New Born Bowel movements

dekbhoy

hi guys looking for some advice , My wife recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl , When born she was passing meconium which is normal, she than began bottle feeding after the first 3 days due to reasons i wont go into , anyway we had to change our babies nappy before each feed as she was getting regular bowel moventms throughout the day and night which we where happy with , now after day 10 there havent been any movements at all since last nite but still plenty of urine, have noticed she is not happy today at all, cud this be a sign she needs a change of formula or could it just be normal....... appreciate comments

January

It can be normal or it can be a sign of constipation, watch out for her straining to try to poo.

There's a couple of things you can do to try get her to go again, rub her tummy in a clockwise motion just below her belly button, "cycle" her legs for a while or you can give a bottle of warm water and brown sugar to get her going again.

LashingLady

My little girl is 12 weeks now, and like your little one at the start she was doing poos a few times a day but after about a week she settled into going one day (same as you bf'ed for first few days then switched to Aptamil). She would seem to be in a bit of discomfort for about an hour before she did the poo, although it was still soft etc (just huge!). She would seem to strain with it though. After about 8 weeks she didn't seem to have the same difficulty. She never seemed to be in pain though.

I remember asking my doc about it as my little boy (now 2) was similar when he was a baby and doc said that their little bowels are very small and immature and they are still getting used to using the muscles, which kinda made sense to me.

So I don't think you need to be changing her formula at this stage yet. If it goes a little longer and she doesn't go or seems to be in great discmfort then you can give her a little bit of help like Adrienne says.

dekbhoy

Thanks for replies , tried giving her water and the cycling of the legs, and after a few grimaces and a few more strange faces she went ....... never so happy to see a poop in my life she also went straight to sleep afterwards .......... lesson learned , be happy when you see a poop in your childs nappy.....:D:Dwill keep a close eye on things the next couple of days , she is currently on cow&gate could possibly swith to aptamil if circumstamces persist..... Thanks all

January

I don't think it's a formula problem, just happens to some babies! Chopping and changing formulas isn't really recommended.

wmpdd3

i had the exact same experience :bf - aptamil - constapation - changed from aptimal 1 to the easy digest and made things much worse. changed back and after 2 weeks things returned to normal. still gets the odd day without a poo then an explosion!

Cat Melodeon

I didn't use formula and had the same problem, so don't assume that your formula brand is the issue. It's quite normal for breastfed babies only to poo every few days (big bonus!) and my lad would generally go once a week until he was about 5 months old. The drawback was that he would get crankier as he built up to a number two and usually the last night before he'd go he would be very unsettled.

Giving them a bath, cycling their legs and rubbing their tummies, lying them on your own tummy and rubbing/patting their backs, carrying them upright in a sling during the day can all help make them more comfortable. It is a matter of time though, as they get stronger they find it easier. Generally as long as there are plenty of wet nappies and not too much discomfort when actually pooing there is no need for concern. It takes them a while to get used to a particular formula too, so switching might only exacerbate the problem. There are 'sensitive' versions of some brands, if you do switch, maybe consider using one of these?

Before you became a parent, did you ever envision yourself being so concerned with another person's bowel movements?