7 month baby hasnt had bowel movement in 4 days, is this normal?

[pixelelf]

my 7 month old just started solids last month. he is exclusively breastfed and he used to poop daily. but since he started on solids, he's been pooping every 2 days. however, he's not been pooping for the last 4 days. is this normal? when is it not normal?

he seems to have food intolerance. sweet potato, apples and avocado so far has caused eczema to erupt. has this anything to do with bowel movement?

 

[adahc]

I thought it should be the other way round. My baby used to poo ever 10 days! I was worried sick. He is solely breastfeed as well!

Now since we started sold, he goes twice a day.

I'd try baby massage, there's a movement that helps constipation. You should find out. I do it everyday.

I always mixed apple or pear or peach puree with mos of his solid, mainly to make it a little sweeter for him to take it easier. I puree it myself though.

Payaya should help and my midwife used to suggest me to give him a teaspoon of neat orange juice. It helped too.

4 days is nothing. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[pixelelf]

this is so strange. even in breastfed babies, there isnt a singular pattern. sometimes i wish there was some kind of "bible" - step 1 to 10 on exact who, what, where, when how of taking care of babies!!!

thanks adahc, i'll try the massage first, since i hafta go real slow with introducing solids. we are still at rice cereals for now, till his eczema clears.

 

[plumtree]

Papaya should help, as adahc says. In case it makes you feel better, the longest my LO didn't have a poop was 7 days and the ped said that the longest she's seen is 14 days. So, 4 days is nothing unusual.

 

[plumtree]

I might add that the 14 days was for a breastfed baby I mentioned was for a breastfed baby! But I guess I was trying to say that a few days constipation is not great, but nothing to worry about either. Good luck!

 

[pixelelf]

thanks plumtree!
actually, haha i didn't know this is constipation...im so blur!

 

[rebekah]

it's only constipation if when he does poop, it is hard and dry. It's normal for BF baby to not have a BM because they use almost all of the BM so efficiently, there is little waste.

 

[sprawld]

hi pixelelf, what did you do to clear up the eczema?

 

[pixelelf]

we are still battling the eczema, but with progress. we are trying to avoid medication as much as possible so fingers cross. so far it is working.

i did a few things:

- stopped feeding him the food i was introducing that week. unfortunately, other than rice cereals, he seemed allergic to the 3 other food we introduced, which were, sweet potatoes, avocado and apple. so we are back on cereals again till it clears up.

- for his face, i'd use a clean, damp towel to wipe, then apply almond oil to lessen the dry skin. 3x a day. i checked his beddings, and threw out the linens that were rough or had become rough due to wash. because my baby loves to rub his face and arms on them to relieve the itching and this in turns aggravates the situation.

- clipped his nails so that he wouldnt scratch. mittens dun work for him, cos it drives him bananas not being able to pick up toys.

- for his body, after bathing him, i apply almond oil all over and dress him up in a full sleeve, long pants onesize. this keeps the moisture in, but i make sure the air con is turned on, with a glass of water in the room, to lessen the drying of air.

- endless vaccuming and cleaning :|

 

[peainpod]

Pixelelf, I have a similar situation - a six-mth baby who pooped daily (and often more than once a day) when he was exclusively breast-fed, up to 5-1/2 mths. We started solids a couple of weeks ago (first cereal, then carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin) and he now poops every other day, sometimes going for 2 days without pooing.

I'm not sure if it's food-related or if his digestive system is adjusting better but for the past few days, he's started pooing every day again. But we just started him on pumpkin, and I'm told that pumpkin (like papaya?) helps promote pooing.

Bubs also has some eczema - which I thought wasn't too bad but the doctor on his six-mth checkup told us to avoid cow milk products (which tends to exacerbate the condition). We sometimes use Unicort (cortisone cream - doc prescibed) if it's bad (when it turns red and seems itchy). If it's just dry patches and not too bad, I use Physiogel AI Cream which is not medicinal and seems quite good at alleviating the problem.