Hey mamas,
So my little guy is 5 wks and his poop has changed over the past few days from seedy yellow to dark green. I was sick myself with a stomach bug a couple days back, so I thought maybe that was a factor. I was reading online that it can be due to not enough hind milk, so I am trying to make doubly sure that he is nursing correctly ie making sure I remember which breast I finished on the previous feed etc. So that is one thing I am working on. But I was also reading that sometimes it can be a sign that a baby has a lactose issue and that the mother dropping dairy can solve the issue. I am the most concerned about this bc he has been spitting up a lot, but he doesn't have other symptoms of reflux like screaming a lot etc. My first had reflux and this just seems different. But he does spit a lot and have this sort of explosive green poop. I do have him scheduled for a reflux test next week and I left a msg with my pedi about the green poop; he has gained over two pounds since birth so he is doing well, but this color change is a very new development and I never saw anything like this with my other two kids. My middle child drinks lactose free milk all the time, but breast milk never bothered him, but my kids are white and black and my MIL tells me all the time that black children tend to have more milk issues. So anyway, I am thinking of just dropping dairy myself and seeing if it helps. Anyone had a baby with the green poops and spitting that dropped dairy and saw an improvement? How long before it straightened out? Any feedback would be very helpful
He might have a touch of the bug you got- not enough to make him sick, but enough to change the color of his poop.
If it's not bothering him, I'd wait a week and see what happens.
I exclusively breastfed both my kids.
My first son had green poop (bright, very watery and explosive) and was gassy (but not uncomfortable or crying) at about a month old. Not having ANY dairy fixed it completely within a few days. After 3 months, I slowly incorporated dairy into my diet again and he was fine. He slept great- 13 hours straight by 3 months. He is 3 1/2 and not allergic to milk products as a toddler.
My second son had digestion issues since birth: reflux and allergies that were never exactly pinpointed. He rarely slept more than a couple hours at a time for 8 months. He cried day and night for 4 months straight. He was always uncomfortable. I ate a diet of 7 foods for about 8 months. This was the only thing that made him somewhat more comfortable since he couldn't do even the most special formulas. Now he is over 1 1/2. He sleeps through the night (after 3 months of training) and has many foods he's sensitive to, but no allergies we know of yet. He doesn't like cow's milk but eats other dairy products like cheese and yogurt.
(Both of my son's were over 8 pounds at birth and gained weight fast - weighed 16 plus pounds at one month.)
If you eat green veggies, your baby will have green poop. I remember this pretty well. I love broccoli and eat a lot of it, and both of my daughters had green poop at one time or another. Isn't it the freakiest thing? But it doesn't hurt them. If your baby is growing and doesn't have any obvious distress (hard tummy, lots of painful gas), don't worry about it. Also, spitting up can sometimes be simply because your baby ate too much! If you have a fast letdown, it can be easy for the baby to get a little too full, in which case spitting up is pretty normal (if he's spitting up when you're burping him, for instance). Both of my daughters spit up quite a bit too, but it was nothing to worry over, our pediatrician said, since they were gaining weight and were happy.
This has to do with your diet - are you eating a lot of green veggies? I used to pump (I worked full time) and my breast milk came in very different colors based on what i was eating - spinach made it turn green, beets - pink, etc. I couldn't drink any dairy with my first child - didn't eat cheese or fried foods either - she was senstive to everything. I drank alot of water, ate a lot of spinach (non-gassy veggies) lots of grilled chicken & other grilled meats and pasta. My second child had no issues with anything in my diet so I could eat anything. Every kid is different - not only in their sensitivity to food but in so many ways - wait til they're teens!!!
Obviously from the responses it could be a number of things, but it's probably nothing to worry too much about. When my son was that age he would have green poops once or twice a week and it was too much foremilk. What I did was nurse only one side at a time and that helped clear that up. If you switch you maybe switching too soon before he gets enough foremilk. You could also try pumping 1/2 oz or so first then nursing.
Of course it could also be a virus but if he isn't showing any other symptoms then it probably isn't anything to worry about. Definitely try paying attention to what you eat and maybe drop dairy for a few days and see if it helps. Just keep nursing as long as he is gaining weight you are doing great!
People of African and Asian and Native American descent are much more likely to be lactose intolerant than people of European descent. In fact, "lactose intolerance" is actually the worldwide norm, while being able to drink milk beyond childhood (lactase persistence) is abrnomal, and probably due to mutation, even if beneficial. However, most babies have no problems with lactose in human milk, since they are designed to drink milk as infants.
Yes, it's possible that he is reacting to something in your diet, but when my older son had green poop, it was too much foremilk. Even though I thought I was nursing "right" according to "the rules", I had so much oversupply that even though I switched breasts like I was "supposed to", he was still getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk. So, you may want to try the following just to see if it helps, even while looking at dietary issues as being a possible problem: nurse from the same breast for a two-hour bloc of time, and then switch. This means that if your son starts nursing at noon, finishes in ten minutes, then at 1:30 wants to nurse again, offer him the same breast. My son was "cluster nursing" -- he would nurse for a short while, multiple times within a few hours; once the LLL leader suggested bloc nursing, he actually stretched out his nursing times, since he was finally getting enough fat to be satisfied for longer. Hope this helps (it helped me when my older son was a baby).
I would be willing to bet your baby has your stomach bug (especially since you note that he's been spitting up a lot). You definitely want to make sure he is not becoming dehydrated. Call and ask to speak with a nurse at his pediatrician's office; run all of this by them. If this continues much longer, I'd take him in. If his nursing slows down or he stops waking up to eat during the night, you need to get him to the doctor immediately.
When a person is infected with a stomach bug, it really messes up your digestive system. Milk is h*** o* your upset system so keep it out of your diet until this passes and he's back on track. Then maybe try ingesting it again and see what happens. Good for you for nursing your baby.
my son had this as well about 5 weeks old. I was doing everything I could with my breastfeeding. I dropped Dairy all together and it didnt change. He continues to have dark green BM's. At about 6 months old (happened with 2 of my 3 kids) I started losing my milk. Did everything I could to get it back. It didnt happen. While I still nurse I have to supplement. This caused his poop to get slightly lighter green but still green all the time. I think its just his digestion and the way his body handles my milk. He doesnt seem in pain, or extra gassy like he was when he was exclusively breast fed. However I was eating a lot of onion and garlic. When I cut the garlic out it got way better. If your eating garlic maybe you might want to stop.
Each child is different. Good luck.
I would not think twice about it unless your baby is unhappy, seems sick or uncomfortable. Their little digestive tracts are getting used to processing food and different hormones can produce different colors. My babies went through a myriad of colors and neither of them ever had any realy illnesses as infants.
The other day I changed the diaper of a formula fed 7 month old and the poop - fullest diaper ever! - was like melted silver. And it stunk to high heaven. But he was as happy as an umpaloompa!
Is he also gassy? Green explosive poop and a gassy tummy sounds just like a dairy issue to me (that is the exact symptoms my son had). If you cut out dairy, he should start to feel better in a few days. It can take up to 2 weeks for all the dairy protein to get out of your system.
If you haven't found the kellymom.com site yet, please check it out. It has tips for the coping with hindmilk/foremilk imbalance, dairy sensitivity, and reflux for breastfeeding moms. Good luck!
I posted about this a while back. My doctor said a stomach virus. Sure enough, took two weeks to get rid of. My first child had green poop, would scream and was dairy soy intolerant so I assumed second child was to. He is slightly dairy sensitive and is on prevacid for reflux. But the green poops cleared after two weeks. I would say since u had a stomach bug it could be that.
More than you ever wanted to know about baby poop
You could try introducing baby probiotics to see if it helps him with digestion. My son had reflux (GERD) and it helped tremendously. I think you are on to something with the hind vs fore milk though. I remember this happening as well when I was breast feeding, but it was intermittent and temporary.
I did try to experiment with dropping dairy to see if it helped the GERD, but I don't remember ever being strict enough with not having any, or doing it for long enough before I slipped up again ;) .... to truly judge if it had a beneficial effect.
