Question About 3 Year Old poop...Any Idea What Could Be Causing This?

Updated on November 18, 2009
T.O. asks from Elmhurst, IL
19 answers

My son who is almost 3 randomly has green poop. Sorry to be graphic, but it looks like he ate a ton of blue or green frosting. It doesn't happen all the time...maybe once every week or two. The consistency is the same as all the others-the only thing different is the color. I've tried to pay attention to what he ate the day before, but nothing is "out of the ordinary." It seems to happen regardless of what he's eaten. Any thoughts?

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So What Happened?

Thanks for all your advice and thoughts. He did have a popsicle on Sat., but I didn't think that would be enough to do it. I did call the Dr. just to be on the safe side and they said as long as he had no other symptoms and it wasn't constant (like 3 or 4 days in a row)not to worry. Thanks again...You moms always have such great advice!

Jody...You may have solved the problem...he LOVES Fruit-Loops. Never would have thought of that! He doesn't have them everyday, but certianly once a week.

Thanks again!

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B.S.

answers from Springfield on

When my sons were young i had the same problem, even took him to doctor. They said it was caused from some juices or even kool-aid, it has something to do with the dye they put in it.

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J.P.

answers from Peoria on

My son gets it when he has eaten certain things with artificial dye like fruit snacks, fruit loops cereal and certain kinds of kool-aide.

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D.H.

answers from Springfield on

My 3 year old daughter tends to be the same way. It doesn't seem to take much "green" food to get green poop. I normally don't worry about hers because she seems so okay that we don't have much to worry about. Be careful with the cheap koolaide. She had red poop for a couple days once and it scared me until I realized that she had been drinking cherry koolaide. She also had so much green color in it once that it changed the water color around it - never figured out anything more than she had eaten green beans the day before. Good luck.

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A.

answers from Chicago on

Has he eaten blueberries? My kids always have green/greenish poop after they eat blueberries.

Aarti.

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J.W.

answers from Peoria on

My 3 year old daughter does the same thing with fruit loops. I was feeding them to her and so was her daycare. When the poop turned green I frecked out and called my sister who has raised 3 boys. She asked me if I had been feeding her any fruit loops. I was sure relieved it was nothing major. I never gave it a second thought that food coloring would also color the poop. I would suggest you check his diet again. I never thought fruit loops was out of the ordinary either.

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C.B.

answers from Chicago on

My son, who is 3 as well, has had the green poop thing from time to time. The first time it happened, it freaked me out! (First time Mom!) After talking to the pediatrician, I found out it was from the blue food dye in the yogurt and/or Gatorade that he'd had. I have also had to back track from time to time to make sure the green poop is from blue food dye. My suggestion would be to call the pediatrician just to be sure, but also watch for blue food dye and things like berries which have that purple/blue color to them.

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S.X.

answers from Chicago on

licorice too. I ate 1/2 a bag and freaked when i pooped green!

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M.W.

answers from Champaign on

Fruit snacks can change the color of stool. Just a thought

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J.L.

answers from Chicago on

If it has a weird smell I would call the doctor. It could be something that he is eating or maybe it's a sign that he is sensitive to something in his diet? If my son had it once or a few times I wouldn't really think anything of it but if it's happening weekly and you are concerned just give the doctor a call to make sure it's nothing. Hope this helps.

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D.B.

answers from Chicago on

If you are giving him blueberry yogurt that would cause it.

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D.P.

answers from Chicago on

My son's poop was green when he had a problem with milk. It wasn't green every time but randomly. He was also much younger though.

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L.M.

answers from Chicago on

It happens whenever my son has Lucky Charms.

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K.

answers from Peoria on

Are you sometimes changing the diaper in natural light and other times in light from compact fluorescent bulbs? The CFLs can really bring out the green. Just a thought...

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E.P.

answers from Chicago on

Popsicles, anything with blue artificial dyes in it, kool-aide, blueberries, fruit chews, lollipop - he doesn't have to have a lot of this stuff. Is a neighbor offering him a snack? The color change could be affected by just a "serving" of something. Summertime foods can make colorful changes like that. However, follow your instincts and contact your pediatrician if you really think that there is not a correlation to food vs. color. Good luck!

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B.C.

answers from Champaign on

Tracy,

I experienced this with my same children. We figured out that it was after they had had something purple-popsicle, gatorade, koolaid. Many of our other friends experienced this same thing.

B.

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V.L.

answers from Chicago on

One of my children always had really green stools when we fed her spinach...could that be it?

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M.B.

answers from Springfield on

When my son drinks purple kool-aid his "poo" turns crayola green.

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W.S.

answers from Chicago on

hi Tracy,

Are you sure he is not eating crayons or play-doh when you're not looking? I've also had this occur after my kids ate jello with coloring in it.

Some 3 yr olds will eat anything (my brother used to eat bugs when we were playing outside) :-D

It's prob nothing but I'd call the doc if it happens again.

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L.H.

answers from Las Vegas on

I know it's kinda late to be adding my two cents to this question, but I have to, nonetheless, at Halloween time my mother in law bought premade cupcakes at walmart with black frosting, both my children ages 4 and 5, pooped neon green poops ! It was so wierd, then on Halloween my neighbor made cupcakes again with black frosting and both of my kiddos pooped neon green again ! My mother in law swears it its the food dye ! I think we will be staying away from that stuff.

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