Hi Jennifer,
I had the feeling you might chime in on this one! :)
you write;
>>Please remember that while this topic has been "discussed ad nauseum", there
is not a consensus on Lactnet. I still contend that infrequent stooling is
not normal for any baby.
 I know that every time I post about this, someone writes about their child
who
did this and is perfectly normal--had no food allergies, etc.
I would contend that unless you treated your child who had "no problems", you
cannot really know that he had no problems. Many people have numerous or
severe allergies or sensitivities w/o ever being aware <<

Although it may appear otherwise, I am not particularly convinced of my own
point of view here!  However, if you are presented with a fat, happy baby
with soft but infrequent stools, its difficult for me to find trouble. Why
make the assumption that this is abnormal and signals some as yet
undiscovered problem when it occurs as above?The idea that "therapy" of
whatever type results in more frequent stooling doesn't do much to convince
me either. If someone takes a laxative, they stool more frequently, does that
mean that they should?
Also, since we are always touting using the breastfed baby as the "norm", the
fact that this occurs rather frequently within the exclusively brfed
population should suggest normalcy. If the infrequent stooling pattern
suggest an allergy/sensitivity then why would the introd. of solids foods
result in the return to a  more conventional stooling pattern, as it does
with these babies?
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
Lynn Shea Rn,Bsn,Ibclc
Franklin,Massachusetts

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