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  1. #1
    Beshi4812 Guest

    Default My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    Hi. I've been breastfeeding my 7 week baby exclusively and in the past 5 days, his bowel movements have changed from the normal yellow, seedy kind to a green, more liquidy mucous kind and I am worried. My son is peeing with regularity and frequency, so he is not dehydrated and he does not have a fever, so I don't think he is sick. I called the pediatrician's office and the nurse said that since he isn't dehydrated, green is normal for even breastfed babies. I simply am not buying this.

    I thought maybe it was an allergy, so I gave up dairy for 4 days, but there was no change. Maybe I need to try longer? Also, I read on babycenter.com, that sudden changes to green, watery stools could indicate that the baby is only getting foremilk and not the hindmilk. I'm wondering if this could be our situation because although my son has continued to gain weight, he typically only nurses for 10-15 minutes at each feeding and maybe has 2 feedings a day where he goes a full 25-30 minutes. Unfortunately it seems when he feeds for these longer sessions, he often spits up large volumes of liquid.

    Any suggesions or similar experiences? If there is some problem with my breastmilk, I'd love to simply put him on a bottle to help him thrive. Unfortunately, he has refused numerous attempts with a bottle so that is not an option at this time.

    Thanks for any help.

    Jill

  2. #2
    Xariklia Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    the same exact thing happened to my dd around the same time. it lasted for almost 2 weeks and then all of a sudden just went back to normal again. very strange. i also told my ped and she said it was normal. but i remember stressing over it at the time. as long as he's thriving, i wouldn't worry about it. my dd doesn't nurse for long periods of time either, but she is getting what she needs apparently. good luck.

  3. #3
    sntm's Avatar
    sntm is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    one suggestion is if you are nursing on both sides at each feeding, keep him on the first breast the whole time to ensure he gets the hindmilk. my son had exactly the same problem (was a short nurser too) and that helped, though he continued to have green stool (we called it "pesto poo") intermittently. can also be related to what you ate (not an allergic reaction, but response to extra leafy greens, etc -- don't ask me how!)

    either way, it is nothing to worry too much about (though it's hard not to!) breastmilk is definitely the best thing for him, regardless of how much hindmilk he gets!

    shannon
    not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
    trying-to-conceive :)
    PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
    mama to Jack 6/6/03

  4. #4
    farsk Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    Jill,

    Exact same thing happened with Ellen...the "pesto poo". BF babies are exposed to all kinds of yummy things in their mother's diet....not the same thing over and over and over (I've often wondered if my cat is happy with her food...woops, was that off topic!) so you can expect poo to be a little different from time to time. I'd definately try to keep baby on one side.

    Your breastmilk is the absolute best thing you can give your baby. Keep up the good work...it's absolutely worth it!

    Good Luck!

  5. #5
    votre_ami03 Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    Yep, us too. I though maybe it was b/c of milk or (even stranger) the fact I was eating black olives. In our case (I believe) it was as Shannon said. I was switching Nolan to the other breast during feeding. All of the books I read said to switch. I went back to the way we started & let him drain one side & then switch if needed.


    Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

  6. #6
    Marissa Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    Us, too. Josh still gets it occasionally.

  7. #7
    jennifer13 Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    We had a similar experience when I started pumping- green, mucous, runny-- we concluded foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I agree with Shannon to nurse on one side until empty to make sure he gets the hindmilk. Good luck!

    Jennifer
    Mom to Norah 5/23/03

  8. #8
    lrg is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
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    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    We had the exact same thing happen to us right around 8 weeks. He was exclusively breastfed and I never ate anything that was new. Some of the stools were actually like a scary gatorade green! (they were usually mossy, though) The pediatrician actually saw the stools as I would bring in samples or inevitably, baby would poop while i was there since he was pooping about 8 times a day. Dr said it was a weird color, yet believed them to be normal, but never offered the foremilk/hindmilk explanation so that's interesting to hear that now. My baby always took 30 - 45 minutes to nurse, and I never worried he wasn't getting enough because he didn't get hungry more often and was gaining weight like a crazy-man. (he gained an average of 1/2 lb to 1 lb per week the first 2 months)

    Once the green started, the yellow seedy never came back. The green transitioned to a very sticky orange that had the consistency of peanut butter. Doc also said it was ok. I, too, kept questioning all of this because I could not understand how on earth only getting breastmilk could cause this kind of variation and worried about what in his body was creating these colors.

    Now, who knows, it's all the colors of the rainbow since he's on solids. It's still a mystery to me, but he is a thriving, healthy boy.

    By the way, I'm still laughing at the "pesto-poo". Wish I'd thought of that back in May!

  9. #9
    Joyce6830 Guest

    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    My ped told me that the green color in stool (babies, kids or adults) is there because of stomach bile. The food is not getting properly digested. It's going through the system too fast. It is normal though for it to happen from time to time. The bright green color could be something to worry about if it lasts too long though. My ds had stool once that looked the color or a green crayola crayon. It was that bright green. Doc wasn't that worried as long as it went away.

  10. #10
    lrg is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
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    Default RE: My Breastfed Baby is having Green, Liquidy Bowel Movements

    My doc mentioned bile and that it's produced by the spleen, but said he still didn't see any reason to worry since my son was growing so much, so fast. It definitely wasn't happening from time to time - it was very consistent that it was green for about 2 months, what shade of green was the only variation. Then it went to that peanut butter consistency and orange. Once he went on cereal, the orange stayed with a thicker consistency.

    Now that he's on fruits and veggies, it's more solid and matches what he's been eating. Should I be getting concerned that the yellow seedy never returned when he was only breastfed? I'm assuming there's no way of knowing whether or not there is bile in his stool with all of the other colors.

    He's fallen in the 90th - 95th percentile for weight and even went off the charts at 6 months for height, but usually in the 95th. I know this height and weight gain has always been what made my pediatrician not worry.

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