Green poo!

[mk8]

Hi all

I'm exclusively breastfeeding my 6 week old baby and for the past week he's had green poos on and off. About a week ago, he had two episodes of very smelly poo but its since gone back to normal. Around that time I also had a very slight tummy upset but only lasted a couple of hours. I continued to breastfeed as recommended by various reputable websites.

My baby is feeding, sleeping and seems happy. No temperature.

I mentioned the green poo to a breastfeeding councillor and a health visitor and she said it could be that I'm not letting him drain one breast and thus getting the hind milk. She also said it could be problems with latching on and he's not getting enough of the hind milk.

In the past week or so my baby has been finding it hard to latch on a little and has been fussing during breastfeeding sessions like he isn't getting enough. The lactation expert watched me feed and thought my baby was a little on the edge and didnt have enough of my breast in his mouth.

I'm a little worried as his poop is still green and today was pretty watery. Any views?

 

[missk1989]

It likely is lack of hindmilk. We used to get this every now and then. I used to just make sure i started a feed on whichever side i finished on last time.

 

[tntrying22]

Agree on the hind milk being the culprit. Block feeding is good for that as suggested above ^

 

[Jinnah]

I dealt with this and I believe it was the hindmilk/foremilk issue. Try to make sure to completely empty one side before switching to the other side. Let us know if it gets better.

 

[CatherineK]

If its only once in a while, I wouldn't stress, Hun. And don't worry about watery poo- breastfed poo can be fully watery sometimes, and it's no issue. Just means your LO is processing it really well! You can try to get LO to feed longer per side, but like i said, I wouldn't stress.

 

[sevenofnine]

Agreed with the rest of the lovely ladies here!

I have had this problem on and off. My LO has a poor latch, which causes a bit of an under-supply (still at 6 months... she's stubborn), so I take Fenugreek supplements to up my supply. Well they worked so well that I am ONCE AGAIN dealing with a bit of an oversupply, and am having that famous foremilk/hindmilk imbalance again.

Her poops are green to dark green, and it even gives her a bit of gas and upset tummy.

Block feeding does work. Sometimes it takes a few days for things to regulate. So keep it up! It's not a huge deal, and it will likely happen here and there once in a while. Just need to get them to drain one side!

 

[nicki01]

Really pleased I came across this post! My LO had green poo yesterday and I was worried it was something I ate! She has also been up all night with wind/tummy pain? Could this be linked? We were at the out of hours docs as she had some blood in her poo but they couldn't find an issue! Could the fact she isn't draining the breast fully have caused an upset tummy, hence the pain, green poo and blood?

 

[CatherineK]

Really pleased I came across this post! My LO had green poo yesterday and I was worried it was something I ate! She has also been up all night with wind/tummy pain? Could this be linked? We were at the out of hours docs as she had some blood in her poo but they couldn't find an issue! Could the fact she isn't draining the breast fully have caused an upset tummy, hence the pain, green poo and blood?

Blood in poop can be a classic symptom of milk protein intolerance, or milk and soy protein intolerance. An easy check is cutting all dairy out of your diet and see it it improves...

 

[misslissa]

My 5wk old had this yesterday too and has been very unsettled for the last couple of days. He only has short feeds and I worry he's not getting hind milk. He is gaining weight very well though so...

I wish I had a lactation consultant nearby that I could see. I've had so many bf issues

 

[mk8]

Hi ladies, thanks for your responses.

I ended up taking my baby to accident & emergency at hospital because I saw some mucusy blood in his stools. He also had increasingly more mucus.

I was told mucus in stools is not normal. Doc checked him over, checked for anal fissure (none and doc didnt expect a small tear to be the culprit as the blood was browny and not red) and concluded he had a viral infection and the blood was due to an inflamed colon. No meds prescribed and advised to allow him to recover himself. I was told to cont breastfeeding and there was no need to give him any water given hes well in himself otherwise. She said it should get better in a couple of days. However, I'm concerned it might be something else as he started the green poo on and off about 2 weeks ago, for the past 5 days they have been consistently green and very mucusy. Blood first appeared 4 days ago, not a lot of blood at all. The hospital didnt do a stool sample so it might not be a virus. Very worried and not sure what to do. I'm seeing my gp tomorrow for my sons 8 week check up and vaccinations so will ask for a stool sample to be done and ask if he should still take the jabs. Yest he seemed a lot lore sleepy than normal but perked up in the evening.

 

[CupcakeBaby]

I only give one boob a feed and sometimes one boob per two feeds if I'm really engorged.

Then DD has lovely yellow poos.

I'm sort of on a cycle where I block feed and my supply goes down a little, so then I normal feed and it goes back to too much foremilk so then I block feed for a few days etc etc

Not ideal but DD is gaining weight lovely and I've figured out when to feed where etc.

 

[mk8]

Hi cupcake any, how long did it take for yellow poo to return? Was the green poo mucusy too?

 

[CupcakeBaby]

She has the occasional muscusy one.

It only takes a day or so of block feeding for her poos to go yellow.

What I do find is she'll often have one green one in the afternoon. Which I think is her morning feed coming out as I have a lot of foremilk in the morning.

 

[fatandlumpy]

I'm exactly the same as Cupcake. Euan will have one green/yellowish poo (usually mid-morning/early afternoon) but the rest are 'chicken korma' but sometimes with the odd greeny lump/speckle.

He also farts like a machine gun!

... I am obsessive about checking his nappy and once made my MiL fish for a nappy bag she had thrown out before I had chance to view the contents.

OCD - moi?