We welcome back Dr Marilyn Emedo for a series on pooing and constipation throughout infancy. First Installment: What is Normal?
BREASTFED newborn babies stool anywhere between 7 times a day and once every 7-10 days. Stool is commonly “loose” in consistency and yellow in colour resembling “mustard seeds”. A reduction in frequency is typically seen from the 2nd month of life. [note]Newborn: First Stool and Urine. Pediatrics in Review. 1994;15(8):319-320. [/note]
BOTTLE FED babies tend to open their bowels fewer times per day.
In 90% of normal term babies, meconium (intestinal epithelial cells, lanugo, mucus, amniotic fluid, bile, and water) is passed within 24 hours of birth and by 48 hours in nearly all normal babies.[note]Duyan Camurdan, A., Beyazova,
U., Ozkan, S. & Tunc, V. T. Defecation patterns of the
infants mainly breastfed from birth till the 12th month: Prospective cohort study.
Turk. J.
Gastroenterol.
25, 1–5 (2015).[/note]
Preterm infants may take longer than this to first open their bowels; one study reported only 37% of preterm infants (25 -36 weeks gestation) open their bowels in the first 24 hours, and 32% are delayed over 48 hours. The ongoing frequency of stool output, and expected colour and consistency thereafter depends largely on what the baby is being fed.
