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What Goes in Must Come Out!
Breastfed Babies and Their Bottoms By Lisa A. Goldstein
Dr. Rudolph also says it is common for infants between 1 to 10 weeks of age to be seen by a pediatrician because parents are worried about bowel movement problems in their infant. Parents describe children straining for several minutes and crying prior to the passage of a normal soft stool. After defecation, the infant is comfortable again.
"This is most likely explained by the infant's difficulty coordinating the process of defecation, which requires increasing the intra-abdominal pressure while relaxing the pelvic floor in order to allow passage of the bowel movement," says Dr. Rudolph. "Learning this process occurs faster in some newborns than in others, but almost always occurs in the first few months after birth. The use of enemas or suppositories or manipulation of the anus should be discouraged since it is potentially painful or frightening to the infant, and since learning defecation takes practice, this may delay the learning process. In fact, repetitive manipulation of the anal area may result in the infant learning that external intervention is required to pass stools."
Natalie Schuhler, a 28-year-old Santa Clarita, Calif., resident and mother of two, had to seek outside help with her children. "Even though one pediatrician told me that it was OK for my babies to go several days without having a bowel movement, I knew that they were in pain because of it," she says. "I knew the cues of my children and therefore when to call the doctors."
Ultimately, as a parent, you're the watchdog. "I was left to trust myself and listen to my baby," says Schuhler.
