Bowel movements occur frequently during your baby's first months and may come with every feeding during the newborn period. At 1 or 2 months of age, normal bowel-movement patterns may vary from four-per-day to one every four days in breast-fed babies. Most formula babies will have 1 to 4 bowel movements per day.

During the first few days, the stool is black and tarry. This is called meconium. The meconium is thick and sticky. The stool gradually changes color to a lighter yellow color, like mustard or scrambled eggs. The color of the stool may be green at times and the consistency may be watery at times, especially in breast-fed babies.

Babies often cry when they are having a bowel movement. This does not mean that they are constipated. Constipation can be defined as hard infrequent bowel movements. If an infant fusses and strains and then produces a soft mushy stool, the infant is not constipated; he is merely sensing the passage of stool through the rectum.