35 weeks premie: currently 9 weeks but 4 weeks adjusted… need help please!

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bacondoughtnuts

New member
1) 9 weeks old and dealing with intense gas issues almost GI? Poops look normal yellow and ebf! All happened right after vaccines and been going on for about a week now and develop a poor latch in the process (wasn’t an issue before) this has stalled his weight to only gaining an ounce and a quarter last week…
2) at this point is 6-8 poops normal in a day at 9 weeks? I know he is corrected to 4 weeks but are we saying 4 weeks?
3) what are you calling a poop? I would say half of his poops are skid stains or wet farts if anything and only 3 or 4 huge poops in a 24 hours period, wet diapers are over 6 easily.
4) noticing he is sleeping 4-5 hours stretches at night since this change in tummy etc.? Is that good or is he just so tired and we should be walking to feed him?
For reference we started probiotics as my partner had to be on anti botics during labor due to no group B test… could the anti botics e wreck his system?
Thanks in advance!
 
@bacondoughtnuts All of this sounds extremely, completely, 100% normal! Babies are gassy and many newborns poop/shart constantly, sometimes every single diaper change. Both are fine. Simethicone and/or bicycle legs, tummy massages, etc can help with gas, but to some extent fussiness around gas is inevitable partially because babies don’t have the coordination to bear down to poop/pass gas and crying increases abdominal pressure, helping that process along. It doesn’t always indicate that baby is in pain, but of course some babies are. It’s a stage they’ll grow out of as they get bigger and gain more body control. Sleeping 4-5 hour stretches is also normal and fine! There’s no need to wake baby to feed unless there are weight gain concerns and/or the pediatrician tells you to (for non-NICU babies, generally peds say it’s okay to stop once they’re past birth, for nicu babies usually it’s okay to stop waking baby overnight once they are consistently gaining enough outside the hospital)
 
@straykat Seconding this - especially the poop/shart constantly thing. My husband and I even sing “Baby Shart” (to the tune of “Baby Shark”) whenever it happens, which is more than once a day.
 
@makesense114 So are y’all counting the sharts as poop diapers ? If so then my LO is having about 6-8 poop and wet diapers at 9 weeks old which my chiropractor said was a lot and should only be pooping like 3 times a day at this age…

Also we are on a probiotic since my wife had to go on anti botics during labor so my LO didn’t get the healthy bacteria. They thing that could be the cause of all of this screaming pain… the day after his first dose and chiro alignment he is a whole different baby… still some quick fussing but nothing like before? Can it change that quick? Are probiotics okay?
 
@bacondoughtnuts I’d be cautious with probiotics, there is recent evidence of risks to gut health in preemies to the point that my nicu has stopped routinely using them, when we used to give them to almost everyone based on the previous evidence based practice. I also… wouldn’t listen to a chiro or a doula for health advice at all but especially for a preemie?! I feel like any pediatrician will tell you that breastfed newborn poop varies wildly, from every single diaper change to once every 2-4 days, and it’s all normal unless there are other specific symptoms.
 
@bacondoughtnuts I have been counting the shart diapers as just wet diapers, because for our son at least, they’re wet from his urine output and don’t have enough poop to count as a poop diaper. He makes probably about ten wet urine diapers a day, but he also eats a ton and has always been on the larger side. (He was over nine pounds at birth; his NICU stay was due to his moderate HIE diagnosis so not a preemie like your situation, but still a NICU baby so relatable.) His poop diapers are at a lower amount a day than his wet ones (but even more if he’s cluster feeding) and we don’t count those as wet diapers but as a separate category.

I have no idea about the second paragraph as I am not familiar with probiotics/antibiotics for babies; I am only familiar with probiotics for adults and my baby is super chill and doesn’t fuss unless he’s hungry. But that sounds like a great question for a pediatrician to point out some guidance for. Sorry I can’t be of more help for that particular part!
 
@bacondoughtnuts My LO was born 34w3d, now almost 4 months actual. We've also dealt with a lot of gas since pretty early on. It can definitely upset them but is pretty normal. We were doing Mylicon, bicycling legs, and tummy massages to help. It's started subsiding recently, she's still gassy but the process of getting the gas out doesn't upset her nearly as much. As far as pooping, there's a wide range of normal in breastfed babies. My oldest (term baby) went multiple times a day. My youngest usually goes once every 4-10 days. I wouldn't worry about counting them much, as long as they look "normal". We've been able to get similar stretches at night for the last few weeks and don't wake to feed- after our 2 month appointment (she had almost doubled her birth weight) our ped said it wasn't necessary to wake her to feed anymore.
 
@reddc44 Okay these are all great points! We started our LO on a probiotic cause he didn’t get the “gut” stuff from my wife since she was on antibiotics during birth… but I know they are a mix bag so I hope it doesn’t harm him…. I know recent studies say they might be deadly to premies but in the study it was geared towards babies
 
@bacondoughtnuts I looked into a probiotic for her but noticed the packaging said not for use in premature babies. I wasn’t sure if this just meant not to use before their due date or what exactly so we haven’t used one. I did plan on asking our ped about it next week at her 4 month checkup but I’m not sure we’ll use one anyways since we seem to mostly be past the gas discomfort.

You mentioned a poor latch and I wonder if that could be contributing to the gas? Maybe a lactation consultant could help with that. My LO didn’t have a good latch (didn’t start BFing until after she came home from the hospital) and “clicked” constantly while feeding for a while. She was taking in a lot of air because of that and I think that made her gas issues worse. Her latch still isn’t perfect but she’s stopped clicking.
 
@reddc44 Yea we actually have an LC working with us now. He had a great match minimal clicking until last week now it is clicking a good bit. He has this gas stuff before the change in clicking though.
 
@bacondoughtnuts My son was born 35+4. We had a lot of gas, reflux, very many poops when I still managed to combo feed (breastmilk really did lead to so many poops).

I call a full diaper a poop. Another time they just weren't done yet, or had in fact done a wet fart. My bub slept 3h stretches until 3 weeks actual, then went to 4h easily, and by 7 weeks honestly could do 5/6 without much trouble. Now, getting above those 6h was a long time coming though, haha!

So it sounds all normal to me.
 
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