Cameron is 3 months and has not pooped in 8 days. From what I have read a week is fairly normal for Breastfed babies and it has been fairly consistant, in fact it is always 7 days. For the past 2 weeks though it's been 8 days.

Yesterday I gave him some Gripe Water which always worked within 20 mins. for Matthew, but so far nothing.

He is not complaining, his tummy is not hard so I think he's fine.

My question is, when should I be concerned? How long before I take him to the doctor?

It figures something like this would happen when everything is about to close for the holdidays.

I don't want to give him sopositories (sp?) unless the doctor says so.

By Emily7 on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 06:31 pm:

I would call the doctor & see what they think. I remember that my ped says it isn't unusual, but to call if they go more than 6 days.

By Karen~moderator on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 07:18 pm:

Jules used to give Madison Karo syrup to help her poop when she was an infant.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Sunday, December 25, 2005 - 05:26 am:

Call the on call. Talk to them.. I think they wold be able to give you the best advice. With it being so long, they might want you to bring him in so they can do a belly check on him in the least.

As an MA, I was trained to suggest 2 ounce prune juice to 2 ounces water... In the instance of no other symptoms beyond constipation. And you want to avoid suppositories if at all possible. If over used they can cause the bowels to have lessened natural function. They should be used only as a last resort. Another thing.... with you breast feeding you can increase your own intake of foods that help produce loose bowels. I know not fun for you but the process can loosen his too. Like you drink the prune juice.. Not deluded of course. And watch eating things that constipate you. cheese for example... he might be having issues with something you are eating. DD's were lactose sensitive. Not an actual "allergy" but if I ate a lot of dairy one would bind up and the other wouldn't stop going.. I had to be really careful with my in take.

By Heaventree on Sunday, December 25, 2005 - 08:14 am:

Bobbie, he's only 3 months I don't think I can give prune juice yet and of course everything is closed today for me to get anything for myself.

He was showing signs yesterday that maybe he might, I massaged his tummy with olive oil. I will call the health nurse today.

Thanks.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, December 25, 2005 - 04:57 pm:

Have you tried taking his temp rectally? For some reason the minute something goes in, everything comes out, and a lot of moms say taking their temp does the trick. We never had problems with Madison until she was over a year, but now just inserting the suppository gets things moving immediately.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Sunday, December 25, 2005 - 11:16 pm:

Yes actually, the ped referred prune juice/water to babies that were only a few weeks old. Better than a chemical laxative and as I said suppositories can mess up the natural function of the bowels if improperly used. And prune juice isn't going to make the baby any sicker than the backed up bowels will.

But as I suggested. I would contact the hospital and request they have the on call ped contact you.. Call your doctors office and you should be transfered to an answering service, tell them you need the on call to contact you. They may want to do a belly check before they suggest you do anything.

By Heaventree on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 12:28 pm:

I talked to the on-call registered nurse, her advice is apple or pear juice (prune after 4 months) 2-3 oz twice a day. If he shows any blood in the diaper, or any discomfort I'm to take him into a clinic or hosptial.

I have been checking his tummy and it seems ok, he's in no discomfort so I'll try the juice. My doctor's office opens on the 28th so if he hasn't gone by then I'll take him in.

I don't think we can call the hospital here and have a ped. call us back, you have to go to emgergency, which I'm trying to avoid as we would probably be there at least 5 hours today just waiting to see someone.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

By Luvn29 on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 02:06 pm:

I had to use Karo syrup in both of my babies bottles until they were almost a year old! As long as I used a little in each bottle, they stayed regular. Don't know why, but my drs. said it wouldn't hurt them, and was healthier than meds.

By Heaventree on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 02:17 pm:

Well the juice was a bust, he won't take it at all, spits it out and is now refusing a bottle, which is the last thing I want. Might try a dropper later.

By Heaventree on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 02:53 pm:

HE POOPED!!!! YAY!!!

What a relief, for me that is, he even looks lighter .

I was getting worried. What a horribly messy diaper, DH passed him off to me to change, I didn't mind one bit.

By Pamt on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 03:29 pm:

Yippee! isn't it pathetic what we moms get excited about? As long as it was soft and not hard little rabbit pellets (and I'm assuming it was because of the mess), then he wasn't constipated and hopefully your mind will be at ease if he goes this long again.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, December 26, 2005 - 04:41 pm:

Yikes. That sounds like a 10-20 wipe job! Ugh! I'm glad he went, though! I'm sure I would have had to clean one up, like that, too!

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 10:07 am:

Glad he finally went. Merry Christmas mommy...

By Kaye on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 11:50 am:

My littlest did this. It drove me nuts. But what the doc said is, as long as the poop is soft (not pellets), he is still eating, he seems comfy, his belly isn't hard, etc, then he is fine. When mine started having cereal he regulated out to every other day. My thoughts, enjoy the no poop diaper days while you can

By Breann on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 02:35 pm:

Yay! Glad he is doing better

We always used a small amount of karo syrup in some water.

We also used the little oil things that are made to help with BM's. We only used those as a last resort, of course. But, we would barely pull the thing out and the poop was right behind it. No time to think!

By Monicamomof3 on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 08:49 am:

All of mine did that! Breastfed babies have less to digest since the breast milk is pure.

But- boy they make up for those "lost" days, don't they!

Ha!

By Eve on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 09:28 am:

DD never, ever went poop! It was awful. The thing that her Ped. recommeded was giving her 2 ozs. of apple (she likes pear better) juice every morning. It helped a lot. We also used glycerin suppositories and that just helped everything pass easier. You just kept it in for a short amount of time. (Although, I had to have DH do it! LOL)

Luckily *knock on wood*, I seem to have a great pooper on my hands with Mason! LOL

I bet Cam feels much better too!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 01:38 pm:

My kids were great poopers! LOL! Yikes, my older daughter used to have huge blowouts, almost every day, when she was real little.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 09:01 am:

Jeff and Jen too - poop was never a problem - *quite* the opposite - we had more poop that we wanted. ROFL

Apparently Jules was quite *anal retentive* - even as she grew older - as in age 6 or so. The doctor said it was a control thing, which makes sense, because her mom and dad were divorced at that time, so I'm sure there was a lot of turmoil in her young life. But it was a real problem for her. And Madison is doing the exact same thing! Though as an infant, I'm sure it had nothing to do with turmoil, it was just her own body. Jules swore by Karo syrup, and still does.