Dear friends,

I would hardly dare to flag all mothers of infants of that age with infrequent stooling as being neglective. Would I be far off to think that in many cases one could flag mom's attending HCP's as neglecting? 
Spacing feedings, restricting feeding duration, unableness to identify efficient breastfeeding techniques, .striving to sleeping through the night as early as possible, using dummies for suckling ... need i go on?
That being said: yes, stools days apart in an infant this age, in combination with dehydration, is a red flag and baby and mother should be counseled.

Warmly,

Gonneke, IBCLC, LLLL in southern Netherlands

"M. Vance" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: researched the archives, but I would like to run this by you as I may be 
questioned in court on this tommorow. 6 week old hospitalized for 
dehydration (probably wasn't eating due to injury), and judge finds that 
baby not having bowel movement in five days was "neglect." However, the 
child abuse expert, a pediatrician,  states that "When strictly breastfed 
[child]  has been stooling only every four or five days (also normal)."  I'm 
actually uncomfortable with both conclusions and my position is that there 
was no medical testimony to support the judge's finding; however, that while 
not stooling for several days in an older breastfed infant is not unusual, 
it should be treated with caution in a 6 week old infant.

Any comments from the experts here? Thanks,

Melissa V. in her JD capacity

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