Breastfed baby without Bowel Movements

Crystal - posted on 03/26/2013

I thought I would add to this because I know how stressful it can be waiting on your little baby to poop! My 8 mo old son went 8 day's without one. I was freaking out, though he seemed his normal self and all. Well on day #9 he went a little and then day #10 it was a mudslide!

Sally - posted on 03/26/2013

While some breastfed babies poop at every feeding, many go weeks without. Your milk is so good for your baby that some babies use all of it during digestion and there is nothing left to poop out. As long as she is happy, her tummy isn't hard, and she isn't straining there is nothing to worry about. While the glycerine suppositories can be a godsend for babies who really are constipated, trying to "fix" a healthy digestive system is the fastest way to cause a lot of health problems and many of those problems can become permanent fairly quickly.
Good luck

Arlene - posted on 03/25/2013

Nawautin - posted on 06/08/2010

woah, making me think what's going to happen to my son. I was made and appoinment to see a specialist in pediactics. My sons is going on a month without having a BM. Makes me worried, he's not bothered by it. His stomache is not hard, He 's happy and smiling all the time...cooing and such, and really alert. He farts and they are stinky. I am scared it might turn out to be something serious, which I dearly hope it isn't. We shall find out tomorrow.

Cyndi - posted on 09/17/2009

Strange additions to followup with my daughter...
To this day (she will be 5 months in about a week) she is still having problems. We have been working closely with her pediatric gastroenterologist and pediatrician and still no progress. In August, the specialist performed a rectal biopsy to rule out hirshsprungs disease and crohn's disease. Results negative. During the biopsy there was a complication which landed her in the hospital with a severe Gastrointestinal bleed. The doctor said he must have hit a vein or something during the "blind procedure." He said in 20 years of practice she makes his second patient that has happened to. After crazy amount of blood loss she started to stable and they discharged her from Akron Children Hospital, with specialist there agreeing that something like this could happen, but it was indeed extremely rare. Now we are still battling the constipation and our new problem Anemia. Her H&H levels went from 10.1 which they like the range to be around 12, to as low as 6.8 (almost considered transfusion and exploratory surgery.) Now she is on iron supplements which has severe constipation as a side effect. My daughter has been taking prescription oral laxatives since her 2 month visit and they don't seem to be working. Her pediatrician has just recommended starting her on cereal and see if starting a normal baby diet will help produce BM's but her specialist recommended starting her right away on baby food (green veggies) as her intro food. I have conflicting advise from doctors which makes it frustrating. The specialist said the cereal can lead to more constipation. Her pediatrician wants to see if she will just start going. In the mean time I have to give her a max dose of her prescription liquid laxative, zantac for reflux, iron supplements for her anemia and alternate days of suppositories. We started the cereal two days ago...we are waiting and seeing. The specialist recommended if within the next 4 weeks if her progress doesn't improve then performing an exploratory surgery would be recommended...I am not too happy about hearing anything exploratory on my what will be almost 6 month old at the time. I don't know what I should do!

Natasha - posted on 06/30/2009

Everyone gave such great advice, I was just coming in to encourage you. It does take a while sometimes for EBF children to poop and is not at all uncommon for it to be a week or two before they have a bowel movement.

Hilary - posted on 06/30/2009

My little one shifted to the once a week dirty diaper around 4 months. Guess it is quite common in BF babies. Skip any suppositories - just put your baby in a nice new outfit and go out to a restaurant or friends house. LOL that usually does the trick and you get a very full diaper :o) That's when I learned to keep extra outfits & wipes in the diaper bag AND car. double supply....

Shawna - posted on 06/30/2009

How often is she having dirty diapers? It is very common for exclusively breast-fed infants to go 7-10 days with no dirty diapers
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/normal.ht...

Nicole - posted on 06/30/2009

Mine pooped today, i guess just threatening to call the dr inspied him! ha ha

Erin - posted on 06/30/2009

My eldest went through this stage too. I had other women around me who were currently breastfeeding and found that this is "normal." I just watched to make sure he wasn't uncomfortable and that his skin and eyes didn't go yellow between BMs.

Nicole - posted on 06/30/2009

Let us know how the Dr. Apt goes. My 3 mos baby is going on six days with no BM. I was going to wait until tomorrow to call doc...fould gas as well, but otherwise very happy doesn't seem to be in distress.

Shanna - posted on 06/29/2009

I was watching the TV show called The Doctors and they actually said only used suppositories as a very last resort becasue if they are used often, your baby will develop the need for them. He or she will not be able to poop on their own, withour the help of a suppository.

Shanna - posted on 06/29/2009

Breastfed babies can go up to 8 days I believe, before you need to call your doctor. It;s very normal for a breastfed baby to go only once per week. As long as you baby isn't in pain, or trying to poop but cant and there is no blood, everything should be fine.

Bethany - posted on 06/29/2009

My daughter was EBF and went a month without a bowel movement! I did use the glycerin suppositories once every 10 days so she wasn't uncomfortable. They were going to look at her digestive tract and see if there was really a problem, but when she started solids, at 6 months, I started giving her Activia Fiber yogurt everyday and it worked wonders! For a couple of months she had to have one everyday, religiously, and then she was pooping every single day. She's just turned one and I still give them to her, but maybe every other day or so, and she's doing great. BF babies can have pooping problems, despite what Dr's say, it is more rare, but not impossible! Good luck, I would for sure recommend the yogurt in a couple of months and until then use the suppositories. If nothing works, I would get her checked when she's just a little older.

Jackie - posted on 06/29/2009

My first daughter went a week in a half without a bowel movement and she was exclusively breastfed. I was concerned as well, but my pediatrician assured me that she was fine and it was not uncommon for her to go that length of time because she was breastfed only.

Maria - posted on 06/29/2009

My daughter went over two weeks without any BM's once, and often went one week. IF she is exclisivley BFed it could likely be that her body has become efficiant at using up all the nutriants in the breast milk (breast milk doesn't have any waste in it, it's all nutriants). If she is uncomfortable and gassy, there may be a problem that needs to be cleared up, but it's also perfectly normal for a BFed baby to go longer periods of time with out and poops.