Blood in 17 Day Olds Stool

Yes. This happened to my daughter when we supplemented with formula one weekend, the reason being a milk allergy. Formula is dairy based and triggers that allergy where breastmilk might not. Now that he actively has the allergy, even breastmilk could be a problem unless you cut out dairy. The best thing to do would be to go back to nursing and cut dairy out of your diet. There are also dairy-free formulas available. A true milk allergy, usually showing up as bloody stools, almost always goes away by the time the child is one year old. Go to the doctor to be sure.

Do not wait--take your baby to the doctor for tests. No matter what you should NEVER have blood in your poop or urine.

When my son and daughter were babies they had that too. Doc said it was normal if it is just a few strands. It is from straining to go poop.

Keep watching it, probably is an alleregy. My 6 month old has had it for 3 months now on and off and I was told to cut out dairy and soy from my diet after 3 weeks of less blood but still some beef and eggs were cut. Still some blood so the GI doc did a sigmoidoscopy to look around and confirm from her red areas that it is a food allergy and that it won't hurt her and it will go away. With your baby it could be a milk allergy since that is what most of those formulas are based on. Try a different formula and see. If it still continues with a no milk based formula you will need a special formula that I think the doc haas to give you. Best of luck to you! Don't worry, sounds like an allergy!!

Yes, it's almost certainly the reason, most likely caused by a cow's milk protein intolerance. Many times the intolerance takes a while to show up when the baby's getting dairy only through the mother's milk, so it's likely that the switch to formula just caused the symptoms of the intolerance (blood in the stool) to show up sooner than it would have if you had continued to exclusively breastfeed.

I recommend going back to breastfeeding if at all possible. (There are lots of good lactation consultants in town who can help you, often for free at the hospital at which you gave birth when you're baby's this young, assuming you birthed at a hospital.) If for whatever reason you choose to stick with formula, you need to get your baby on a formula where all the proteins are already broken down and that does not contain ANY dairy. If you do resume breastfeeding, you need to eliminate ALL dairy from your diet. It often takes 21-30 days to get the dairy out of your system and then your baby's, so you might not see improvement in the symptoms for that long.

Pediatricians often miss this tell tale sign of cow's milk protein intolerance, so don't believe yours if s/he says that's not it. Something is hurting your baby's gut, and the gut can be permanently damaged if the baby keeps ingesting whatever it is. And often other symptoms accompany the blood, like stomach pain or reflux that parents or doctors dismiss as "colic".

My daughter began having blood streaks in her stool at 4-5 months, and I was exclusively breastfeeding. I gave up ALL dairy, and 21 days later the blood was gone and never returned. And I never ate dairy again for as long as I was nursing, nor have I reintroduced dairy to my daughter's diet, and she's 2.5 years old. Milk protein intolerance is very common in young children. Sometimes they never outgrow it, and sometimes they do - some at age 2-3, and some not until more like 6 years old.

Our first pedi did not even mention protein intolerance as a possible cause when I first took my daughter in, at 4 months. I went home and researched it online, determined that it was a cow's milk protein intolerance, went back to the same practice, different pedi, and before I could even tell him my theory about the cause, he said, "it's a classic sign of cow's milk protein intolerance".

So trust YOUR gut, and completely eliminate dairy from your baby's diet one way or another.

A.

A girl?? Perfectly normal! A boy....not so sure:(

Always call the pediatrician if you're concerned about something - especially if there's blood involved. They usually have a nurse's line you can call for free. What's the reason for giving up on breastfeeding so soon? It's SOOOO good for babies. If you're having trouble, your local La Leche League is very good source of help and it's free, too. (www.lllusa.org)

The same thing happened to my daughter when I stopped breast feeding and switched to formula...took her to the emergency room and found out she was allergic to the formula and we had to switch to Nutramagin formula. Contact your doctor ASAP!!

Absolutely not!!!!! You need to take him in to the pediatrician! There's no good reason this should be happening in a 17 day old. Blood in the stool could be for a very dangerous reason.

Please take him/ her in to the peditrician. There is always room for conern with blood in the stool.
I hope everything turns out okay, keep us posted.

Good luck, God Bless

That happened to us a couple of times with my baby. Sometimes it can be a signal of their intestine kind of looping and telescoping in on itself, but that really doesn't sound like what;s going on with yours because it's usually dark red and jelly consistency. Our baby's stool looked like what you're describing. One time, it turned out to just be irritation from a rectal thermometer, however the next time it was actually salmonella, which CAN be serious but her case was very very mild and required no antibiotics or anything. Just trace blood in her poop and a puffy rash on her legs that kept moving around to different places.
In your case, it's most likely the switch to formula. She probably has some type of allergy or intolerance to the milk formula. Some doctors will tell you to switch to soy formula, but there's a lot of research out there that soy can be really bad for young babies and children. If you can, the best thing for your baby is to switch back to breastfeeding.. ESPECIALLY with this bad flu season we're in. I'm a nurse and I am seeing that breastfed children are doing SIGNIFICANTLY better with flu and H1N1 than formula fed babies. Your 17 day old has no immune system for themselves yet.. and the only immunity and antibodies your baby will get this early is from you. Just a thought.

2 of my 3 kids had blood in their stools. My youngest who is now 8 months old went through a horrible time with gassiness and blood in his stool from about 3 weeks until 4 months. He was on 100% breast milk, but I cut dairy out and that helped a bit. I think the formula could make a difference. If you still have breastmilk try going back to nursing. Nursing can be so hard at first,but it does get easier and is better for the baby. Of course it's always a good idea to call your pediatrician when there is blood involved. Good luck and congratulations on a new baby!!!

Take him to the doctor when in doubt.

This happened to my daughter. We switched her to soy formula per our pediatrician. Turns out she is lactose intolerant and was fine on the soy formula.

All though it's very likly that it's from the formula, I would still get him to the Dr. just to make sure. When my little boy was about 4mo, he also started showing very light blood in his stool even though he was still 100% breastfed. He wasn't fussy or acting sick, so I wasn't that concerned, but my pedi was. She sent us to a specialist, and found that since I was making so much milk and he was eating so much (he was 20lbs by 5 mos) that his little body couldn't tolerate the amount of lactose in my milk. Before the specialist, the pedi was very insistant that I should swicht to a specialized formula, free of milk, lactose, asn anything else that my irritate his intestines. However, on the advise of the specialist, I continued breastfeeding, and the problem cleared up on its own in a month (as babies get older, thier tolerance to lactose usually grows).

Are you still giving any breastmilk at all? Somestimes babies have a little trouble with the adjustment, so it's best to do it slow, and you may need to try a soybased/lactose free formula. If that doesn't work, your pedi will prob suggest a more specialized formula, which is VERY expensive.

I know breastfeeding can be hard at first, by the time my little one was 6 mos I had already been thru 3 breast infections and constantly questioning if I was doing the right thing. I was so jealous of the other moms who were so comfortable and happy and weren't in horrid pain every time thier babies latched on:} However, I stuck with it, and after a few months I was so thankful and happy that we both stuck with it. Now he is 3 1/2 and STILL wants his "tata" from time to time!
I agree with the mom about La Leche league, they were a real help to me in the hard times!