Little Blood in Stool

I will echo other ladies... This was the age that we figured out that my little guy has a milk allergy. We found blood in his stool, and then I took milk out of my diet to see if that helped. Sure enough, that was the problem.
My little guy is now 10 months old, and we are still breastfeeding - I 'test' him every 3 months or so to see if he still has problems. A glass of eggnog at Christmas caused 2 days of fussiness, and some diarrhea. My slice of pizza last week caused more of the same. :(
Dairy free living is a challenge for those of us who normally love dairy, but it is better than giving up the breastfeeding!
Good luck figuring out what is going on. I feel for you, figuring out the really little people can be quite a challenge!

1 mom found this helpful

I had the same thing happen with my daughter when she was 2 months old. I was breastfeeding as well and was not willing to try the formula....was afraid that she wouldn't take my breast anymore. Her pediatrician said that I could try cutting out dairy...which I did. She continued to have some blood which turned out to be minor anal fissures (from her straining). There is no easy way to test for fissures...I believe that is what the problem was because it resolved itself. I am SOOOOO glad that I "waited it out" and took action with me (cutting dairy) rather than putting her on formula. I got to breastfeed for 14 glorious months. TRUST YOUR GUT!!!!!

I'm sorry, but I'd get a new doctor. Doctors, in general, are so uneducated regarding breastfeeding. The protein in your breast milk are so much more natural to a baby than the protein in cow's milk, which is what formula is made from. Most babies that are intolerant of formula are not actually "lactose" intolerant; they are intolerant of the cow's milk protein. I would seek other advice regarding the blood in the stools, but I would certainly keep breastfeeding. Good luck!

If you haven't already, make sure there aren't any open wounds on your breasts. A little cracking will go a long way to produce blood in the babies stool. It happened to me while healing from a terrible case of thrush with 2 of my 4 babies. In each case there was nothing serious to worry about. Once my breasts healed the blood disappeared.

I agree with previous poster. The same happened to my baby and it was because of the milk products I was ingesting. The milk protein was difficult for him to digest. I eliminated every dairy product and it resolved.

I'm confused about your Dr's advice,first thing she/ he should have recommended was for you to eliminate dairy. Not to mention that unless you pump around the clock, your milk supply is going to decrease.Also, it's pretty rare for a baby to be allergic to his/her Mothers breast milk. It happens, but not often.

Good luck!

Congratulations on your new baby! I apologize in advance for a lengthy post, but I hope you will find something useful in it.

Please keep breastfeeding, but (like a lot of other posters have said) try eliminating dairy from your diet at least. I had the same experience with my son (now 21 months). He spit up a lot his first 3 months of life, which I thought was just a thing babies did. Then when I saw the blood in his diaper, I thought, no, this is NOT normal. His pediatrician suggested eliminating dairy from my diet (which seemed impossible at the time), which I did. He stopped spitting up within a couple of days. The blood persisted though, as did occasional bouts of spitting up. I noticed a correlation with me eating corn products, so eliminated that plus wheat and soy (plus the dairy). The blood finally cleared up. I reintroduced wheat with no problems and do eat soy occasionally without a reaction from him. I found giving up dairy a lot easier than I initially thought, and boy was it worth it. I have tried him on goat milk yogurt when he turned 1 year, but he was still bothered. I tried cow's milk products at 18 months without gastric problems, but his behavioral reaction was sufficient to keep him and me off dairy. I'm going to try again after he turns 2.

I also forgot to mention that he is day care full time, and they accomodate him pretty well. However, he does eat a little dairy in the form of butter and milk used in preparing foods like pancakes and mashed potatoes, but hasn't had a serious reaction to it. Sometimes I notice a little eczema flare-up after a pancake day at daycare, but otherwise he is fine.

I can't emphasize enough how happy I am that I gave up dairy, even though I do miss green chile chicken enchiladas on blue corn tortillas with lots of cheddar. Having to give up foods I once really relied on has really broadened my culinary horizons. Instead of using weird cheese substitutes to continue eating as I had, I just explored other foods and flavors. If you decide to eliminate dairy or any other foods, check out the yahoo group called "foodlab." Good resource for those with food or chemical sensitivities, just don't go there looking for sympathy because most of the folks on there have had to give up a lot more than dairy. They are way beyond mourning the loss of cheese and ice cream.

Good luck!

There could be several reasons for this, but one could be that your baby is getting the blood from you if your nipples are bleeding. I had a friend that had this happen to her daughter at about this age. Good luck.

Hi C.,
This same thing happened to me. My daughter was very very fussy and then she started to show some blood in her stools. Turns out she had a cows milk protein allergy. Most likely this is what your baby has. To continue breast feeding you have to eliminate anything that may contain milk in your diet. I did this and it is very hard. As a registered dietitian this should have been easier for me but it is challenging. I did do it and became very familiar with the foods I eat. Look at every label and make sure it doesn't contain milk or a cows milk protein such as casein. After 6 months we switched our daughter to a hypoallergenic formula (Nutramigen or Alimentum). By one year of age she outgrew the allergy completely and now drinks and eats most anything. We also tried soy formula but come to find out many babies who are allergic to the cows milk protein don't tolerate soy formula. That was true with my daughter. Anyway, I hope this helps. There are many websites that provide information on a milk free diet. Finally, some babies are more sensitive than others. I know some Mom's who just gave up cheese, milk, ice cream etc and their babies were okay. With my Daughter I gave up every ounce of food that contained even a bit of milk. Good luck.
K.

My cousin's baby had blood in thier stools and it actually turned out that the baby sucked so hard that it popped a blood vessel in the mother's breast and the baby drank blood along with milk, so the blood in the stools turned out to be the mother's blood and not the baby's.

Hi C.,

I can't imagine that formula (with sweeteners and artificial gunk) could be better than breast milk...especially when it is made from milk protein. I recommend two things:

1. Omit dairy and wheat from your diet and see if that helps.
2. Find a Naturopathic pediatrician. The only one I know of is "Farah Swan" in Mesa.

Best wishes to you and your baby! :)

Warm Regards,
G. Van Luven, H.C.
Healthy Habits Wellness Center, LLC
www.HealthyHabitsWellnessCenter.com
###-###-####

when i breastfed and ate something with cabbage (it didn't take much) there would be traces of blood in my babies stool too. I did it rarely ( pita pocket albacore tuna sandwich from Duck and Decanter was the culprit for me---yum!)

I will try to stay calm, but that doctor should have their head examined! The previous posts are correct that breastmilk proteins are much easier to digest for babies than other milk proteins, such as cow milk based formulas. The reason or this is that our breastmilk has certain enzymes that begin breaking the proteins down almost immediately upon the milk being expressed. Formula can't do that due to the shelf life it requires to be lucrative for the manufacturers. There are a number of alternate possibilities that could be very important to check out as listed below. I would go to a different doctor, but I tend to be VERY picky about the doctors that any of my family sees. IF you need a great pediatrician in the EV (near the 202 - San Tan), let me know. I'd be happy to share our pediatrician's information as he's awesome and worth the drive (atleast I think so as I drive a ways to him but am VERY impressed with him.)

Hi C.,

Yes, the same thing happened to my son. He is about to be three months old. The doctor said it was either protein sensitivity or a tear he had. I had to go off dairy for a week and see if that helped. You might try that before going to formula. However, with my son, we believe it was a tear in his fissure (sp?) I am about to go strictly to formula for other reasons (acid reflux) and will probably stop breastfeeding. I didn't want anything I ate to affect him in a bad way and it was hard to tell by everything that I ate. Very frustrating. But the same thing happened to my sister's son. She had to stay off any dairy while breastfeeding and it worked. Try not having dairy and see if that helps. Good luck!

Okay so I don't want to alarm you but.... The exact same thing happened to my nephew. They took him off breastmilk but it still didn't eliminate the blood. Please call your Dr. and ask for your son to be tested for C-dificil or C-dif they call it. Its very common! Its a bacterial infection in the colon and is contracted mainly at the hospital during the stay after birth. They was a very aggressive stand of it circulating in the phoenix hospital as of recent and can be contracted from people not washing their hands. Its important that you find out for sure if he has this, its treated with antibiotics. It would be shame for you to stop breastfeeding for no reason,as breastmilk is so vitale for our little ones!! Good luck, and go have him tested!

C., I've heard of this with breastfeeding moms who have a baby sensative to lactose. If the mom eats a lot of dairy it can irritate the intestines of the baby. However, there's nothing more gentle or perfect for your baby than breastfeeding. I'd think long and hard before giving formula because it contains more difficult to digest components. Many pediatricians are uncomfortable with exclusive breastfeeding. The trace of blood is usually no cause for concern, but if the amount or frequency increases, you might want to search for a another cause. I'd decrease the amount of dairy in your diet or eliminate it entirely and see if that helps if the blood in the stool continues. Congrats on your little one. R., nurse-midwife mom of 2 at home.

My daughter had the same problem, and I had a couple of friends with the same issue. I noticed it at a week old, and tried to solve the problem for 5 months. I really didn't want to stop breastfeeding. My daughter's pediatrician gave that as the only option for me, so I got a second oppion from a pediatric GI doctor. He had me omitt all kinds of things from my diet, and nothing worked. I eventually was told to do a 2 week trial of hypo-allergenic formula and I pumped. The blood in her stool went away with the formula and I had to stop breastfeeding. I fed her one last time and was so sad. I wish I would have tried doing half and hald breastfeeding and formula. I think that may have worked, and that is what I plan on trying if my next baby has the same problems. You may want to try it. At least get a second oppinion if you really don't want to stop breastfeeding. I'm glad I did. At least I was able to give my daughter 5 months of it! She has absolutely no allergies or sensitivity to any foods now and is a great eater! She is 2 1/2. So don't feel like it is the end of the world for when it comes to food for your little guy. Good luck!

I would keep breastfeeding and get a second opinion on the bloody stool. If it happened once it was probably something you ate. If it happens more see a different pediatrition who supports breast milk for babies as it is the best. Good Luck.

My daughter had the same thing but it she also had eczema. My dr recommended eliminating dairy from my diet and that cleared everything up. Good luck!

Get a new doc ASAP. Your current ped is CLUELESS.
Breastmilk is a million times easier to digest than formula. Honestly, your doc does not know what she is talking about at all. If it was a (very very very rare but very serious) issue with your kid not being able to digest your milk, it would have been a problem from day 1.
If the blood is due to some sort of sensitivity, formula is an idiotic suggestion. Eliminate potential allergens etc from your diet for a week and see if that helps.

The ladies at http://www.everymotherandchild.com/ in Mesa have tons of experience with breastfeeding problems and can either give you good advice or direct you to a lactation consultant. Your pediatrician probably never took a single class on BFing, she is FAR from an expert.

Can you tell this is a HUGE issue for me? Too many encounters with pediatricians that know ZIP and make problems worse.

My DS had a tiny amount of bloody stool once (not sure if he had started solids or not), and it was just due to an aggressive bowel movement.
Of course, it may be something else - so go to a different doc!

ETA - YES! Forgot about the Kelly mom site. Excellent resource. The moms who have responded are totally correct, your doc is not (and that can be a weird adjustment - take the things your ped says with a huge grain of salt when it comes to breastfeeding/growth charts/etc). Hang in there!

I think you got very, very bad advice from you doctor. Breastfeeding has lots of benefits for your baby! It would be better to try and eliminate foods from your diet first. The most likely culprit is dairy (and if that's it, formula would make it much worse). Try to eliminate dairy for a week (2 if you can) and see if it gets better.

Here's a link you may find helpful: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

Good luck!

I haven't read ALL of the other responses, so this might have been already said...but here you go.

I am currently in the exact same situation with my newborn. At about 6-7 weeks my little boy had bloody mucus in his stools. He would scream like he was in pain after I nursed him and when I'd get him settled down and lay him down, a few minutes later he would shriek out in painful cries. :( My Ped. said it was most likely an allergy to something I was eating. She had me take out specific things for 5 days and see if there was improvement. It was night at day! His stools went back to normal and he was back to being an angel baby. I then introduced the items back into my diet one at a time to figure out which specific things he was allergic to. It was a hard (and long) adjustment for me, but worth it. I know this is not the only possibility, but this is how our situation played out.

The 5 items I took out of my diet at first (top allergens) were dairy, soy, nuts, strawberries & chocolate. Yes, it was hard. I lost 5 lbs in a week! A nice perk. It ended up being dairy and soy and heavy cocoa items (a little chocolate he did fine with). He will most likely grow out of this before he's 2, hopefully much sooner than that. If it wasn't those 5 items she was going to have me try eggs, wheat and one other I can't think of. Sorry.

Anyway, I hope this helps some. Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions you think I could help with.

Blessings!