Thank you Winnie for putting into words what I feel. The tense exchange
about stooling brings to mind my grandmother's generation. If you didn't
have a bowel movement every day you were given castor oil. Obviously
something was wrong with you. When I first went into nursing, the older
people I took care of were "hung up" about making sure they had a bowel
movement each and every day. Each one had their own cure (ie a cup of
coffee every am, a suppository every afternoon, prune juice , a stool
softener or an enema). When they were children this was reinforced to
the point of obsession. As Winnie points out everybody has their own
version of normal for themselves. If everything else is okay, let's not
panic people into another generation of obsessors.
Cheryl Muller






Date:    Wed, 11 Sep 2002 21:57:43 -0500
From:    Jim & Winnie Mading <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: stooling-what's normal

Sorry to disagree with some of our experts, but I really feel that
saying EVERYONE should move their bowels after every meal is in the same
category as saying every baby should go 3 hours between feeding or
everyone should sleep 8 hours every night.  I know adults who eat a
great variety of foods, but only stool every 2 or 3 days.  I have seen
many babies that go days between stools (after the first month) who seem
to have no distress when they do have a big one and have been healthy in
every way. Human beings are not carbon copies of each other.  We each
have our own "normal" patterns of eating, sleeping, voiding, stooling
etc. etc.  When one is "outside the average" on a consistent basis,
certainly it is a good idea to check and see if there is a problem or if
this is normal for that person.  For example, when a baby consistently
nurses less than 8 or more than 12-14 times in 24 hours, I like to check
the latch, check for effective milk transfer, etc. but if baby is
thriving, then that is most likely what's normal for THAT baby.  To
state that no baby should nurse less that 8 or more than 14 (or whatever
number you may use) times in a day completely ignores individual
variation.  Same for patterns of elimination.  When a baby is
consistently out side the average ranges, it's a good idea to
distinguish between the baby who's doing so because of a problem and the
ones that "make a lie out of the norms" and are thriving "doing their
own thing".

Winnie

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