By Sr Teresa Hayward (RN, RM, Lactation consultant, Infant & Paediatric Nutritionist, Baby Sleep Consultant)
The Different Types of Baby Poop and What They Mean
Before you had a baby, you never thought that your mind would be preoccupied with your baby’s poo. All of a sudden you are concerned about how often they have pooed, what is the consistency, what is the colour and even worse what does it smell like. We find that all new parents are obsessed with their baby’s poo.
So here is the ins and outs of your baby’s poo!
What does your baby’s poo mean?
1. Meconium
This is the first poo that your baby will ever have. Meconium is a sterile, thick, tarry, black-green, odourless poo. In utero, thankfully, your baby doesn’t poo, unless they become stressed, so this is the result of everything your baby’s gastrointestinal tract has accumulated in utero, including blood, which is what gives it the black colour. You baby may pass it during delivery, but this is rare, and means that baby was feeling stressed. But normally they will pass their first poo within 24hrs of birth. This is always a good indication to mom that your baby is getting colostrum, as the colostrum arriving in the tummy is what stimulates baby to poo. Colostrum has a laxative effect. They will normally pass this poo for the first 3 days until mom’s milk starts to change. This is the only time that a black poo is okay for baby to pass.
2. Breastmilk poo
A newborn’s breastmilk poo is usually very liquidy and frequent. A breastfed baby can poo up to 15 times in a 24hr period, but they can also go without a poo for up to 7 days. Some newborn’s poo with every feed! It is very watery as breastmilk is easily digested. It is commonly yellow with white seeds in it. The white seeds are just undigested milk. We are however not concerned about colour changes as it will also change according to mom’s diet. It is often odourless but can have a sweet or yeast smell, but again this can change according to moms’ diet
3. Formula poo
A formula fed baby’s poo tends to be thicker than breastmilk poo. It is more of a peanut paste consistency but should still be very soft. It is often more green or brown and darker than breastmilk poo. Any shade of yellow, green, brown, or orange is also normal. A formula fed baby can poo up to 7 times a day, but it is usually only once a day, and some babies will only poo every 3rd to 4th day. We are not concerned up until 7 days, as long as baby is comfortable and poo they poo is still soft and mushy.
4. Transitional poo
This is the poo your baby will pass between meconium and the softer normal breastmilk or formula poos. Babies don’t eat a lot in the first few days of life, and often loose weight during this time, which is totally normal. The poo before they are eating well and gaining weight is called the transitional poo and is often resembles a mixture of the meconium and a breastmilk or formula poo. Some babies skip this transitional poo totally and don’t poo for up to 5 days after passing their meconium.
5. Solids
Unfortunately, once your baby starts eating solid food, and not just milk, the stool changes drastically. It becomes smellier and thicker, and trends more towards an adult poo. It should however still be soft due to the milk and not as formed as adult poo. The colour also changes and often will reflect the colour of the food they are ingesting. You may even see pieces of undigested food in the poo.
6. Diarrhoea
Parents often struggle with defining diarrhoea for a baby, especially in the first 6months before the introduction of solids, when their poos look like diarrhoea for an adult. The key indicator is a change in your baby’s regular stool pattern. So, if your baby goes more frequently than usual and the poo becomes more liquidy than normal, then it is considered diarrhoea. The smell of the poo also usually changes to very offensive
Diarrhoea can be from an infection, food intolerance, medication side effect or simply from swallowing more saliva due to drooling or snotty mucous if baby has a cold.
7. Constipation
Constipation is when your baby has hard stools. It can look like small rabbit-like pellets, hard logs or marbles. It is not defined by how your baby looks or sounds when pooing or even the frequency of poos. This is common mistake parents make. We only say a baby is constipated if they have gone 7 days with no poo.
If your baby grunts, squirms or turns red when pooing, that does not necessarily mean your baby is constipated. Pooing is a very complex series of events that baby has to get used to doing and it requires contracting specific muscles while relaxing others.
Constipation usually means that your baby needs more liquid or fibre in their diet, but can also be due to feeding too much as well, or a formula with too high an iron level.
Be very careful of just giving laxatives!
8. Mustardy poo
A mustardy coloured poo is common for breastfed babies.
9. Green poo
Green poo is normal! If your baby is happy and growing fine, then it is nothing to worry about. Dark green poo can come from mom eating spinach or other green vegetables or foods high in iron. It can also be caused by iron supplements or if formula has high iron levels. Bright green poo can mean that the food is passing to quickly through the intestine. It can also be because a breastfed baby is getting more foremilk than hindmilk. It is then best to chat with your lactation consultant. If your baby’s poo is green with mucousy and even frothy, it can be an indication of milk protein or lactose intolerance.
10. Red poo
If you baby has bright red poo, you should definitely have it checked with your doctor. It is most probably blood but can be from many different things. It can be a small tear in the skin around the anus. It can also be blood from a crack in mom’s nipple. It can be from a bad nappy rash. It can however also be a sign of lactose or milk protein intolerance. It can however be something more serious, so rather have baby checked out
11. Black poo
If you ever see a true black poo after they have finished passing meconium, you need to call your paediatrician straight away. It could mean there is blood in the gastro-intestinal tract
12. White poo
A truly white poo with no colour is very rare and not subtle, and you need to call the doctor straight away as it can indicate a liver problem.
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