming a mom. My best wishes to you.

Answer 4

From the age of 6 weeks, many fully breastfed babies only have a dirty diaper once every few days (up to once every 2 weeks--or occasionally longer than that). As long as once it comes, it is profuse and soft, it is *normal*. Constipation is when a baby has hard pellets, not a soft bowel movement, no matter *how* long it's been since the previous one.

My daughter used to have a bowel movement once a week, and one time went over 2 weeks (when she and I were out of the country alone). I was worried, but when she did go, it was normal.

Answer 5

Your baby is newborn. You have to look at the colour (sorry!) meconium for the first few times (black), then ordinary, yellowy in a breast-fed baby. Often it may not seem like poo as newborns have very runny poo!!!! Babies may get a bit dehydrated in this weather and you may need to give boiled cooled water on a spoon sometimes. Do not attempt to feed your baby food!! You may want to talk to health visitor about this.

Answer 6

Don't worry. All 4 of mine were breast fed ( I'm still nursing the last one - 11 months old) and in the beginnig they do not have bowel movements as often. It should begin to regulate out within a week or two. For some good info on this try Dr. William Sears' website: http://www.askdrsears.com/
Also his book is full of good information "The Baby Book"

Answer 7

Hey it's totally okay, no need to worry too much. My little girl when she was a newborn would not poop everyday. Instead it would take her 2-3 days, sometimes even more. Of course as new parents my hubby and I were worried, but the doctor said that as long as the poop does not look like hard little pellets, then she's okay. To look for signs of constipation, see if her poop is hard and like little pellets, and see if your daughter seems to strain herself when she goes. If not, then she's not constipated. The doctor said that every baby differs with their eating patterns and with their bowel movements. It just happens that my little girl would not go regularly like most babies. The longest she went without pooping was almost 7 days - and when it came, it was a LOT (and it got on everything! LOL!). I was so worried waiting for her to poop, but she was perfectly okay. As long as your baby continues to wet her diapers regularly, eats regularly, and does not seem to be lethargic or sick, then she's okay.

If you're still not sure, ask your doctor - the pediatrician should be able to assure you of what's going on.

Goodluck!

Answer 8

My baby girl was the same in the first few months. So long as you've got lots of wet nappies you should be fine. Think of it this way: breast milk is such a perfect food that there are precious few solid wastes to get rid of through the bowel.

Father of one.

Answer 9

so long as the poo is a bright yellow colour its not unusuall as breast milk is almost completely digested there is very little waste
for the first few months of my babies lives they were breast fed all four of them and they only ever managed to leave a smudge of poo on thier nappies the only time it became an issue waqs when they started solids
then there was more undigesteable waste so more poo

Answer 10

That is very normal. Since your newborn is not on solids they dont have waste. It takes 2-3 days in between just to collect up waste materials from the breast milk.