Breastfed baby - constipated?

[starangelk]

I know BF babies aren't supposed to get constipated but I think my DS is. Over the last week or so we have been finding him with really thick sticky poos and blood in his nappy which I think is from straining rather than blood in his stools. His poos are a very mustardy yellow colour and the non pellet style ones are thick like peanut butter. He had gastro a week ago but didn't dehydrate and recovered fairly well. He is generally a happy baby but this last week he has been really sad at times. The pain mostly seems to come at night during his sleep. I hear him crying and we go to him and he's sleeping but in obvious pain, writhing and grunting and when he does wake, all he wants to do is go back to sleep so the boob fixes everything after only a few sucks. Prior to this his bowel movements were that of a normal BF baby, he'd go a few days without anything then have a whopper, then normal for a few days and then nothing and repeat.

Should I be worried or just wait it out? It's been a week like this.......

[starangelk]

Please anyone?

[FabFiona]

I can't see how old your little one is, sorry. Can you offer extra water? I know you said he didn't get dehydrated but maybe he did and it's taking a little time to get back to normal.

Either way, I'd be heading to the doctor.

[Jennifer13]

Hi hun, how old is your little one? How many bfs is he having in a day (approx)? How many wet and dirty nappies? What's his weight gain been like up to now?

And finally, when did he have gastro and for how long? It can take a digestive system some time to recover from that. If he is eating any other foods, I'd stop those and concentrate on increasing his bfs. That's the best thing for his recovering system.

I'd also take him to the dr and probably with a stool sample.

[luna moth]

Probiotics? DD's poos have never really been normal - within the realm of normal, but only just. We got her on a load of probiotics at about 10 months and it changed our lives.

But yeah, I'd maybe see a Dr about it.

[starangelk]

He's 5 months old, bf's 5 times in 24 hours minimum, has constant wet nappies and great weight gains....he's 75th percentile and very chubby looking.

I have only offered him water once, he is solely bf/Ebm bottle fed.

Thanks for your feedback, I will make a Gp appointment

[~Raven~]

This happens to many babies at about 5 months. As long as when the poo comes out it is soft then he's not constipated, it's just that he is using up every last bit of it so doesn't create much waste
He may get a bit of wind pain though.

Do a search on this topic and I'm sure you will find its quite common!