Bowel habits of exclusively breastfed 0-4 month-old babies
Abstract
Background Exclusively breastfed newborns have frequent bowelmovements and sometimes watery stool, which parents or doctors
might think as diarrhea.
Objective The aim of this study was to observe the bowel habits
of exclusively breastfed infants.
Methods A longitudinal study was done on 100 babies born be-
tween November and December 2002 in Cinta Kasih Maternity
Hospital. The inclusion criteria were fullterm baby, exclusively
breastfed for 4 months, and informed consent from parents. Ba-
bies with problems in organ or nerve that influenced the gastrointes-
tinal tract were excluded. Stool frequency, consistency, and color
were observed.
Results The mean stool frequency per day were 3 times in the 1 st
week (95%CI 2.6;3.4), 2 times in the 2 nd week (95%CI 1.7;2.3),
1.8 times in the 3 rd week (95%CI 1.5;2.1), and 1.5 times in the 4 th
week (95%CI 1.3;1.7). In the second and third month, it was 1.4
times a day and the fourth month, 1.2 times a day. The consis-
tency of meconium was soft in the first four days. After that, 18% of
babies had watery stool, which increased to 30% on day 15-113.
In the last week of the fourth month, all babies had soft stool. Meco-
nium was black and lasted for 1-3 days. On the fourth day, the
stool became yellow. On day 5-14, 6% of babies had green stool,
which increased to 12% on day 15-120.
Conclusion The first week of the first month was the week when
the stool frequency was highest compared to the weeks or months
after. The consistency of meconium was soft. After it disappeared,
most babies had soft stool. Eighteen up to 30% percent of babies
had watery stool. Regarding the color, meconium was black and
stayed for 1-3 days. After that, most babies had yellow stool and 6-
12% had green stool
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Accepted 2016-09-30
Published 2016-10-10