Hi, All:  I've been working with a nursing dyad for 2 1/2 weeks, baby now
3 1/2 weeks old; original problem was breastfeeding mismanagement which is
now corrected after use of a nipple shield and an SNS; baby now
breastfeeding exclusively (and beautifully, I might add!).  My question
has to do with baby's stooling pattern.  During the first week, when baby
got very little breastfeeding and mostly abm, he stooled ok, about 1-3
stools in 24 hours; while on SNS during second week of life, baby had
same number of stools, occasionally only 1-2 in 24 hours (always wet
plenty of diapers); during third week of life, tried to cut down on
amount of supplement, but baby didn't have a stool for 24 hours, so
supplement increased again; weight was checked and gaining very well, so
tapered supplement again; during the latter part of the week, while baby
getting only about 8 oz of supplement total, he didn't stool for 4 days
(still having plenty of wet diapers), and on rectal stimulation on 4th
day produced massive initially toothpasty then looser mustardy stool;
baby has been exclusively breastfeeding (by the way, the nipple shield
was only used in the first couple of days) for the past 3 days, every 1-1
1/2 hours during day and every 3 hours at night, content, wetting (nay,
soaking) 6-7 disposables in 24 hours, but no stool; none produced with
rectal stim, so I called my local pediatric gastroenterologist who
reassured me this was normal and ok to wait 10 days.  My references
(Lawrence and Riordan&Auerbach) state that the longer waits are normal
after one month of age, but the pedi gastroenterologist says it's not
necessarily age related, and not to worry if baby thriving.  Anyone have
experience with a baby this young having infrequent stools? TIA, Alicia.
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