When talking with mothers about their concern about their infant not stooling and being "consptipated". I clarify that consptipation is a dry hard formed stool, not the regularity of stooling. Some infants make lots of noise and seem to work on having a stool for hours before the stool is passed, yet the stool is soft and runny (a normal bfed stool). My first thoughts with a mother whose concerned with no stooling is to question about weight gain especially in baby under 4-5 weeks of age. Is the baby's lack of stooling due to lack of enough calories to stool? This is also my first thoughts when I hear a mother saying her baby is crying from gas or she thinks the baby has colic and the infant is under 3 weeks. I think lack of calories and hunger. I want the baby weighted to check for appropriate weight gain. If weight gain is adequate (1 oz per day), then I teach the mother how to do infant massage of the baby's stomach and leg exercises that help the infant to stool easier. After 5-6 weeks of age, it's can fall in the range of normal for an infant to stool every few days or sometimes many days and still be gaining well. Only with a hard, dry formed stool would I consider the mother's diet as a first concern. In our office, the longest a completely bfed infant has gone without stooling was 23 days. Happy baby, weekly weight checks showed adequate weight gain, ped's exam showed no illness or concerns. When this baby finally stooled, it was soft and normal bfed stool, just lots of it. Warm regards, Pat Lindsey, IBCLC - Lactation Services www.PatLC.com Pediatrics Plus' Lactation Consultant www.pedsplus.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html