How many bowel movements for a 6 week old

What should you watch for? Your newborn's soiled diapers can give you clues about your baby's health. In general: A hard or dry stool could mean that your baby is not getting enough liquids or that your baby is losing liquids because of a fever or other illness.

An increase in the number of bowel movements or a lot of liquid in stools could be a sign of diarrhea. Explosive diarrhea may be a sign of infection with a virus or bacteria. Diarrhea is usually caused by a virus, and medicines don't help. Diarrhea may cause a loss of fluid dehydration. When should you call your doctor?

Call your doctor or get medical help right away if: Your baby has new symptoms such as vomiting. Your baby's stools are: Maroon or very bloody. Black and your baby has already passed meconium.

White or gray. Your child is having a lot more stools than normal for him or her. Your baby's stool has large amounts of mucus or water in it. Contact your doctor if: Your baby's stools are hard, or he or she strains to pass stool.

Credits Current as of: May 27, Newborn waste can tell you a lot about their health and if they are consuming enough milk. How often your newborn poops during the first weeks of life depends largely on whether they are breastfeeding or formula-feeding.

Breastfed newborns typically have several bowel movements each day. Formula-fed newborns may have fewer. There also may be a change in the frequency of diaper changes. Your baby may have an average of five to six wet urine-filled diapers each day during this time.

A newborn will pass meconium, a black, sticky, tar-like substance in the first few days after birth. After about three days, newborn bowel movements turn into a lighter, runnier stool. It may be light brown, yellow, or yellow-green in color. Breastfed babies may pass seedy, loose stools. The stool may look like mustard in color and texture. Breastfed babies may also have a looser, runnier stool. It means your baby is absorbing the solids in your breast milk.

Formula-fed babies may pass a yellow-green or light brown stool. You also may see a difference if their diet changes in any way. For example, switching from breastmilk to formula or changing the type of formula you give your baby can lead to changes in stool amount, consistency, and color. As your baby starts eating solids, you may see small pieces of food in their stool. These changes in diet may also alter the number of times your baby poops per day. A formula-fed newborn, on the other hand, will have fewer poopy diapers.

Both are normal. The first type of poop or stool your baby will have is called meconium. Meconium is black or dark green, and it looks a little bit like tar. It is thick, sticky, and difficult to clean off of your baby's bottom. Meconium stools last for 24 to 48 hours. But formula-fed babies should have no trouble passing meconium either.

If your baby does not have a bowel movement in the first 24 hours after birth, however, let your healthcare provider know. Between the third and sixth day of life, the thick black meconium will begin to change into a thinner, looser greenish-brown or greenish-yellow transitional stool.

The transitional stool is a combination of meconium and the next phase of poop called milk stools. After the sixth day, your child should no longer have meconium in their body, and they will begin having milk stools.

If you are exclusively breastfeeding, the poop will often be a golden, mustard yellow color, but the color can be a variety of shades from orange to green. These bowel movements tend to be loose and unformed with a mild odor.

They may or may not contain curds of milk, called seeds. If you are using infant formula, your child's poop will be firmer and have a stronger odor. If you are combining breastfeeding and formula feeding, you will get a combination of breast milk stools and formula stools. After the first month, it's normal for a baby to have poop in every diaper, but it's also normal for a baby to have a bowel movement once every few days or even longer.

The consistency of the poop is more important than the frequency. If your baby's poop looks like pebbles or is any stiffer or thicker than peanut butter, this could be a sign of constipation. Some breastfed infants will not have a bowel movement for several days. The lack of poop is not constipation. Since newborns can digest breast milk easily, there is often very little waste. Baby with Different Types of Baby Poop. Eric Jeon. Credit: Eric Jeon. When it comes to baby poop, parents should call the doctor for the following reasons.

The baby poop is white a sign your baby isn't producing enough bile , black which signals blood digested from the stomach or small intestine , or contains streaks of red it could mean blood from the colon or rectum Your child screams in pain or bleeds while pooping You see mucus in baby poop, which can be a sign of an infection or intolerance You child's stool changes dramatically after you introduce a new food; this may signal a food allergy Your child's poop is still a very runny consistency by age 1 if your child has diarrhea—watery stools more than five times a day—mention this to your doctor too.

Comments 1. Sort by: Newest. Newest Oldest. When there are so many other ways to help constipation so many other ways smh Read More. Load More Comments. Close this dialog window Add a comment. Add your comment Cancel Submit. Close this dialog window Review for. Back to story Comment on this project. Tell us what you think Thanks for adding your feedback.