Green, watery poop. Picture attached (Sorry TMI)

[Hopewho]

I have questions and though I have found many threads that cover the topic of green poop, none have quite covered my exact situation. Let me start by saying sorry if TMI but I included a picture so someone may be able to help.

Here is the cliff note version: I messed with my 10 week olds formula by combining two different formulas in a bottle (only 2 bottles on two separate days) I mixed Enfamil Newborn with Enfamil Gentlease and his poop changed. It went from the consistency of tooth paste and a yellow color to being an army green and very watery like diarrhea. He does not act like he is in pain, he is gaining weight, he has 8 to 10 wet diapers a day and his pediatrician said he is fine. He has us adding Florestor (a probiotic) to two bottles a day for 10 days. We are on day 7 and though his poo is getting a little thicker and the green has gone from a very dark army green to a clay green color I am still worried about it. It has not change very much nor very quickly. Does anyone have a similar experience that they could offer advice or tell me how long it took for your LO to go back to normal and if you just had to wait it out or if you had to do something?

Here are all of the details:
My son Jaxon is 10 weeks old. He was ebf for the first three weeks but because he never latched on and the milk was pumped, once my husband returned to work I had to switch him to formula. I just couldn't keep up. By the time I change, fed, burped my son, put him back to bed, pumped, labeled/stored the milk, and cleaned/sterilized my breast pump equipment my son was waking up to eat again. I tried it for several days and once the no sleep caught up to me to the point of feeling sick, I just couldn't do it anymore. So while we were in the hospital, before my milk came in, Jaxon was being supplemented with Enfamil Newborn and we were sent home with several bottles. At the point I could no longer feed him breast milk we decided to put him back on the Enfamil Newborn formula. For days Jaxon was fussy and seamed to be in quite a bit of pain from gas so we switched him to Enfamil Gentlease. Two days later he was a happy, content baby and we knew it was the best formula for him. On 11/28/11 (Jaxon was just over 7 weeks old) I thought his digestive system may now be able to handle the Enfamil Newborn formula that we had left over. We had two open containers of the Newborn formula that were almost full. We had left one at his grandmothers house before we switched to Gentlease so we bought one and two days later she brought the other back. Just after buying the second Newborn formula is when we discovered we needed to switch to Gentlease. As you know formula is very expensive and because the Newborn formula listed ingredients that Gentlease did not that I thought would be beneficial to his digestive system I decided to add a scoop of the Newborn formula to one of the bottles. Up to this point Jaxons poops were the consistency of toothpaste and a yellow color. It was a 6 ounce bottle so it had 2 scoops of the Gentlease and 1 scoop of the newborn. I only added the Newborn formula to the one bottle and none of the others. The very next day his poop had turned a very funny green color but of the same consistency. I repeated the process that day by adding one scoop of the Newborn formula to two scoops of Gentlease in a 6 ounce bottle to only one bottle of the day. The very next day on 11/30 Jaxons poo was an army green color and runny like diarrhea (picture attached). At that point I decided not to add any more of the Newborn formula and just throw it away. I thought it would go back to normal in a day or two but here we are 3 weeks later and it has not. Here is the rest of the poo schedule:
12/1 no poo
12/2 Green, watery poo (smelled horrible)
12/3 no poo
12/4 Green, watery poo (smelled horrible)
12/5 Green, watery poo (smelled horrible)
12/6 no poo
12/7 Green, watery poo (looked like it was getting thicker and the smell was very mild)
12/8 no poo
12/9 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad, went back to the very wet stuff)
12/10 no poo
12/11 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad, still very wet)
12/12 no poo (Jaxon had his two month appointment and I talked about the poo to the pediatrician. I even showed him a picture. Becasue Jaxon is gaining weight, is not dehydrated and does not appear to be sick in any way the Dr said that even though it was not a "normal color" not to worry about it too much but told us to get Florestor {a probiotic} and add to his bottle twice a day for 10 days).
12/13 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad but still very runny - first day of the probiotics added to 2 bottles a day)
12/14 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad - looks thicker but still runny)
12/15 no poo
12/16 Green, watery poo (does not smell bad, thicker but still runny, a lighter color green and had specks of yellow "normal poo" throughout. Looks just like 12/14 only with the yellow poo. Picture attached).
12/17 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad, about the same as 12/14)
12/18 no poo
12/19 Green, watery poo (dose not smell bad, about the same as 12/14

I know the Dr said not to worry but I just can't help it. Why is his poo so different and why wont it go back to "normal"? Does anyone have a similar experience that they could offer advice or tell me how long it took for your LO to go back to normal and if you just had to wait it out or if you had to do something?

Thanks so much.
Hope

 

[MaskedKitteh]

Not sure if this helps, but my eldest was on comfort milk (the uk equivalent of gentlease) and he often had smelly green poop on it. HV said it was normal with comfort formulas.

 

[kanga]

Hi Hun, havent read all your post but I think I get the gist, hth.

My lo was ebm for 6 weeks from bottle like you, I pumped. I switched to Aptimil and he got dioreah (sic) and green runny poo. The poo burnt his bum, it was v sore.

I switched to a milk with more whey in it, cow and gate, and his poos 'hardened' up and became brown.

I also did 50/50 milk for a week to switch formulas.

I believe it can take a week or so for a little tummy to get used to a new formula. I'm not familiar with your formulas but if the second one has less whey than the first, I guess, following my lo's pattern, that more whey suits your lo.

My lo has green runny poo again right now. He kicked a virus 2 weeks ago and the current green rnny poo is his tummy getting back to normal after the virus. He is 6 months old. So if its taking my lo over 2 weeks to settle down, then dont be surprised if you need to wait longer.

I would decide on a formula and stick with it. Protect the little botty with vaseline so the poo runs off it in the meantime.

Hope some of that helps! xx GL xx

edit - just seen the pic - the poo seems pretty much fine to me. My los green poo is flourescent bright green. A lot is made out of green poo unecessarily.

 

[Hopewho]

Not sure if this helps, but my eldest was on comfort milk (the uk equivalent of gentlease) and he often had smelly green poop on it. HV said it was normal with comfort formulas.

Thank you MaskedKitteh, that makes me feel better. It's just hard to understand how with two scoops, on two bottles, on two different days his poop got to that odd green color and consistency and here we are almost three weeks later and though it has thickened and lightened a little, it's still so different from what it was. It's more alarming when I first open the diaper than it is in the pictures because when I open the diaper it is all over him and looks so much runnier. Thanks again for the reply

 

[Hopewho]

Hi Hun, havent read all your post but I think I get the gist, hth.

My lo was ebm for 6 weeks from bottle like you, I pumped. I switched to Aptimil and he got dioreah (sic) and green runny poo. The poo burnt his bum, it was v sore.

I switched to a milk with more whey in it, cow and gate, and his poos 'hardened' up and became brown.

I also did 50/50 milk for a week to switch formulas.

I believe it can take a week or so for a little tummy to get used to a new formula. I'm not familiar with your formulas but if the second one has less whey than the first, I guess, following my lo's pattern, that more whey suits your lo.

My lo has green runny poo again right now. He kicked a virus 2 weeks ago and the current green rnny poo is his tummy getting back to normal after the virus. He is 6 months old. So if its taking my lo over 2 weeks to settle down, then dont be surprised if you need to wait longer.

I would decide on a formula and stick with it. Protect the little botty with vaseline so the poo runs off it in the meantime.

Hope some of that helps! xx GL xx

edit - just seen the pic - the poo seems pretty much fine to me. My los green poo is flourescent bright green. A lot is made out of green poo unecessarily.

Thank you for the reply Kanga. After reading your edit I feel better. Since his poo changed I have stopped trying to change his formula around and went back to what I know was working. Luckily we have always been right there beside him when he poos so once he is done we take the diaper off him immediately. We also give his bottom air time once a day and he gets a bath every day. So far we have not had any rashes and the poo does not seam to be effecting him in any negative way. The Dr did tell me not to worry about it, but it is hard when his poo is so different from what it use to be and the change happened so quickly. Literally it was one scoop of a different formula, in two separate bottles, on two separate days. But here we are three weeks later of being consistent and not messing with his formula and though it has thickened a little and gotten a little lighter I am having a hard time understanding why it was such a drastic change. Guess I will give it a little longer before I call the Dr again. Thanks again, really appreciate the response.

 

[babyhopes2010]

i tried lo on comfort stuff once for wind and her poo was green

 

[JacquiKeren]

i dont know if this helps u (probably not) but my lo have been ff from day 11 and his poop has gone from a mustard bf type poo to a green colour and it is still green.

my friends bf baby also has green poop. x

her gp said it can be a sign of underfeeding or overfeeding.

 

[Hopewho]

Thanks everyone for your feed back. Here is an update on our green poo situation. Today is day 10 of being on the probiotic Florastor (twice a day for 10 days per the pediatrician). Today he had a 1/2 green 1/2 yellow diaper and it was no longer runny. I called the pediatrician to make sure we could stop giving the probiotic and the Dr said we could give it indefinitely if we choose to however it wasn't necessary. Unless the green poo was bubbly then green or yellow is ok for a ff baby. I was more concerned about the poo being as runny as it was than the color though the color baffled me. Now that it is no longer runny and the Dr has assured me the color is of little concern I feel much better. I guess I will wait and see what it does now that he is no longer on the probiotic.


Thanks again!!

 

[Starry Night]

Glad to hear your baby is OK! My DS had poop like that and his doctor said it was expected because he was battling a virus. But he also said that baby poop can be any colour except black or bloody.

I had also switched formulas to save a bit of $$ (and the store was out of mine at the time so I was in a pinch). Going back to his regular brand of formula but a simpler blend (Enfamil with Iron instead of Enfamil A+) made his poops pastier and more yellow. Sometimes I wonder if too many extras just aren't good...unless it's medically necessary, of course.

 

[Hopewho]

So we have been off the probiotic for 10 days and his poo has returned to the runny green stuff. I'm not going to worry and just keep an eye on it. He goes back to the Dr in February so if it is still runny and green I will mention it to the pediatrician again.

 

[kiasuten]

My son was breastfed for 3 weeks and then we switched to FF and we were in the same boat. On breastmilk, his poop was yellow and "seedy" as the doctor put it, and on the formula (especially after a few days) it was very dark green, just like the pictures you posted, and they went between toothpaste-consistency to almost complete liquid.

LO's pediatrician also said it's quite normal. Honestly, if he's taking in formula, and he's pooping relatively easily (not with crying or any ridiculous pain), and there's no blood in his poop, you shouldn't have many worries. But I completely understand your concern!

My son is almost 6 months, and his poop has only changed now that we've started giving him baby food. Until now it's been mostly dark green and pretty liquidy. Good luck, hon!

 

[Hopewho]

My son was breastfed for 3 weeks and then we switched to FF and we were in the same boat. On breastmilk, his poop was yellow and "seedy" as the doctor put it, and on the formula (especially after a few days) it was very dark green, just like the pictures you posted, and they went between toothpaste-consistency to almost complete liquid.

LO's pediatrician also said it's quite normal. Honestly, if he's taking in formula, and he's pooping relatively easily (not with crying or any ridiculous pain), and there's no blood in his poop, you shouldn't have many worries. But I completely understand your concern!

My son is almost 6 months, and his poop has only changed now that we've started giving him baby food. Until now it's been mostly dark green and pretty liquidy. Good luck, hon!

Sorry for such a late reply kiasuten but thank you so much for your reply. I have been obsessed with trying to figure out what is going on. I've been around several babies and I have never seen anything like this before and I get frustrated with google because everything I find on babies BM's is for BF babies... Thanks again, it puts my mind at ease when I hear from others in the same predicament and their babies are "normal".

 

[yourstruly10]

Bth my girls have been formula fed from day 1 and both always had greenish poops. They were always fairly loose also until they started on solids. We were told by our pediatrician that green is normal and is usually caused by the extra iron in formula.

 

[nehakuhu]

hi hopewho
did it get cured??
when, how and what you did kindly share... i am worried for my daughter

 

[Nessicle]

Many babies have awful smelly runny exploding green poo when they're teething badly too.

Mixing formulas won't cause any harm they legally have to be the same unless they're medical formulas like hypoallergenic.

 

[Kookiebella]

Hi, hows your little one doing?

My LO is on FF now. He is taking Enfalac Gentlese which is the same a Enfamil Gentlease according to MeadJohnson.

He caught a virus when we was just 7 weeks old and since then his poops color never changed. It is the same as the picture that you posted, although accordingt o lab tests, he's free from the virus already. The Pedia also said that as long he is gaining and thriving it should be ok, but still making me worried.

He is drooling a lot and may be teething so that might be one reason too. But nontheless, we'll still go and have lab tests soon just to make sure.