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3 weeks old Struggling to poo!
Hi mum's please can you give me some advice?
My 3 week old son is breastfed and in the past 3 days he is screaming in pain, I thought it was constipation but when he does go it's the normal soft stuff. It's only been once a day compared to the 3 or 4.
I don't know what to do he's been crying for the past 4 hours.
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Replies
Hey Hun
my little girl is nearly 4 weeks old and is the exact same and sometimes doesn’t go for 2 days. I spoke to my health visitor who said sometimes it’s just the normal for them but I was worried as her poop was getting harder.
the doctor gave me laxatives but she is still straining and screaming in pain a lot.
I was also told because my little one was nearly 5 weeks early her bowels are not as good as a full term baby so her straining is just getting them to work.
if he is screaming for hours try rubbing his tummy this helps my little girl or do tummy time she likes this and I think it helps settle their bowels a little.
Hi Lizzielouise, thanks for your reply!
Thing is my little ones poo is still runny it just seems like he can't push it out! I'm going to keep trying the massage and bath etc and see how we go and if it's not better maybe go to gp? I also wondered if maybe colic?
Thanks😊
My LO is 11 weeks now and has seemed to have trouble pooping from a couple of weeks of age. She scrunches up and cries and struggles to take her bottle, and there’s lots of straining and grunting sounds to get her poops out - only for them to be soft and runny?!
Hoping she’ll grow out of it in time. She was a couple of weeks early and I think her digestive system is still maturing. She farts quite a lot too (proper Daddy style trumps!)
hope your little ones start to grow out of it soon.
xx
Hi Rosberry80 thanks for your reply, I've been doing some research and what I think it maybe is that he doesn't yet have full control over all his muscles so it seems he's tightening his belly to push out the poo but he tightenes his bottom too stopping the poo from escaping! I know it's gross but I massaged his little bottom and poo came out! So he's not 100% but it certainly helped!
Xx
Squirrel2 that makes sense about the muscle control. It always confused me that such a lot of effort went into the sloppy poos 😂!
II think another problem now is that he is so unsettled at night because of not passing wind/poo he is only sleeping for 45 mins at a time during the night. Longer during the day because I hold him but it's really exhausting.
My LO was always super constipated since his birth. He's EBF and at first doctor was not concerned because EBF babies are not supposed to poo daily. But my LO was very uncomfortable and was straining to poo. Anyhow, since we put him on Babies magic tea, he started going for bowel movement without any struggle!!
Hi ladies, just thought I would jump in..both my babies were preemie and struggled terribly with their BMs, however I found a way that helped both mine poo. Basically move their tiny legs up and down when you know their struggling do the cycle movements with their legs aswel, now get wipes, cotton wool (damp) and lift their legs up as if wiping their bottoms and wipe their bottom with a tiny tiny bit of pressure whilst going over their anus lifting their legs back up and down every now and then Aswel, keep at it for abit and they should poo, it usually abit of an explosion if they haven't been for a while so it can be alot and take some time but it's worth it trust me! Also comfort milk when they went on to formula milk helped us greatly. Son is now 11 month's and it really did help him and my daughter who's now 3.
Hey! Thanks I have been wiping and applying a little pressure and it does work like a treat as you say however I read somewhere not to do this too often as it will not let them learn how to do it on their own. I'm glad it helped you guys! 😊
Aw good I'm glad it's helped
I did it with both mine nearly everyday as they really did struggle and their both just fine now there's no stopping them haha but you do whatever you think is best for your little one 
They do get through this quite quickly bless them I used to feel so sorry for them not being able to do it! Xx
Problem is his trapped wind is waking him every hour at night! Hence why were up at 4 am lol! It's horrid for him because he is clearly uncomfortable! Maybe I will do it but only once a day? I wish there was a book with all the answer to the million questions I have lol. Thanks for your help though xx
Aw you're welcome..both ours suffered with trapped wind we used to roll our slowly from side to side then did the leg moments it helped so much xx