Infant Constipation: Sorting Fact from Fiction

Few topics cause as much parental anxiety as a baby's bowel movements, or lack thereof.

Infant stool frequency changes drastically based on their diet. Exclusively breastfed babies rarely experience true medical constipation. Breastmilk is highly digestible and uniquely tailored to your baby's body, meaning their digestive tract can absorb almost every single component of it, leaving very little solid waste behind. It is mathematically common for healthy, breastfed infants past the age of six weeks to go a week or longer without a bowel movement. Formula-fed babies, on the other hand, tend to stool more frequently, and their waste is firmer. True constipation is defined not by the number of days between bowel movements, but by the consistency of the stool when it finally arrives. If your baby eventually passes a stool that is soft, loose, or paste-like, they are not constipated, regardless of how many days it took. However, if the stool is hard, dry, pebble-like, or if your baby is straining excessively, crying, or showing a rigid, painful abdomen, it is time to consult your pediatrician.