Poop concerns

[Israel]

Well, DS has typically been a good "pooper". He usually poops in the middle of the night, but the last two nights he has obviously been having difficulties (straining and nothing happening...poor baby!) Should he already be experiencing some constipation at 7 weeks old? I also noticed that yesterday he did not have as many poop diapers...maybe five when he usually has about 8 or so. Is it something I am eating? I've pretty much cut out dairy to see if that is contributing to his troubles with his gas pains. Is there anything else I could be doing wrong? Is it normal for him to be passing a lot of gas?

About how old are they when their BMs change? ....Such as in color and amount?

[kim]

If he is still having 5 bm's a day, and they seem normal, then I would not consider him constipated. I had some concerns with dd when she was a few months old and the nurses told me that exclusively breastfed babies can go several days (ie up to 5) at a time with no bm at all and it is not a concern. I did hear once that if mom drinks orange juice it will help clear out baby's system, but never had a chance to actually try that out, don't know if it is for real or just an old wives tale.

If you are exclusively bf'ing, then his bm's shouldn't really change much. The amount can change depending on how long he has been holding it in. Some babies poop a lot, others not so much. But with both my kids, they had periods of time (a week or two) where the amount would change enough to make me wonder. It never amounted to anything that I needed to worry about.

The gas issue is another one entirely...I don't have any great answers to that one right now. ETA: If he is passing gas, then that is a good thing...means things are still moving inside.

HTH

[4HisGlory]

I agree, as long as his poop is normal don't worry about it! Josh was an every 2-3 DAY pooper. I was always told as long as it was normal consistancy not to worry.

[BlessedMommy]

Yeah, I think that somewhere around the 6 week mark, their number of BM's is supposed to go down. I say enjoy changing fewer pooper diapers and don't worry about it! It'd be pretty rare for an exclusively BF baby to get constipated.