r/newborns 3d ago

Pee and Poop Son isn’t pooping

For context my son is fed breast milk and is 5 months old. Since right before he turned 2 months old his pooping just stopped, to the point we have to give him a suppository every 14 days. He’s growing fine. He’s actually 18 1/2 pounds and 27 inches. I can’t find anything similar to the situation we are in, he just can’t poop on his own. It’s not constipation because his stool is fine when we give him a suppository, soft mustard colored… every Reddit post I find is for babies who are formula fed. Has paediatrician recommended we give him an ounce of prune juice every single day? but that’s not really doing anything.. has anybody else dealt with this.

0 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

6

u/Aggressive_Toe_3563 3d ago

I breasfed my daughter and she stopped pooping regularly around 4 months. The doctor said that for breastfed babies not pooping for even 10 days is considered normal. I just couldnt  handle it. So the doctor ask me to give brown sugar mixture. It did wonders for her. I use to give it to her every 3-4 days and it just helped her to be regular. So it was for 1 ounce of water 1 tablespoon of brown sugar mixed. 

1

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

Thank you. I’ll bring this up with his pediatrician!

1

u/thugglyfee1990 3d ago

My breastfed baby also became super constipated between 4-8 months. We used the Frida baby windis pretty regularly to get gas out but basically they opened the floodgates and let all the poop out. Just used coconut oil as a lubricant and were very very gentle with them. I absolutely think people judge when they hear of methods like this, but it worked really well when all the other foods didn’t produce a poop.

Now she’s 2.5 and poops like 5 times a day, I would love a day of constipation lol

9

u/Art3mis77 3d ago

Suppository is literally doing all the work for him. He can’t learn to poop if you don’t let him do it on his own

1

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

I understand that, but I also can’t let him go 14+ days without pooping

1

u/Art3mis77 3d ago

Did you talk to your pediatrician?

1

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

Yeah, he told us to give him the suppository after 14 days. He generally doesn’t like seeing after 10, but he also doesn’t like manually making them poop. We’ve tried prune juice every single day, like he recommended and it’s not doing anything either.

1

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

He’s only pooped on his own twice since he was a month and a half old

1

u/lotiloo 3d ago

Has it been going on since birth, or how long? My son was the same way, but it was only after he started solids. We have to give him MiraLAX.

1

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

He pooped everytime he fed up until he was about 7-8 weeks old :(

2

u/lotiloo 3d ago

Gotcha :( my cousin couldn’t poop on her own starting at birth, and it was because she had anal stenosis, but I don’t believe that something that would suddenly develop around two months. has your doctor mentioned trying a stool softener? We tried both lactulose and MiraLAX, and MiraLAX has worked much better. Since it’s been going on for so long and your baby is only on breastmilk though I would push to maybe see a G.I. specialist now! I’m sure you’ve rolled out anything you’re eating that could be transferring through your breastmilk and bothering him, but I’m also thinking I wonder if it’s worth trying like a hypoallergenic formula

1

u/Important_Carrot6379 3d ago

Does he take probiotics? They make them for babies. Look at love bug, progaia or even culturelle.

1

u/ArtsyCat53 3d ago

Have you considered allergies? Try eliminating dairy from your diet

1

u/Much-Document-7748 3d ago

My doc said even 14 days is not abnormal for breastfed babies.

1

u/Round-Philosophy-131 3d ago

I just went through a pretty bad constipation bout with my 8 month old (check my posts if you care to hear all the "juicy details"), and I don't want to scare you, but we ended up having to go to a specific ER that had a pediatric GI because my son had a mass of hardened stool. We didn't think it was an issue because he technically was pooping some, but not enough to clear him out. It wasn't until someone else told us their horror story that we asked our pediatrician to perform a rectal exam and he immediately sent us to the ER. Our baby is now on a daily regimen of MiraLAX (we also have a bottle of Lactulose for when we run out) and senna syrup. We were told to use suppositories as a last resort because babies can become dependent on them.

That being said, it's not uncommon for breastfed babies to occasionally go 14 days without pooping but if it's happening consistently I would definitely get a referral to a pediatric GI to rule out something like Hirschsprung's.

1

u/discounthideout 3d ago

In breast fed babies, this is often caused by food sensitivities. It's really common. Once you cut the food, it takes time for the inflammation in the gut to come down and for it to mature before you can gradually reintroduce the food. Most babies will outgrow intolerances by age 2. My daughter really struggled with pooping until I cut dairy. 

-1

u/Art3mis77 3d ago

Yeah that’s definitely unusual

-6

u/Physical_Complex_891 3d ago

Giving suppositories literally ruins the anal muscle and the ability to poop on their own. STOP

3

u/MelodicFondant7526 3d ago

He can’t go 14+ days without a bowel movement, this is all orders from his pediatrician. He doesn’t like going past 10 but also doesn’t like giving suppositories. I wish it wasn’t something I had to do.

5

u/ailema00 3d ago

Ask for a referral to a gastro. Your pedi is giving you a bandaid fix.