Infant - Diarrhea

Diarhea in a breast fed small baby is much like the same as regular poops. It's just the amount of times they poop that you notice. The mucus is most likely due to runny nose draining down his throat ending up in vomit and poop. My kids have much the same symptoms lately but no diarhea. So you may just be getting it into your head that there is diarhea. (we do it often) Don't worry. Just try to feed maybe an ounce of water here and there between feedings to help make sure dehydration doesn't set in. Also just let him be sick. When we are sick we don't eat much either. So it's not uncommon. Just make sure u pump alittle if you need to in order to accomodate his normal feedings when he is feeling better. Babies have a slightly more sensitive vomit reflex than older children. Mine cough hard and puke all the time. It's not that their tummies hurt it's just that their bodies make them puke from the violent coughs. Also common. Just relax and make him feel the best you can and don't force anything on him. He will be back to normal faster than you know. Good Luck and Don't worry.

Single mother of 3 with 4th due Sept 11th.

Hi J.:

I'm not sure if you're still monitoring this, but if a breastfed baby all of a sudden has a difficult time latching on, that should be cause for concern, in my opinion. I breastfed all four of my children and how they would feed would usually be my barometer for their health. Have you considered any mouth sores since he's having a hard time latching on? If you feel there's something "not right" I would go with your gut instinct.

Good luck,
M.
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Hi J.,
My 11 month old recently had rotavirus. I had never heard of it before but at around 10 months old she started having diarrhea that looked somewhat gray and had a VERY distinct odor, and was vomiting off and on. She was breastfed so her stools were kind of yellow (but has been eating solids so was not the same as a solely breastfed baby) and when this sickness came on it started to change. I actually said the exact thing that you said: "Mucusy looking". It got progressively worse. She had no tears, no wet mouth, lethargic, weight loss, etc. She ended up in the ER twice to be re-hydrated with IV fluids. It was so scary! It took about one week for it to run its course. If your child sounds anything like this I would take him in and have him tested (with his stools).

I hope this has helped and I REALLY hope your son feels better soon!

C.

My 15 month old was just in the hospital for 3 days and 2 nights after our local hospital in Medford said it was just the flu. The next night I took him to St. Clares in Weston and insisted they get to the bottom of it. At that point he had been puking for 4 days and was dehydrated. After doing a stool sample they found out he had rotavirus. Take him in and get him checked. Maybe save a dirty diaper to take for a stool sample.

You will definitely know if it's diarrhea. It will be just colored liquid. My 2 year old was breast fed and seemed to get diarrhea more often than my other son. He still gets it a lot whenever we travel. If your son has a cold then the other symptoms are a result of it. Unless he is having super loose stools every 10-15 minutes then you don't need to worry about dehydration. It's hard not to worry especially when the advice people seemed completely unconcerned.

Not sure what breastfed diarrhea looks like, but my son recently had a similar virus. He is 9-months-old and had cold and intestinal flu symptoms for 11 days! He also ran a fever of 101-103.5 throughout. Long virus :( We used lots of Desitin and changed often. If a rash develops, I've found a little breastmilk on the bum works well! Kinda weird, but maybe it works because of the germ-fighting properties of breastmilk. Best of luck.
:0 M.

I would take him in and test for rotavirus!! better safe than sorry!

J.,

I would take him in just to be sure. But you will know if he has diarrhea since it will be very watery. Dehydration is always something to be concerned about I think when you nurse and they are sick. We can't tell how much they are drinking. If he isn't eating as much or having as many wet diapers, I would bring him in to be safe. I heard at one point that you can watch the soft spot on their head. If it is sinking in then they might be dehydrated. But I am not a doctor. Good luck with your son and hopefully he gets better very soon!

I've never dealt with a baby being sick like that, that young.

But watch out I had some weird thing as did my daughter a few weeks ago. I vomitted and had diarreha for 11 days.Everytime I thought I was better I wasn't. I thought I was gonna die. My 5 year old had it for 5 days. We both seperately ended up in the hospital dehydrated. They ran urine and blood work and couldn't figure out what we had. My daughter was urinating as frequently as they had wanted too but she was still very dehydrated and turned very dehydrated within hours. She couldn't walk up our stairs or walk.And her eyes were very dark and it looked like she had halloween makeup painted on around her eys. It happened very quickly. So just keep a eye on him and do whatever you can to push the fluids. I also called two seperate nurse lines who told me two seperate things. One said to give my daughter milk and yogurt and that's the number one no no when you can't keep anything down. I just listened to my mommy instinct and brought her in to the E.R and I'm glad I did. With your baby being so young I'd bring him in. I really would. I think the general rule is vomitting or diarreha past 3 days they want to see them at the office and when they're that young and tiny it can be dangerous.