Constipation in 3 Months Old
by Fiona
(Guyana)
I am a new mother of a three month old baby girl.
Since she hit 3 months, she pooped every 3 or four days..strictly breastfed...and then nothing for 1 week, took her to the doctor he inserted his finger up her rectum to check for any hard substance but found none, right after she had a full bowel motion, but he said to give her lots of liquids, nothing to worry about he said...she did it for another 3 days, but now another week and nothing. I don't wanna use the bowel insertion thing, can be too dangerous..what else to do? PS. I work full time baby hardly takes the bottle, refusing it ( w breast milk), I go home at lunch time to feed her and then at 5 pm when I get home..think maybe its because she hardly feeds?
FG
Baby Help Line Reponse:
Hi Fiona!
It is actually quite normal for breastfed babies at around 3-4 months to have very infrequent bowel movements. Two of our kids had periods of up to 14 days without any pooping at around this age. No problem, just less diaper changes…
So you don't have to worry as long as your baby gains weight as she should.
And you're might be right, the infrequent feeds make her really digest everything she eats, but again, as long as she gains weight and is content it is not a problem.
If you do want her to eat more, try breastfeeding her frequently in the evenings and maybe at night. Also, you can have her care-giver at daytime offer her milk in a cup or on a spoon instead. Some babies prefer that. (Great thing that you manage to continue to breastfeed her despite going back to work!)
Finally, check out our bottle-feeding tips – maybe there are a few tricks you can try to make your baby accept the bottle.
Good luck!
/Paula
