I know the issue of healthy, well-gaining breastfed babies who don't have
bowel movements for several days has been discussed many times in the past
and that there are different views on whether this is "normal" or not and
whether or not we should try to do anything about it.

I have begun to wonder if there might be other factors. I have noticed that
when I am working at home, I have more frequent bowel movements than when I
am working in an office setting and sharing the bathroom with others. If I
am at a conference and sharing a hotel room, I may have a couple of days
without a bm. (This may be more info than anyone wants to know, but I do
have a point to make!) This is true even when I bring my own food with me,
so it is not about diet. It is not that I am deliberately not going, I just
don't feel the urge - but it is obviously some kind of social conditioning
that is causing this.

So I wonder if some of these babies are not having bm's because they are
"holding back" perhaps because they have had a diaper rash or felt
uncomfortable in a poopy diaper, or because someone changing their diapers
made some negative comments about it being unpleasant. I'd be curious to
know, for example, if this happens less often in babies who are "diaper
free" - I know several mothers using this approach and I should ask them
what their experience has been.

Don't have any evidence, just something I've been mulling over.

Teresa Pitman

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