# Help please, 9 month old BF only poops once a week



## Mami (Mar 19, 2004)

Hi, this is my first post so I'm not sure I'm in the right forum (well, there's so dang many of them!)...

My 9 month old girl is only pooping about every 6 days or so, she's mainly breastfed although she has a few bites of food during the day, nothing that constitutes a meal though. Is this normal? She doesn't really seem bothered by it, though it's hard to tell... Pediatric nurse says to give her prune juice? The consistency of the poops is kind of pasty, not really runny, but not really solid(sorry for the detail).

Has anyone had this experience? Do you think it's anything to worry about?
Thanks for any advice.


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## dotcommama (Dec 30, 2001)

It is normal for some breastfed babies to go several days between bowl movements. I would not worry as long as your child is still making plenty of wet diapers each day and seems happy, healthy and well hydrated.

As long as the child does not seem uncomfortable when finally passing the poop and the poop is not hard, then your child is not constipated. One of my ds would go for up to a week between having bowel movements - it was just his "schedule" so to speak.









Also







to Mothering!


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## joesmom (Nov 19, 2001)

ITA with dotcommama, joe was like this as a baby, never worried me.

now at five he poops once every day or two.


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## KFH (Nov 30, 2001)

Totally normal. That sounds like her schedule. Especially since her poops aren't hard balls, but pasty. My dd pooped daily, always. My ds pooped once every week and a half for a good stretch , well before he started solids. Now he's back to at least once a day. Both normal patterns.


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## Mami (Mar 19, 2004)

Thanks everyone for the reassurance. Good to know my little girl's not the only one. Just concerned me a little because she went from every 2-3 days to once weekly without any particular change that I could put my finger on. But the fact that she doesn't strain or seem bothered is a key I guess. Also good to know what costipation looks like, thanks.

Appreciate the replies,


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## katytheprincess2 (Jun 10, 2004)

MY son, he is almost 8 months, sometimes goes as long as 10 with out a poopy diaper. My Ped said that as long as there were no signs of constipation like poop being in little hard balls that he was fine.


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## moon_goddess (Jun 19, 2004)

my son is 3.5 months old and he has a poopy diaper about every week...give or take a few days. i was really conserned at first too but had heard that some bf babes can go a while with out having a poop. as long as they are not having stones come out there bum they are fine.

get this i called my ped's office and the nurse there said give him apple juice...isnt apple juice constipating? she also told me that bf babes are more constipated than formula fed babes...isnt that false also??? sometimes i feel like i know more than the nurses in the office. i think i may bring it up the next time we are there for a check up.


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## Mami (Mar 19, 2004)

Thanks for the wonderful responses. Since my OP we have gone thru a period of fairly normal poops, but in the last ten days or so she didn't poop at all. We started to realize that this was not OK, because she was really struggling, she would strain and push and try to go but just couldn't. Eventually she was so cranky that we gave her glycerin suppositories to make her go(and then the poop was quite hard and formed). Now we're trying to give her at least 2 oz of prune juice every day, so far still no poop(without the glycerin), but we're hopin'.

My ped also said that apple can be constipating. I guess we were probably giving her too much cheese which I didn't realize was constipating. I never heard about bf babies being more prone to constipation, but it just seems like maybe their little intestines are still very fragile and need time to adjust and develop. Almost made me wonder if we didn't push solids too early...we started very slowly at about 6 months, but she hasn't been eating every day until about the last month or so. My husband was lactose intolerant as a child and we wonder too whether she might have gotten some of that, we figure we'll give the prune juice a chance for a while and if that doesn't work try eliminating cow's milk all together.

I'll keep ya posted! Thanks for the feedback everyone!


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## ~Megan~ (Nov 7, 2002)

Ignore the nurse. Its normal! Since dd was 7 or 8 weeks old it was only once a week then it started increasing to 2-3 times a week around 2.


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## dotcommama (Dec 30, 2001)

Mami - Your child is under a year, correct? Most ped's suggest no dairy until at least one year and the longer you hold off the better it's going to be digested, from my understanding. I would definitely stop all dairy for a bit and see if that helps. I believe it can take three - four weeks for the dairy to be completely out of her system after you stop giving it to her.


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## Mami (Mar 19, 2004)

dotcommama -- Thanks for that, we have taken her off dairy completely now. I had asked the ped about it before and she said no cows milk, but that yoghurt and cheese was OK. Anyway, we'll give it a shot. My present update is that Grace isn't taking the prune juice anymore and so far 5 days without a poop again, but she doesn't seem to be struggling now, so we'll see. I also wonder whether this is happening because she's going from the more runny, pasty poops to more formed, solid poops. I might post that as a new question...


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