Is it normal for a newborn to not poop for a day?

To be honest, one of the most difficult groups to take care of is newborns, especially for inexperienced young fathers or mothers. Taking good care of a newborn is a challenging task. When a newborn does not defecate for a day, parents may just be blindly anxious and worried. However, parents should stop worrying and take a look at what this article will explain about whether it is normal for a newborn baby not to have a bowel movement for a day.

How many bowel movements are normal for a newborn? It depends on the time and feeding situation:

1. Frequency of meconium: Newborn babies have irregular bowel movements every day. At first, the baby will expel the meconium that has accumulated for 9 months, but it must be cleared out through frequent bowel movements, so the number of bowel movements will increase. It usually takes 2-3 days, 3-5 times a day, for the dark green color to disappear. If the baby has no meconium within 24 hours after birth, parents should pay attention and suspect that congenital malformation of the digestive tract has caused fecal obstruction. The baby needs to go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time.

2. Number of bowel movements during breastfeeding: For breastfed babies, the frequency of bowel movements is very flexible. Usually, the frequency is higher in the neonatal period, 2-5 times a day, or even after each feeding. This is because breast milk is easy to digest, easy to excrete, and because of the reflex peristalsis of the intestines after food is input. Therefore, if a breastfed baby has loose stools or has more frequent bowel movements, it is normal as long as he is in good spirits and feeding, is gaining weight normally, and does not have difficulty defecating, abdominal pain, or bloating, and parents do not need to worry.

Breastfed newborns may even defecate 7-8 times a day. Parents do not need to worry. This is called physiological diarrhea, which is a normal phenomenon. When the baby grows to a certain age, this diarrhea will disappear automatically. In addition, if the baby's stool is dark green and mucous, it means that there is insufficient breast milk and the baby is in a semi-starved state, and the amount of breast milk needs to be increased. If the mother's breast milk is indeed insufficient, the baby can be given fresh milk, milk powder, etc.

3. Number of artificially fed poops: Artificially fed newborn babies will have less poop, which is usually drier, rougher, and slightly harder like paste. But as long as it is not difficult to defecate and does not look like sheep feces, it is fine. If there is no problem with digestion, it will usually be earthy yellow or golden yellow with a slightly sour smell, about 1-2 times a day.

Through the above text introduction, I believe you have some understanding of whether it is normal for a newborn baby not to defecate for a day. In fact, caring for a newborn also requires methods and skills, especially experience, otherwise you will not understand the reason for the abnormal condition of the newborn. So parents should not be lazy and learn more about this knowledge.