My five-moth-old hasn't pooped for five days now. Is it normal?

Question

He is breasfted, but not exclusively. I supplement with Nestle Good Start soy-based formula (about 50%). No cereal. He seems to be in a good mood, has a soft tummy, no fever, no crying. I called my ped, and they told me to try a rectal thermometer. I've been trying since last night, but nothing is happening. Should I be concerned?

Answer 1

No reason to worry unless he's in pain (as in screaming his head off!) or visibly straining to go. According to one of the Nurse Practitioners (who specializes in babies) I work with, breastfed babies aren't considered constipated ever.

Also - babies' bowel habits change several times when they're little. He might just be changing....

Using the therometer is sometimes enough to stimulate them to go, but otherwise, if it's really freaking you out, try glycerine suppositories. You can buy them in the pharmacy. They're HUGE, so just break off a chunk and use it.

Answer 2

i was always concerned when my child didn't go every other day. Whe you use the thermomether you need to leave it in until he poops. Make sure you have a diaper under him! If you find this to be an ongoing problem you don't want to keep usin this method, because otherwise he won't be able to poop without the stimulation. The other thing that really worked, is I brought her to a chiropractor. He massged to points and the next day she would poop. you want to massage between his neck and shoulder on his right side and at the same time feel for his hip bone. you want to massage the area between his hip bone and belly button. you don't need a lot of pressure. He may cry for a little while as you are doing it. He explained to me that there is a valvue that sometimes doesn't open making us constipated. If the valvue is closed that's when they cry. I used to do it all the time and it works great even on adults

Answer 3

My daughter is formula fed and tends to get constipated occasionally due to the iron in the formula. I have heard that breastfed babies are able to use more nutrients from the breasmilk and there is sometimes less wasted which means that some babies poop a lot less frequently. When my daughter is constipated and hasn't had a bowel movement for 3 days I give her a bottle of dark Karo Syrup and water (1 tablespoon of dark Karo Syrup to 4 ounces of water). You can give your baby one bottle of this every 24 hours. My daughter's pediatrician told me to do this for her when she was only a few weeks old and it worked like a charm then and still does (she is now 3 1/2 months old).

Answer 4

The only thing that matters is the consistency of the poop when he does go. I don't know about partially breastfed babies, but I know breast milk digests so completely there is often little or no stool produced, especially after the first 6 weeks/2 months. If it is soft, then it is fine. I wouldn't worry at all if I were you. I think the 'record' for not pooping in a healthy normal breastfed infant is 14 days.

Answer 5

Your ped told you to use a rectal thermometer for what? To see if the baby is impacted?

For this age group, breast-fed babies usually have 1 stool every day to 1 stool every 7-10 days. The consistency of the stools is more important than how often they have them.

"Stools should be soft, semiformed, odor not offensive."

Of course, you should go with what the baby's doctor says.

Answer 6

Try Karo Syrup or diluted prune juice. Call the doctor and ask if that's okay to use on your 5-month-old though, as he could be too young for it.

Answer 7

sometimes babies won't poop for up to a week. if he still hasn't gone after 7 days, make another call to the pediatrician. my son did the same thing, and i about died i was so worried about it. you can try dark karo syrup... 1 tsp to 2 oz of formula/breast milk. it works as a mild laxative. however, make sure to talk with your childs doctor prior to doing this, as every child is different, and you doc may have a different approach.

Answer 8

My girls did this and I would not worry! Try giving him a warm bath for 15 to 20 mins that massage his belly. That should get things movin'

Answer 9

what exactly is it you are trying to do with the rectal thermometer it is not supposed to make him poop. my pediatrician says his son only pooped about every 5 days but when my son had that problem i worried try about 1 tsp dark corn syrup in his bottle that helped my son a lot.

Answer 10

No it's not normal. I would call the doctor's office again. Try feeding him a lot more fluid and see if things shift.