What to do if your baby has not had a bowel movement for a week

Families with babies are very concerned about the baby's growth. If the child is sick, the adults in the family will be very anxious. Some children have constipation due to illness or improper diet, sometimes they don't have a bowel movement for a week. What should you do if your baby hasn’t defecated for a week? Many parents want to know this question. Here I will give you a brief introduction and I hope it can help you.

What should I do if my baby has not had a bowel movement for a week?

In this case, you should pay attention to your diet and eat light food. If you still don't have a bowel movement, you should see a doctor. The frequency and texture of infants' stools often reflect the state of their digestive function. If parents can pay attention to the texture, color and frequency of their infants' stools and correctly identify normal and abnormal stools, it will help to detect abnormalities in the baby's digestive tract early and provide valuable clues for diagnosing diseases.

Normal bowel movement

1. Meconium The main component of meconium is water, accounting for about 72%. It is composed of epithelial cells shed from the fetal intestine, bile, concentrated digestive juices and swallowed amniotic fluid. Meconium is first excreted within a few hours after birth (usually within 10 hours). It is dark green and a little shiny, much like the asphalt on the road surface melted by the scorching sun in summer. It has no odor and gradually transitions to normal baby feces within 2-3 days after feeding.

2. The feces of breastfed babies are golden yellow, mostly uniform and paste-like, with occasional small milk curds and a sour taste, 2-3 times a day. Even if you have bowel movements 3-5 times a day, it can be considered normal if the stool does not contain too much water and is mushy.

3. Artificially-fed infants’ feces: Infants fed with milk (including milk powder) or goat’s milk have light yellow feces, which are mostly formed, contain more milk curds, are alkaline or neutral, are large in quantity and smelly, and occur 1-2 times a day.

4. The feces of mixed-feeding infants: The feces of infants fed with breast milk and cow's milk are similar to those of infants fed with cow's milk, but are yellower and softer. After adding complementary foods such as cereals, eggs, meat, and vegetables, the stool characteristics become close to those of adults, and should be taken once a day.

The above is a simple introduction about what to do if your baby has not defecated for a week. I hope the above introduction will help everyone. Parents must pay attention to their baby's diet. If the child has not yet stopped drinking breast milk, the mother also needs to pay special attention to the diet. Do not eat food that is too strong in taste or spicy food. This is best for children.