3 1/2 Month Old Poop Questions

Wow...in this day and age, with everything we know about breastfeeding, the response from the nurse surprises me. Are you sure she understood that you are exclusively breastfeeding? Or did you assume that she looked at your chart?

It is SO completely normal for an exclusively breastfed baby to go 7-10 days without a bowel movement. As you've said...she is wetting plenty of diapers, not uncomfortable, and stomach isn't rigid...all points to no problems. If it goes longer than 10 days I would only be concerned that she isn't getting enough hindmilk (that is where a lot of the calories from fat come from).

Breastmilk has natural laxative properties...we've even given some of my frozen milk to my constipated formula-fed niece to get things moving and it worked like a charm.

If a baby 6-weeks or older is receiving ONLY breastmilk, it is normal to go several days between poops. Specifically, a breastfed baby can go 10 days between poops! Amazing, huh? But when she finally goes, be prepared--they'll usually fill 2 or 3 diapers. :) Just pay attention to your little one and you'll probably see a pattern. It is not recommended to do juices or suppositories so long as she only gets breastmilk. Once solids are added, you will probably find she goes more often again. No worries!
A., mom & IBCLC

It's very difficult for exclusively breastfed babies to get constipated. Your breastmilk is specifically designed for your baby. There isn't as much waste as there is with formula, so less to come out. It's more likely that your daughter is just metabolizing the breastmilk so efficiently there is no waste. My first daughter would only poop about once every 7 days. She never showed any signs of being constipated (swollen belly, tender abdomen, etc).

My pediatrician told us to NEVER stick ANYTHING in our baby's rectum, even a thermometer. If it's not done properly it can tear the rectal muscle, resulting in a lifetime of problems.

If you do decide to give her juice, use 100% juice and 2 ozs of juice diluted with 2 ozs of water.

What if YOU just drank the apple juice, prune juice, and increased YOUR fiber intake? Everything that goes into you finds away into your breastmilk. That way you can increase your fiber and your baby's fiber without the worry of giving her straight juices.

M.

That's interesting that your pediatrician's office suggested stimulating the rectum - ours strictly discouraged it unless we brought our child to the office for a nurse to do (because of risk of tearing, etc). I personally would not.

Our pediatrician was also very leery of using things like prune juice/pedialyte in a baby that young. Even with our youngest now 2, they'd not as excited about using Pedialyte/Gatorade unless other liquids are not hydrating well.

I'd ask for an appointment with the pediatrician directly and skip the triage nurse. Personally, I don't think you have an issue (especially since she's acting well), but you never know. Our kids had active colons and were good poopers despite being breast fed, so when they went more than a day without one, we knew there was something going on.

Hi Shelley,

I breastfed and also used the prune juice. (The doctor told me mother's had used corn syrup and that is terribly dangerous. It has the same dangers as honey at this stage of a child's life plus there is no nutritional value later.) The prune juice has fiber AND is God-made just like breastmilk. It is sweet like breastmilk and she will probably take to it fine. The fiber, that bodies need, is in abundance. You may only need to use it once (one bottle of 4 ounces, not diluted) or it may be something that is needed regularly. I'm all about safety and it is safe. Not having a stool can lead to other problems as well.

Hope this helped.

M.