Newborns are just like adults except smaller and everything is different. All joking aside, there are some very specific things that you should be paying attention to in your newborn as a new parent or parent of a newborn. Aside from how often they eat and sleep, it’s vitally important to be paying attention to how often your baby poops. Their bowel movement frequency and even the composition and color of the by-product itself can tell you a lot of things about your baby’s health and overall bodily function. So, in today’s blog we wanted to talk about things to look for in your child’s poops and how often they are producing them. We’d love to hear from you in the comments or across social media! Give us a comment or two about your experiences with newborns and their different “movements.”
Pay Attention To Frequency, Especially After The First Poop
It may seem that you are changing diapers about every hour of the day, but it is important to pay close attention to how often your child is pooping and what the poops look like as you change their diapers. Typically, before you are sent home from the hospital, the nurses and doctors like to ensure that your child has had their first bowel movement, called a tar poop or meconium poop. This first movement should be expected within the first 24 to 48 hours after birth and it can be quite surprising if you are not expecting it. It can be black and tarry-like and doesn’t look like a normal baby or newborn poop at all. That is because it is the meconium or remnants of the amniotic fluid they have swallowed while in utero. This is perfectly normal and is to be expected!
After the meconium poop has passed, now it’s time to start clocking the frequency of your child’s poops to make sure everything is working as intended. If your child is being breastfed, then they will typically poop more often than if they were bottle fed.
- Some babies will poop after every feeding when breastfeeding.
- Formula fed babies will poop typically between 1 and 4 times daily.
- After 4 to 6 weeks of age, your child’s poop schedule will start to slow down as their digestive system matures.
Is It Ok For Babies To Poop Every 3+ Days?
100% NO, NO, NO! First of all, how do you feel if you haven’t had a bowel movement for three or four days?
Some providers will say, “it’s normal. Baby is using their food.” In my experience, babies that don’t have a bowel movement at least 1 time per day, or occasionally skipping a day, are uncomfortable. This is particularly true if the baby’s food intake is lower than usual and foul gas is present.
I wholeheartedly disagree that it is acceptable or healthy for a baby to go that long without releasing their bowels most every day. EVERY case that I have had where bowels were slow, there was a reason that parents and I were able to pinpoint and help to resolve.
For example: A recent client with a 5 month old baby was having a bowel movement once every 3 days. This had been going on for over 2 months. Prior to that, bowel movements ever 2 days. Baby’s provider said it was fine, nothing to worry about. The baby was extremely fussy at the breast and while feeding. His gas was incredibly foul and parents were helping to release the bowels by stimulating the rectum every 3 days.
Upon adding in tummy massage and massage in general, the bowel movements increased to every 2 days. Upon my suggestion of having a pediatric chiropractor evaluate and treat the baby, bowels on that first day released FOUR times alone. The chiropractor said the baby was extremely backed up and the mother said the poop looked green and very old.
Before You Go
We hope you enjoyed learning about tips for evaluating your child’s pooping schedule. If you would like to know more about this, our sleep programs or any of our excellent newborn care services, we are happy to help. Just contact us and we can go over your options and help you find the best path for your little one. We hope these tips have helped you along your journey. If you have any questions about helping your baby to sleep better, or about your baby in general, please reach out to us HERE. We are experts in all things baby and sleep and would love to help!
If you have questions about your child, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would love to help. Please reach out to us here! We always look forward to hearing from you.
