What is the longest your baby has gone without a bowel movement

[JoyfulStar]

I have a 4 week old baby who is currently fed both breast milk and formula which is being fazed out.

Since she was introduced to formula, she has gone 2 or 3 days without a bowel movement. However, she has now gone 5 days and I worry it is now in the abnormal territory. I have contacted my health visitor who is yet to respond.

I just wanted to get some advice from anyone who has been through this before. What advice or action did you have to take?

I have tried the recommended belly massages, bicycle kicks and so on. She does not look constipated or have any other symptoms apart from smelly farts, some straining and grunting noises.

Any insight into what happens next would be much appreciated 💕

[Mcra]

Up to 6 weeks baby should poo at least twice a day, so you should call your GP, HV or 111 to find out what's happening. I hope all is well.

[JoyfulStar in reply to Mcra]

Thanks for responding and yes I am aware but when I have spoken to midwife, GP and HV, none of them seemed worried and said some babies can go several days without a poo. This was a surprise at the time so I am curious about the experience of others with newborns.

Baby girl was going 3 times a day before formula was introduced. I am hoping we get over this horrible patch soon.

[Mcra in reply to JoyfulStar]

I hope all is well, if the baby is gaining weight and seems healthy then I guess it is? Mine is 5.5 months and still poos few times a day so I have no experience I'm afraid. We used some formula in the beginning but the poos haven't stopped ever.

[Hopingtobecomeamummy]

I’m currently pregnant with my first so don’t have any first hand advice but my friends baby was the same. Not sure if you’d feel comfortable using the Windi gas passers? I find the concept a little scary but apparently they can help with trapped wind and help things start moving. There’s a review below from the pregnancy app I use. I hope it works out and baby is more comfortable soon. Breast milk has natural laxative so fingers crossed!

whattoexpect.com/baby-produ...

[JoyfulStar in reply to Hopingtobecomeamummy]

Thank you for the tip. I have considered this but worried she is too young for this kind of intervention. Might use it in the future though.

[Running79]

Your baby can go for upto 5 days without a bowel movement - any longer speak to your GP as your little one is probably constipated from the formula.

I have tried cooled boiled water with our daughter to try and loosen her bowels but she spat the water out

Another thing I’ve done is move her legs in a cycling motion - not too fast, it sometimes get the stomach working to get rid of the waste

[JoyfulStar in reply to Running79]

Thanks so much for your response. This is what I understood so when the 5th day came, I was beginning to worry 😟

As things turns out, she had a blow out yesterday and she was not constipated. It just took a long time for it to get through her system. I have definitely been implementing your tips to get the stomach moving.

[Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

The longest mine went is a week a think maybe a bit longer. She was exclusively breast fed and I know several breast fed babies who would go 10 days regularly. Breast milk can be really well digested so less to poo, I was told not to worry if they weren't in pain or struggling by my midwife. Not sure about a combination though.

[JoyfulStar in reply to Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you remember how old your baby was when it happened?

There is so much conflicting information ie breastfed babies they say should go 2 to 3 times a day. Then you hear they can go several days without a poo. It is such a minefield.

Thanks again for responding and sharing your experience x

[Claireeeeeeeeeeeee in reply to JoyfulStar]

I think between 4 and 6 weeks as breastfeeding started to normalise a bit she moved to every couple of days then at about 4 months she regularly moved to it being nearly a week most times. Though I think all babies are different

[JoyfulStar in reply to Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Thank you!

[Olive12345]

It could be the dairy, some babies struggle with transitions to formula and then again when they transfer to cows milk at 1, even if they don’t have an allergy. If you can increase the breast milk that might help!

[JoyfulStar in reply to Olive12345]

Thanks for the advice. That is what I have been doing and then instead of every 3 days, she went 5 days. She pooed yesterday thank God! I hope something changes. 🙏🏾

[Chiefy]

From about 5 weeks my boy's bowels started slowing down (exclusively formula fed) and he was going once a week. When he did go it was hard and clay like. Belly massage did nothing and I ended up giving him some water to help pass. He didn't like the water on its own so I topped up his feed with an extra oz of water once a day until he went. In the end I changed formula and now he goes daily. He was on cow and gate and is now on kendamil.

[JoyfulStar in reply to Chiefy]

I will definitely look into Kendamil which I have never heard of. Just know if Aptamil.

[Twiglet2]

We had this too from about 3 weeks until he started solids and water at just under 6 months, I think 5-6 days was the longest he went without pooping but when he did go they weren’t hard or anything so HV and GP agreed it was fine (it was a twice weekly poonami!)

I found keeping him upright when he was trying and also letting him have more milk/play with the bottle in his mouth helped as he seemed to go when he was concentrating on the bottle. I also in my weird google search at the time found a ‘dancing veggies’ video on you tube was meant to help and omg I’ve no idea why but it does 🤣🤣 he still lives this video now at 10 months lol

m.youtube.com/watch?v=4cxGg...(Not working as expected?)

[JoyfulStar in reply to Twiglet2]

Thank you so much for your response. My darling daughter did also have a “poonami” yesterday to my relief! She is definitely not constipated. Her poo is mushy. I was changing her nappy when started “shooting” yellow poo which looked like Mr. Wimpy at me 🤣🤣🤣 I used about 3 nappies to try and contain it all.

I intend to call the GP although the last time I called, they referred me to the HV who in turn referred me back. She wanted me to call them just to rule out any other causes.

I will definitely implement some of your tips. Thanks again for replying 😊