By: Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP & Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP
Once babies have proven themselves capable of clearing out their intestinal tracts of any meconium and have moved on to dishing out the "real thing," rest relatively assured that their plumbing is in good working order. Now, you can turn your attention to the so-called normal pooping patterns of infancy.
Your baby's pooping patterns
What's considered normal at this stage of the game (and for months to come) ranges anywhere from one poop every several days to several poops every day. Some babies are like the sprinters of the pooping world—fast and furious—while others are more like distance runners—slow and steady.
In general, breastfed babies poop more than formula-fed ones, and younger babies poop more than older ones. Newborn babies and young infants also tend to have several tiny poops in succession. (Hint: you may want to wait a few minutes until your newborn is convincingly finished rather than jumping into diaper-changing action at the first signs of activity.)
From your pediatrician's perspective, the actual number of poops is likely to be less important than the fact that everything is generally moving along.
Watery stools or pooping more than eating
In the spirit of helping you distinguish between the healthy but fast-and-furious pooper and those newborns pooping beyond the limits of acceptability, experts in the field of newborn care suggest the following rule of thumb: Any time a newborn's poop becomes progressively more watery or outpaces feeding frequency, it's time to seek medical advice.
When the pooping gets tough: constipation concerns
On the flip side of loose or watery poop, many parents end up with questions about constipation as soon as their babies begin to grunt, strain, or get red in the face while pooping or the first time they go several days without a poopy diaper.
Fortunately, true constipation—as defined by hard, difficult to pass, or infrequent poop—isn't a big issue for most young infants. Believe it or not, going as many as 5 to 7 days between poops is not necessarily a problem for babies who have already proven themselves fully capable of pooping during their first couple of weeks (and are eating and growing well).
As long as your baby's poop is fairly soft and comes out easily, you can breathe with relative ease despite the dramatic degree of discomfort your baby seems to display.
Even if your baby occasionally seems to have a hard time getting the poop out, remind yourself that pooping while lying flat on one's back isn't exactly natural. Given that your baby won't have many options for a while, you can try to facilitate by gently pushing your baby's knees up toward their chest while they're lying on their back. This gives them some resistance against which to strain.
If, however, your baby consistently seems to have problems pooping—they do so infrequently or with apparent pain, or you notice blood or poop that just doesn't seem right to you—be sure to check in with your baby's doctor.
More information
About Dr. Jana
 Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician and mother of 3 with a faculty appointment at the Penn State University Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center. She is the author of more than 30 parenting and children's books and serves as an early childhood expert/contributor for organizations including the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Primrose Schools, and
US News & World Report. She lives in Omaha, NE.
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About Dr. Shu
 Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP serves as the medical editor of HealthyChildren.org and provides oversight and direction for the site in conjunction with the staff editor. Dr. Shu is a practicing pediatrician at Children's Medical Group in Atlanta, Georgia, and she is also a mom. She earned her medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and specialized in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her experience includes working in private practice, as well as working in an academic medical center. She served as director of the normal newborn nursery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. Dr. Shu is also co-author of
Food Fights and
Heading Home with Your Newborn published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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