Q&A: breastfed baby poop

Rachel writes:

"My daughter is one month old, and her pooping schedule has slowed from three or more dirty diapers a day to one every few days to one a week to what we have now, which is a week and a half and counting. She has tons of wet diapers, and lots of stinky gas with sometimes the tiniest bit of poop leaked, but just no real poops. When she does poop, it's a huge amount, and it looks like a typical breastfed baby poop, just lots more of it.

With my first child, who pooped all the time, I remember reading that breastfed babies sometimes poop as little as once a week, so I knew this was a possibility. I did some looking online recently and found the same thing, with people saying breastfed babies are almost never constipated and can sometimes go a week between BMs (one site said, in extreme cases, three weeks, though I didn't see that elsewhere). Overall my daughter is very healthy. She's been gaining weight, she sleeps well, and she's not really fussy (I know, I'm very, very lucky). She is a lazy eater and often latches off in under five minutes, but because of the weight gain and the fact that she just looks great, the lactation consultant said she thinks my daughter is just one of those babies who eats quickly (again, I have no idea how we got so lucky). She fusses on the breast a lot in the late evenings before bed and does seem to scrunch and grunt when passing gas, but other than that, she seems perfectly fine.

My problem is this: my pediatrician wants to give the baby some suppositories or other constipation remedy if she doesn't poop in a day or two. I really don't want to mess with her system if it's not necessary, but I also don't want to deny her treatment that she needs. My husband is between jobs and we are without insurance for a few weeks, but we could pay for the visit/treatment if she really needed it, but the be honest that's another reason not to do anything unless it's truly necessary.

Since my other child was a constant pooper, I'd love to hear from readers who have breastfed kids who pooped rarely. How long would your kid go between BMs? Did it ever cause problems? Are there any home remedies we could try before sticking something up her bum? I've cut out dairy for a few days just for lack of any other ideas, but no movement so far. Any other things I could be eating that could be causing her digestive problems, if this really is a problem? Did your kid's BMs ever increase in frequency? Was constipation a problem when solids were introduced?"

I already answered Rachel privately, but let me just reiterate here that frequency of poop is not an issue for breastfed babies. Because different babies absorb the nutrients in breastmilk in different ways at different times, going a long time between poops is not necessarily a cause for concern. What you do want to watch out for is the consistency, color, and smell of the poop. If it's still that same brownish-yellowish-orangish-greenish soft or seedy poop, and it has that smell that I always thought was a lot like elementary school paste, you're fine. If it smells really foul (like the baby's sick) and is hard or in nuggets and is black, that's a problem and you should call your doctor. (Green poop can be caused by anything from your eating lots of spinach to having a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance to the baby's having some kind of little cold or virus. It basically means the poop is going quickly through the baby's system, and if it doesn't seem to be accompanied by any other problems it's not a problem in and of itself.)

I'm actually rather concerned that Rachel's doctor wants to give a perfectly healthy baby suppositories. It shows a lack of understanding of one of the basic facts that anyone working with a decent-sized breastfeeding population should know. (By that I mean that the average breastfeeding mom only really knows her own kid's patterns, but someone who deals with lot of breastfed babies certainly ought to know what the range of normal is.) I'd be extremely hesitant to give a healthy baby anything that's going to interrupt his natural bowl functioning. If her doctor is truly insistent, she should call her LC or local La Leche League leader, who can pull any available literature on the range of normal for pooping.

Now to the anecdotes. I've said it thousands of times here, but both of my kids changed pooping patterns every time they went through a growth spurt. I think the longest time either of mine went was 3-4 days. Of course I'm not going to pretend that I didn't start to get worried about it, but my worry was mostly that we'd be out somewhere and 4 days' worth of poop would all come out and cause a poopsplosion somewhere I couldn't really deal with it.

Another friend of mine said her daughter routinely pooped once a week for months. Said child is going happily off to college at the end of this month.

Anyone else with tales of poop? I posted this question mainly because I wanted there to be a bunch of data points gathered in one place, so any other moms frantically Googling at 3 am could see what's actually normal.

Comments

[Leslie]

My breastfed baby sometimes went 9 or 10 days without pooping, and then when she did poop it was a big one. She did eventually start pooping more often as she got older. I never asked my doctor about it because she seemed happy and healthy. I remember reading somewhere that you don't necessarily need to worry about them straining to pass gas either. As long as the poop remains soft, she isn't constipated.

[JenniferH]

Long-time lurker, first time commentor.

My breastfed son, who is now 7 months old, was one of those once per week poopers from age 6 weeks through 5 months. The longest he went was 11 days and my pediatrician didn't seem too concerned about it. She actually suggested trying to take his temperature as a means to get things moving if I was concerned.

One of my son's playgroup friends went 19 days between poops and her mom's pediatrican didn't seem worried either. That pediatrician recommended OTC suppositories but only if the baby seemed very uncomfortable.

Oh, you know, I kinda miss those breastmilk poops...we've moved onto, um, more mature poops now with the introduction of solids (gotta love those green veggies).

[Dani]

First kid: rarely went more than a day without a poop, usually several a day.

Second kid: went through several months before starting solids where she'd go every 8-10 days. Two weeks was her maximum. My ped (who was a lactation consultant earlier in her career) said not to worry about it. So I didn't. Much.

[Molly]

Another one here: My first is and always was (since about amonth) a twice-a-day pooper, exclusively breastfed to 8 months, and this pattern has not changed, even though she is now 2.5! Oh how I longed for one of those "once-a-week" babies.

My second is now 6 months and poops about every 7-10 days. So much that you read about breastfed babies tells you that this is ok! I can't believe your ped. is makinng an issue out of this.

good luck!

[mollyball]

My daughter, who is now 13 months old and has always been totally healthy, was exclusively breastfed for 6 months (well, 5 really--I sneaked her some cereal on the early side) and pooped once every 10 days on average for most of the first 6 months of her life. I never worried because I'd read a ton of stuff about it, all of which said this is typical of a breastfed baby. In fact, I was never even worried enough to mention it to my pediatrician--I just figured it was normal. Which it is. I don't think you should worry at all. But maybe you should switch pediatricians? Now my daughter screams as if she's on fire every time I change her diaper. I'm nostalgic for the once every 10 days days.

[Jennifer]

The Nugget was exclusively breastfed for 6 months. Sometimes he went several times a day, and sometimes he went two weeks between poops. If he went more than a few days, we had "poop-quakes", where there was a major blowout (once, while I was out of the house, I had to give him a complete sponge bath with baby wipes), and then several smaller poops within a few hours.

[Nancy]

The doc is probably offering a supp as s/he figures that's what the parents expect. I work as a nurse practitioner and when most parents bring in a "constipated" kid, they expect results. Also, if the doc would be worried that the kid really is constipated (esp. given child's age) and if that proves to be the case you'll be really angry at him/her for not intervening.

I remember the mother of one toddler recently getting mad at me for inaction, her saying through clenched teeth "she's ALWAYS been this way" and me saying "yep, some kids are" and giving her the usual scoop on fluids and fibre, but she still brought her healthy kid in monthly, wanting a fix for what was for her kid a normal pattern. She was so mad at us for not curing her!

So yay to understanding your baby's healthy patterns and accepting them! I know it's still a worry though, since until that normal poop appears (esp. in a tiny baby!) you don't really know for sure what's up.

BTW, a supp wouldn't hurt the baby or mess with their system. It would just stimulate a BM if there was some stool near the exit. It won't have a chronic effect, glycerin supps are safe, other stuff less so.

[Amy M]

My daughter has been exclusively breastfed for six months (as of today!). Early on and most of my maternity leave (12 weeks) she was a twice a day pooper. Somewhere around 3 months she started a pooping every 1-4 day "pattern". The best thing about daycare is that she normally poops while she's there, although occassionally she'll save it until we get home from work.

The one rule that does seem to hold is that if she goes 3-4 days without pooping, she's going to be sent home with a messy outfit. We've tried different diapers, and nothing holds the 3-4 day poop...so until your daughter goes, I wouldn't leave the house without an extra outfit and lots of wipes.

[z]

my son who is now 11 months would routinely go about 8 days between poops. He was actually on a schedule like that and so i knew when his pooping days were. This was from about 2 months to about 6 months.

Then when he started solids he had one difficult poop after which he cried. Cried while pooping and cried after. It was his first solid poop and (i think) it scared himm. Since then no crying and continues to poop first every other day to now every day.

[Jan]

I couldn't exclusively breastfeed (supply issues), but a girlfriend who did said her little guy had a poop every 8 days, like clockwork.

Totally healthy, normal, etc. (Well, unless you count refusing to poop on the potty until he was almost 5!)

[BrooklynGirl]

At 6 weeks, my breastfed baby who used to poop at EVERY feeding started pooping just once every 4 days.

The first time she did this, I panicked a little but now it's clearly just her routine. (The stinky gas is embarrassing though. When I have her in the Bjorn and she let's one fly, I have to fight the urge to tell everyone around us that it wasn't me.)

[hedra]

Haven't read the other comments...

G: Pooped like clockwork, like he'd read the book in infancy, perfect breastfed baby poop, fluffy and puddinglike with seeds. Ah, to have had that with any of the others! Sigh. He would go a week plus between poops, then... watch out! He almost invariably pooped in the car on the way home from daycare, which meant carefully peeling him out of the seat, determining how far up his back the poop blowout had launched, and taking him inside for a full strip-down and wash. I stopped clocking the poop once I realized that delay wasn't an issue, quality was. Quality remained good. I did know a mom online (same age child) whose child went MORE than the 'limit' of 21 days between poops. She had to change her baby in the bathtub after poops, and sometimes had to change her own clothes, too - because it just went EVERYWHERE - including out the sleeves. After her experiences, I figured I wasn't having too hard a time. I'm sure there were times that it was two weeks between poops, but... I learned to trust his poop. Poop quality declined when weaned, probably because he added more juice to his diet.

B - pooped at every blessed feed for ages, thin, green, foul, sticky. Had milk/(soy) protien intolerance with proctocolitis (dx retrospectively). Removed all dairy from my diet (soy was okay, in his case), poop improved slightly, then spotted the oversupply issue - and still never got normal poop, but went to 1-3x/day instead of 6+x/day. Once on solids, regressed, later dx with fructose malabsorption plus early-onset lactose intolerance. Always had the tiniest poops, too - ate like crazy, and very little came out the other end at all.

M - similar to B, though not as severe. Never got really normal poop from her, either. Also dx with fructose malabsorption, and may also have early onset lactose intolerance (not tested yet).

R - very firm poop for a breastfed baby. Once-or-twice-a-weeker from early on. Soft-playdoh-type poops even in infancy. Weird, but not necessarily 'bad'. On solids, immediately constipated severely. Had to add prune juice or puree to her diet, after one bout of constipation (13 days) left her trying so hard the vomitted out her nose, and the poop was so hard I could not mash it in the diaper (one of the tests for 'hard' I was given was to get an idea of how hard the lumps were - this was hard and dry, harder than clay, didn't smell much but was very dark and large - oh, and caused a fissure/tear on exit). :( :( THAT is constipation. And even then, our doc said 'ABSOLUTELY no suppositories for infants under a year unless NO other method works, and then I want hospital supervision for doing it' - he'd had an infant end up with a perforated bowel from a single glycerin suppository. It wasn't worth the risk of damage, and he was ONLY concerned because there were strict diagnostic criteria for constipation present. Instead, prune juice, prune puree, making sure mom got enough water to drink, and plenty of breastfeeding, plus avoidance of all iron-supplemented foods as much as possible (in the solids) - her iron was fine, so that wasn't a concern.

I'm with Moxie here - the doctor hasn't enough experience with breastfed babies, or the moms in the practice are lying about poop patterns (something my doc has said he's had trouble with - moms will fudge the numbers if they don't want to be pestered about something THEY believe is okay, so it is up to him to prove that he's up to date FIRST, and flexible, and willing to listen, so they don't lock up on him - he loves me as a patient because I'll give him skeptical looks and then bring him research studies to keep the practice up-to-date...). So, it may not be just the doc's fault directly, but the doc still needs to learn some new info. Check with LLL or and LC, as noted, and then provide that info to the DOC. You've got Ask Moxie, another mom might not! Educate. And if the doc doesn't like uppity patients who consider themselves part of the treatment TEAM, find a new doc. You'll be much happier if you do.

[AmyinMotown]

Brooklyn Girl, that's really funny. Maggie is Fartsy McFartserson these days and she's so un-sefl-conscious about it it's all I can do not to laugh.

My point: Are you supplementing at all? Because we did and she didn't poop for like ever, until we switched over to soy formula for her one bottle a day. The doctor said he thought it was a cow's milk allergy, and a lot of babies' systems can't handle cow's milk very young.

What worked for us--rectal thermometer lubed up with tons of vaseline. However, if she seems comfortable, I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

[hedra]

(reading the other comments, my doc is probably on the very conservative side re: suppositories, based on his personal experience. The other comments also triggered a memory of a friend being told to try the rectal thermometer routine to trigger poops, and she then found that just taking a wipe-covered finger and pressing (flat, not inserted) on his anus worked just as well if she was concerned about a long delay.)

Oh, and you haven't lived until you get one of the delayed poops happening in mid-diaper change, LOL! Had to change my clothes, clean the wall, and got a real clear picture of how much force they can produce! YIKES! I was pretty grumpy about it that day (I'd also already been peed on), but it is funny in retrospect...

[liphovela]

I had an exclusively breastfed baby that would go 7-10 days without pooping. Lots of pee, lots of seeping gas. Agree with Hedra about the doctor.

[Alicia]

My little guy would go every 10 days, like clockwork. And lots of gas, none that really bothered him, though, since he let it out quite easy! And their potency would increase as each poop approached. And the supersized poops? Oh, don't even get me started.

My doctor had said it was no problem as long as he wasn't straining too hard to poop, and he wasn't in any pain (I'd press lightly around his belly in a circular motion once each day, no pain, he only giggled!). Avoid the suppositories if you can, I think it sounds totally unnecessary, personally.

[hannah]

A woman I know was told by her doctor the healthy baby record was 41 days without a poop.. I think to assure her 2 weeks was nothing to worry about.

My 4.5mo just started pooping once a day or every other day this week.

[caramama]

I have a friend whose baby didn't poop for 3 weeks. Her doctor was not worried, but she tried the thermometer trick after 2 weeks, and it didn't do anything. A few days later, totally normal breastfed poop (although a lot of it).

(Mine goes 3-4 times a day, and it is often watery. I'm guessing this is normal too?)

And as for poopslosions with open diapers, when our pumpkin was 2 weeks old, she let it loose all over the changing table, chair next to it, wall, blanket, and my husbands LAPTOP!! He no longer leaves it anywhere near the changing table. So funny in retrospect, but not so much at 2 in the morning.

[Melissa]

I also have a little Bean that was exclusively breastfed until 9 months and didn't really like solids until well into her 10th month. She also could go a week or two without pooping. The first time she went over a week I was greatly alarmed. Her doctor assured me it was fine and that she was probably going through a growth spurt that would make me "stand up and take notice". Sure enough a few days later she pooped while standing on her daddy's lap with such force and velocity that it shot up her back practically to her hairline.

Okay, ew, I know, but I'm hoping a little humor will help reassure you that if your baby is happy and healthy then you should not be worried and I agree maybe you need a 2nd and 3rd opinion.

One thing that might help your little one is to do lots of leg exercises. Lay her on her back on your lap or on a soft surface and bicycle her legs, lift them up and down together and separately. All this movement will encourage her bowels to move things along.

Oh and a note about green poop - my daughter's poop always turned the craziest bright green color right before a hard teething period. I always dreaded seeing it, because I knew we'd be in for a long night, but at least we had a little warning!

[electriclady]

My daughter got half breastmilk and half formula for her first 4 months (actually more like 20/80 in the very beginning, before I got my supply up). First month or so she pooped after every feeding. By 2 months she was going 4-5 days between poops--I ended up switching to size 2 diapers when she was only 10 pounds, just to contain the blowouts. Then after another couple of months she settled down to once a day pooping. (Now, at 6 months we have the delightful combination of formula poop and solid-food poop, which is a whole other story.)

And ha! on the smelly farts, BrooklynGirl! For us they were especially bad when I was eating whole milk yogurt a couple times a day (fastest source of protein I could get into myself at 3 weeks postpartum). I can't believe how long it took me to figure it out.

[Jennifer]

There are also some infant massage techniques that worked for us to to stimulate a delayed poop--as in within 5 minutes. The one I remember is moving your fingers around in a circular direction on the abdomen. Only problem is that it seemed it was mission critical to move in the correct direction, and now I can't remember for the life of me if it was counter-clockwise or clockwise.

[Dawn]

It's clockwise. : )

At 12 weeks we switched to once a week pooping. We're on day 9 of waiting for it right now (It has been 7) and when it happens it's all those smaller poops all in one. I've wiped poop with bath towels in the back of the car in the bank parking lot before - b/c a little wipe just wasn't going to cut it.

[Heather]

a lurker here.

my now 10 month old son pooped every 1-3 days until he started solids at 5 months. then he went almost 2 weeks between poops for a month or so. now he poops 1-2 times a week.

[Melinda]

I'm in wonder at the delay patterns. At 3.5 months (ex. breastfed) she still is 3-5x a day pooper. None at night, but at almost every daytime diaper change. My neighbor's 2.5 month old (soy formula) is an every other dayer.

[Cheryl]

Just to add to the plethora of results... my son only pooped once a week, sometimes waiting 12 days to bless us with a poo explosion. He was a breastmilk baby. He wasn't constipated, he just held it in for many days at a time. When he finally did poop, it was an ocean of ick. When he started eating solids and when I weaned him onto formula, he started pooping once or twice a day. He's a toddler now, and he has a very regular bowel schedule. He poops once by eight in the morning, and sometimes, he'll poop again at 7 at night, but never at any other times.

Like everybody else, we tried the home remedies like infant massage and the thermometer trick, but they didn't really do much except make him fart. He wasn't gassy or upset about it, so his pediatrician just told us to relax and enjoy the days with no poopy diapers to take care of.

[Sara]

My #1 would go about every 4-5 days. We used cloth diapers, thank goodness, because no disposable could contain the Poopalanche which followed. On day 5, I'd only put him in fitted diapers with well-fitted covers.

#2, on the other hand, pooped every day, sometimes twice, for her entire infancy. It made me long for the days of the poopalanches.

[jane]

Just adding another data point. My exclusively breastfed daughter went 15 days without pooping when she was 5 months old. My ped said no suppositories and just wait it out. The ped was right, and on that 15th day we had quite a clean up, but my daughter was just fine. Now, at 13.5 months (still nursing + solids), she poops every 3 days or so and on "poop days" she usually poops twice.

[Maria]

I'm just so excited to see the word poopsplosion in print, so to speak. We used that word a lot, back when the girl was wee, but now I see I should just be glad we didn't have to deal with poopalanches or poopquakes.

[Fahmi]

my exclusively breast-fed son had a dirty diaper at least twice a day until he hit one of his growth spurt around two months. And then he went two weeks without a diaper. And then after that poopsplosion (which we took a picture of because it was just so disgustingly huge!), he got on a once-every-nine-days schedule for about a month or two. My pediatrician wasn't concerned about it, but he said if I was too concerned, I could give him 1 tablespoon of brown sugar mixed with 3 to 4 ounces of water once a day. It seemed harmless enough that I tried it once or twice. Didn't seem to bother the kid, either.

[Slim]

More data -- one to two weeks between poops, and in between gas that provided one more reason not to smoke around babies. An open flame + one of those farts? We'd have been on the news.

Also, whoever is envying the parents of rare poopers, please understand that the occasions of poop were volcanic emissions, the sort that would have had hapless islanders running for their canoes and paddling like crazy. I read that the infrequent poops were the result of breastmilk's digestibility, the theory being that there just wasn't much left to poop, to which I say ha. With us, it was like those fake snakes springing from a can of peanuts. Volume, baby!

[Amy]

No time to read the other comments, but my first question would be, what is the poop like, when it does come out? If it's soft, I wouldn't be worrying about this at all. if it's rock hard pebbles ( a problem my daughter has had since day 1, poor thing, despite us taking EVERY measure to help her out, we're pretty sure she inherited this lovely quality from her father) then a suppository (which you can buy at the store, get the pediatric all-glycerin ones, cut them in half, insert) could help get her unblocked. Obviously, these work on the back end (heh) rather than putting something into her digestive tract, and work better than the thermometer, because they melt and help soften the blockage AND stimulate the pooping reflex by virtue of insertion.

[Eve]

My daughter, exclusively BF for 7 months and counting, used to poop at every single feeding. Then, around 3 months, she went down to once a day. Starting around 5 months and continuing to this day, she goes every few days, and as others have said, wow. Just wow. It's generally one HUGE poop followed by a series of smaller poops for the rest of the day. I don't know where she stores that much poop in her tiny body! Anyway, even my pediatrician, who is not the world's biggest breastfeeding advocate, says as infrequently as once every week to two weeks can be normal, as long as the baby doesn't seem to be in pain as the poop isn't hard.

[Nikki]

Oy the poop sagas we endure :) My first son went 11 days when he was about three months and our pediatrician was not at all concerned since he was gaining and eating normally. Our second son pooped in the hospital when he was born but didn't again for more than 48 hours which resulted in a trip the the ER the day after we brought him home - our ped was concerned since they're still supposed to be getting rid of meconium at that point. Anyway, at the ER they took his temp with the rectal thermometer and plenty of vaseline and not ten minutes later he had a full diaper :) He has never been a "regular" pooper - more like every couple days and occasionally would go a week and we were recommended all that was said by other posters above - the rectal thermometer, warm baths, a bit of pressure on the tummy (bicycling the legs, laying on his tummy). I definitely wouldn't do suppositories at this time! Just try the natural methods plus time and all will work itself out so to speak :)

[Liza]

My now-18 month old was exclusively bf as an infant and regularly went 3-5 days without pooping, usually then giving us 1 (or 2, or 3) massive poopsplosion of the smelly paste variety.

He's still nursing, and on weekends or family vaca when he nurses often (as opposed to morning and bedtime on regular work days) his pooping pattern seems to regress somewhat.

[sue]

My first pooped (still does at 3) 4-6 times a day.

My second was a once a weeker from birth. The doctor didnt like him going much over a week before he was 6 weeks old, so she'd have us give him diute apple juice (just a tiny bit) at about 10 days postpoop, and that would bring one on. But his poops woud be a little hard at first, so he seemed constipated. At 5 months, he's a two a day pooper. Though sometimes he skips a day or two.

The apple juiceworked well (dluted 50-50, less than an ounce) and is pretty benign, if you want to try something at home.

[Jan]

A tip: If you're struggling with blowouts, try switching to cloth diapers. I never once had a blowout in a cloth diaper, vs I swear every time a poop coincided with a disposable-diaper event. I know people say they couldn't bear to do the extra laundry you've got with cloth, but I much prefer that to the blowout worry (plus the laundry associated with that -- eww, poop in the cute little clothes!)

[m]

My son is and has always been a champion pooper (I say this with sarcasm, as I'd really rather do without changing 3-5 poopy diapers a day, even now at 16 months) so I don't have any first-hand stories to offer about non-pooping babies. But, as always, I have an opinion!

I'm with Moxie in concern about your doctor wanting shove a supository up the wee one's bum. It sounds like you've done your research and are pretty confident in your assessment of the situation (wahoo for mama's intuition!). If I were you, I'd ignore the doctor's advice for now, but if your baby goes on much longer without pooping, you might want to go back, but I strongly recommend a second opinion. Maybe talk to your LLL to see about breastfeeding-friendly (read: knowledgeable!) doctors in your area.

[shayneegray]

My exclusively breastfed (until 9 months, with the barest introduction of solids from months 6 to 9) daughter went once or twice a day or every other day or so. What was frustrating for us was that until she was about 4 months old, she would often cry and scream as she went--some of the only crying she did as a tiny infant. The consistency of her poop was fine, but she was clearly highly uncomfortable or unhappy with the sensation of going. Poor little kid.

[Maura]

I absolutely dreaded my son starting daycare at 5 months, because we were going to start supplementing with formula, and I knew the days of biweekly poops would be gone. He had been a very frequent pooper (ie, with every feeding) until about 2 months, when he suddenly went to a 12-15 day poop schedule. As predicted, with formula he began to poop twice a day, everyday. That went up slightly when we introduced solids to 3-5 times a day, but that leveled off again once his system got used to it. Now, at 17 months and on all solids, he generally poops once or twice a day.

Your daughter's pooping sounds completely normal to me, and I think you have a few options as far as your pediatrician goes. If you otherwise love your ped and feel she's pushing the suppositories to cover herself, then quietly ignore her advice and do what you know is right. If you love your ped and have a great back and forth relationship, then tell her honestly that you feel there's no real issue here. If you're generally uncomfortable with this ped and this is the last in a series of disagreements, then move on to someone you mesh with better.

[pnuts mama]

oh, the pooping commentary- i love it!

first- ebf'd pnut til 6months, and she was a 7-10 day pooper. yes to the poopsplosions! we used to call them mudslides. at first i freaked out about the length inbetween poops (i was one of those write it all down crazies) until i happened to mention it to a friend who was on her 3rd baby, a month older than pnut, also ebf'd. she assured me that he also went over a week between poops and it was completely normal. so then i was ok! isn't it amazing how sometimes you just need one person to say "that's normal" and then you stop freaking out about it? then i turned around and told my SIL who was also worried since her bf baby was also going a week or so inbetween poops.

second- i did a little research on it at the time. breastmilk is natures most useful food in the sense that it is mostly usable- not much of it doesn't get digested and excreted. it doesn't have extra fillers or liquid in it that would be useless to the body and gotten rid of frequently (not a dig to formula users! not at all!). also, as you continue to nurse, your body is refining what is in your milk according to what your babies changing nutritional needs are- so again, not making a lot of wasteproduct. there is tons of info out there, i'm pretty sure i started at kellymom and worked my way through it. also, cj over at mostgladly is my #1 resource for any science-type info on breastmilk/feeding.

third- once we started solids at around 6 months the poops became more frequent. probably due to stuff to excrete. now, my two year old sometimes goes 3 or 4 times a day! she certainly does not get that from me. we had one of those poopsplosions right after the bath once early on and it literally sprayed all over and bounced off of her daddy right onto the floor, counter, etc. eww. we can laugh about it now, but then, daddy was not laughing. i did take pictures, though.

rachel, if your daughter's poops are that mustardy/cheesecurd texture and soft, then she is *not* constipated. constipation is usually caused by dehydration, and if your baby is feeding all day long and peeing clear or pale yellow diapers all day long and having regular bf stools then she isn't constipated. going days between poops for an infant is not a sign of constipation, and boo to your ped for wanting to do a quick fix for something that isn't broken. good for you for trusting your instincts.

[r0ckaby3]

My now 2 year old son used to go 2 weeks between poops up until he turned about a year or so and weaned himself off the breast. If I was really truly worried, I gave him a little bit of baby calm http://www.vites.com/ and he usually went within 24 hours. Now, he goes about every 2 days; guess it just depends on the kid!

[Kate]

My daughter (age 3) became an infrequent pooper at around 2 months old...stayed that way until even after intro of solids. Her maximum time between was 13 days (at 8 months)--it was usually more like 5-7. She also began to cry when she pooped as they became more solid (I had blocked that out until a previous poster mentioned it!)--but she has never been constipated--in part because she is still nursing (although very little now) and has a long-standing love affair with dried fruit. The crying when pooping came back recently as we started using the potty, but she was able to tell me that it didn't hurt, she was just scared. (Thank goodness this phase has finished in the past day or so.) Up until the potty messed everything up she was pretty regularly 1-2x a day, probably since she was a year+ old.

My son (16 mos) sometimes skips a day here and there, but is more likely to put out 2-3 poops in a day. Sometimes it was really wacky and he started pooping at night again (I don't remember what age--5-6 months old?--but it lasted for several weeks), like a newborn. I thought I was going to lose my mind over that one!

[Kate]

Oh, I didn't mention that both kids were exclusively bfed until 6+ months and still nursing (abt 3 min a day for the 3 yr old and 5-6x for the 16 month old).

[Kristine]

My breastfed baby typically went about a week between poops. Doctor said not to worry unless it's hard and black or contains blood. If I got worried about it we played a little game of "clap your feet together, run, do the bicycle" where I laid him on his back and sang what I was doing, while going through those motions - for a couple minutes - until he got bored with it, he usually pooped within the next 24 hours or so. He's started solids now (still breastfed), and poops every couple days. And the amount has always been a direct correlation to how long it took him to "save" it up.

[rudyinparis]

What a great string. Both hilarious and useful. My youngest once went nearly 5 days which sure seemed like a long time to me. I finally called the nurse... she recommended the rectal thermometer bit and also a warm bath to just kind of "relax" things. Does seem like some diluted apple juice or really diluted prune juice may to the trick. But I get the sense your sweetie is perfectly fine and you just need to prepare yourself for a mightly large arrival anytime now.

[Charisse]

Let's see...Mouse, ebf'd to 5 months when we intro'd solids, bf'd to 2 years, used to poop daily before solid intro. (Blew out too, at least 1 day out of 2.) After solid intro she'd sometimes go 3 days, then a big one.

Now at 3, she poops most days (before bath is her preferred time and she still likes company) but sometimes skips, and there's a bigger one every 3 days or so. Boy, I bet a year from now I won't even know how much she poops--wheee!

[Gigi]

I have breastfed triplets, so I have it all in once nice package. The "I poop every day, and sometimes more" boy, the "every other day is fine" girl and the "once in a blue moon boy", he once went almost two weeks without pooping, DH was going crazy and wanted to stimulate him with a thermometer(pediatrician´s advice) but I held my ground (LLL´s advice) and he went on his own on day 13. Don´t worry if she is happy and eating and sleeping well there really is no such thing as contipation in breastfed babies.

[Charisse]

Oh and an additional data point: Mouse's best friend, similar stats on the bfing, pooped a tablespoon once a week until she was well onto solids. No idea what she does now--do know that she potty trained like a dream and has never wet the bed.

[Chiara]

Another data point for ya:
My totally breastfeeding baby (now 7 months) at 2 months suddenly started the infrequent/blowout poop cycle. We came to expect it and did things like lay paper napkins (to attempt to protect her pretty outfits) across her back above the diaper in anticipation of it. She actually had a 3-round LOUD blowout AT MY BELOVED AUNT'S FUNERAL! Luckily, my aunt was the kind of person who would have found that hilarious.
Recently the volume is way more under control and stays in the diaper.
I also would not start messing around with supplements in an immature gut. No way, no how. Especially not with my kid - her dad has terrible GI problems.

[hedra]

caramama, extremely liquidy isn't typical, but it may be okay. If it is just a stain in the diaper, that's usually cause for some concern, though it might not be a 'health issue' it could possibly be managed better (talk to an LC - you might have an oversupply issue on your hands, even without green poop - the liquid poop can be very acidic and can cause burns, which can get infected, etc. and LC would be able to tell you if the poop you're getting is okay or not - I'm not qualified, just experienced, LOL!)

One of the best resources I found on normal BF baby poop said that a typical amount for a poop is more like a 'good handful' than a teaspoon or tablespoon. If it is many tiny thin watery poops, oversupply or foremilk/hindmilk balance issues MAY (not do, may) exist, worth checking. If it is green and jelly-like (or like sticky vaseline, or mucousy, even if not green), that may indicate a food intolerance.

B's BEST bf'd poop was like thin yogurt, usually brown. With dairy issues plus oversupply, it was like mint jelly alternating with watery with streaks of blood (panic city!), but never the same twice (because my diet varied, his reactions varied). On JUST oversupply, it was greenish brown, watery, not mucousy, and frequent, with very small output and little to no curd (I would rejoice if I spotted more than 2 curd specks, seriously). Block feeds helped, plus I had to actively suppress my supply a bit until his growth spurts caught up to the supply.

Back to the OP responses - LOVING the gleeful pooping stories. I have a long-term acquaintance who when she was pregnant, asked me why all baby seats were blue with some disgusting brown color combo. I said 'that's so the poop explosions don't leave too much of a visible stain'. She replied that it was bothering her a bit that I was the second person who had replied to that question with an answer that included the term 'poop explosion'. LOL! I wish I'd known poopquake or poopalanche! LOVE those. :)