9 wk old no bm's

[lbanistr]

Hi .. I have a nine week old daughter who was born at 36 weeks.  She started having normal bowl movements 3-5 times daily shortly after birth. She is breastfed.  Then at 4 weeks she stopped.  The doctor has had me stimulate her with suppositories or vaseline and a q-tip twice daily now for almost 5 weeks.  There is no end in sight to this that I can see.  Is this normal?

[Kurry]

Im having the same problem with my son. He just went in for a surgical biopsy to test for Hyrshprungs disease. Which thankfully it came back normal but now we dont know whats wrong with him. His stool is very soft and paste like, never hard. They have him on Miralax, try that. You can buy it over the counter.  But if she is that young, she probably is still learning how to go. I wouldnt give her that syrup because she is too young. It is their natural instinct to push and close their hiney hole.

[Trialanderror]

"She is breastfed. Then at  4 weeks she stopped"
Did you mean she stopped breastfeeding then or her BMs?
And you mean she has not had any BM between week 4 and 9? That would indeed be a long time.

Let`s assume the rosier picture that at 4 weeks her BMs temporarily stopped and she is still breastfed.
If that is the case - do not worry!! Breastfed babies do switch to a different stage when their body makes use of each and every bit of the breastmilk, there is hardly any "waste" - so after the first couple of weeks they suddenly only have a BM once a week or less. It only changes again after you start solids or add formula.

[heatherita]

I have a 7 week old and we give him an once or two of water all the time for the hiccups and it does help them have bowl moverments!! There is no harm in giving a baby water! It is just thinner than formula probablly as thin as breast milk so watch them carefully to make sure that she doesnt choke!!

[ponderousmom]

my daughter was formula fed, but i would put a tsp of dark karo syrup in her bottle--it was an old wives tale, but it worked gently

[CAOSue]

Please ask your doctor first about this.  It may be an old wise tale, but my friend told be to give the baby about a tsp. of water, water isn't the best thing for babys that young, but I asked my pediatrician and he said it was ok for that little.  My son had hard stools when he was that young and it loosened him up.