Expert: ruth kraft - 1/4/2009

Question
My grand daughter is 2 weeks old and my son is concerned that she has bm's almost every time they change her diaper and even after they change her she poops continually.  I told him I believe it is the colon being cleansed but just wanted reassurance.  They will,of course, call the pediatrician as soon as the office is open, just wanted to ask about since she is breast feeding or giving breast milk which has been pumped

Answer
at 2 weeks old , its a VERY good thing to have stools this frequently.. for the first 4 to 6 weeks there is a laxative in the milk that helps the baby go this often so that the digestive tract gets used to working on its own for the first time in its life...  its like a new car thats greased up real well :) at around 4 weeks this starts to fade and the baby will then have to start working a little harder to learn how to control their own bowels so that they can eventually potty train...  but for right now, all is well... Congrats on the holiday baby and tell her shes doing a perfect job :) after 6 weeks the stools get much less frequent and they can even go 10 days without pooping... thats normal too as long as their isn't pain :)

Ruth Kraft
www.honoringwomen.com