Does an unfed baby have bowel movements?

No, an unfed baby doesn't stop having bowel movements. What gives stool its color is bile secretion in the intestines. Hunger slows intestinal movements but bile is still secreted. In the newborn period, the black meconium (first stool) that appears in the first 24-48 hours must come; this shows that the baby's intestines are working, and is not directly related to whether the baby is fed.

In following weeks, stool frequency may decrease (some exclusively breastfed babies have a bowel movement once a day or once every few days) but this is not hunger; it's because breast milk is almost completely digested in the intestines. If weight gain is good, if urine output is sufficient (6+ wet diapers daily), and if stool frequency is low, there's no need to worry.

The real warning sign is this: If meconium still hasn't appeared 5 days after birth, or if in a few-week-old baby there is green, watery, foamy stool along with stopped weight gain — these can be signals of inadequate feeding and require pediatric evaluation.