Nicole writes;
>>We definately need to keep in mind the babys age and the whole breastfeeding
picture and investigate a little more closely why a newborn breastfed baby
of a few weeks of age is not doing lots of little amounts often or at least
one or a couple of big poos a day -this may highlight a breastfeeding issue!<<
Great post Nicole!
A couple of questions/comments though!
Constipation, as I have always been told working in the medical field, refers
to consistency not frequency. Your post and at least one other on this topic
refer to constipation but don't support it with a stated understanding of
this difference which makes it hard to know what you are referring to.
Assuming that 2 wks without a stool is beyond the far end of what could be
considered normal, even for an excusively brfed baby then how about a little
rectal stim, does that help at all? Hirshprungs is a possibility but I guess
the pedi wants to try a noninvasive measure, change to ABM, before invasive,
a biopsy.
Most importantly, as has been discussed ad nauseum on lactnet, many
exclusively breast fed babies, as young as 2-3 wks of age, decrease their
stooling frequency  to 1-2/wk, sometimes even 10 days and I have heard of
even 2wks occassionally. We have to asssume that this is a variation of
normal; it seems to occur fairly frequently and occurs with otherwise healthy
appearing, good gaining babies!
Lynn Shea Rn,Bsn,Ibclc
Franklin,Massachusetts

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