should I be worried

Ds2 who is now 3 weeks old is worrying me.

He seems to strain all the time (sometimes for hours during the night) like he is trying to poo. When I change his nappy there is only a small amount of poo ( maybe 1 to 2 teaspoons ) the poo is normal consistency not hard at all. He takes EBM, no formula. Should I be worried about the little amount of poo? He seems to be in pain when straining and he makes grunting noises all night long :( also he doesnt stay awake very long. Sometimes he can stay awake for 1 hour, sometimes only 15 minutes. Any ideas?

:hug: hun this whole new baby thing is hard word isn't it... even when we've been there before.

With regards to the not staying awake long i don't think thats too much of an issue for a 3wk old, DD1 would often fall asleep during a feed then be awake for 10-15min after it and other days she would stay awake for an hour.

With the poo - you could possibly try giving him a nice warm bath before bed and doing some leg pushes (stretch them out then ebding up to his tummy) to see if that helps ease at all.
If it is normal consistency and there is no blood or anything in his stools then maybe he is just a grunter ( a friends DS grunted all the time even though he wasn't actually straining)

But most of all if your worried and you think maybe he is a bit blocked up then maybe ask your GP if there is anything else you can try

DD3 was doing the same thing, apparently theyre trying to work out where to push to get some action happening, totally normal hun

Sounds normal to me - dd has been doing the grunting thing as well. And sometimes when ive heard her poo (ah, the things you talk about once you have kids!) im amazed at how little output there is compared to effort & noise!!

She's also awake for different lengths of time but im not sure exactly.

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:hug: it's still tough second time round isn't it?

We've got similar things going on here too. In my DS's case I think it is wind related because he seems to be in a lot of discomfort as well (and farts a lot!). But yes he is constantly grunting and groaning - actually I'm listening to it now, while he's sleeping (he's barely slept today because of it). He also has a small amount of poo in the nappy at every nappy change, but we also get a big one here and there. I'm actually taking him to the osteo tomorrow to see if that will give him some relief, so will make sure I pop back in and let you know how it goes.

But, if you are worried, doesn't hurt to ask your MCHN about it. FWIW mine dismissed it as normal.

It sounds pretty normal to me. If you think about it, they've got brand spanking new little bodies full of brand spanking new little organs - these take time to get the hang of using. My DS would grizzle and cry and carry on at poo time, sometimes he'd sound outraged that his body was doing this weird thing that he didn't understand and didn't want. To be honest, I don't like the sensation of doing a poo either, so couldn't blame him.

It settles down eventually. Until then, massaging his tummy and cycling his legs may help a bit, especially after a warm bath.

Thanks everyone for putting my mind at ease. Geez Just when I think I know what I'm doing, my mummy worry wort shows :) I think it's my husbands fault for putting bad thoughts of bowel obstructions etc in my mind!

I have been doing the leg thing and when I did it this afternoon, my god did he pass wind! I also bought some infants friend but I'm not sure if I can use it yet? Is he old enough? Is it worth using?

Miss E - I look forward to seeing how you go tomorrow, hope you get some answers for your own piece of mind xoxo

So, we took DS2 to see the Osteopath on Friday and even though it is very early days I think we're already seeing results. He was more settled yesterday than he's been in a couple of weeks and had much better day sleeps, and we didn't even have to give him the dummy once! He also seemed to fart a bit less than he has been. And then last night we saw the biggest improvement yet - he slept from 8pm until 3am! Now that could just be a coincidence, but usually when he wakes for a feed at night he needs to spend a few minutes farting before he can get started. I'm now wondering if some of his waking may be because of the wind rather than hunger... Either way, I feel like a new woman today!

The appt was 1 hour and she spent a good amount of time taking our history, asking about the pregnancy, the birth, feeding habits, my diet etc. After checking him out she said that his hips and pelvis were very tight which could be contributing to his difficulty passing wind, but also could cause him problems down the track. She seemed to think this could be because he is very long and I am quite small. She thought that because of this he may have been a little more curled up than usual in the last few weeks of my pregnancy.

She spent about 20 minutes treating him, part of which while I was feeding him. It was very gentle, you really couldn't tell that she was manipulating him at all, well except from the occassional fart that he let out while she was doing it And then we were done. She has said that she would like to see him a couple more times so we go back in just over a week.

While I was a little sceptical when we left (more to do with some stuff she talked about in regard to BF, which just seemed a little outdated and ilinformed) at this stage it seems to be doing the trick... But I guess the next few days will tell won't they. Here's hoping it continues the way it did yesterday.