Breast fed poop

Color, Texture, Frequency, Smell, and More

During the first few months of life, breastfed babies typically pass stool several times per day. Their stool will also be a soft-to-runny consistency, and mustard yellow in color.

It’s important to monitor your baby’s diapers during this period, including checking the color, texture, and frequency of their bowel movements. These are good indicators that they’re getting enough breast milk. This is one way you can monitor their health in between visits to the pediatrician.

Read on to learn what to expect from your breastfed baby’s stool, and when to talk to a doctor or lactation consultant.

Over the first few days of life, breastfed babies will pass meconium. This will be tar-like in color and consistency. After around 48 hours, the stool may become looser and lighter in color. Then, within another day or two, the color of breastfed baby stool is usually mustard yellow or yellow-green. It may also be watery or contain mini-white “seeds. ” This color is normal.

As your baby grows and starts solid foods, you may notice changes to the color of their stool. It may be more greenish-yellow or tan-brown in color.

Always let your pediatrician know if your baby has stool that is:

red
bloody
black
pale-grey or white

This may or may not be a sign of illness. Your doctor will be able to evaluate your baby and give you peace of mind.

Expect your breastfed infant’s stool to be soft to runny in texture. It may also be watery, almost like the consistency of diarrhea.

The texture may resemble mustard and contain small, white seed-like particles.

Each bowel movement should be about the size of a United States quarter (2.5 centimeters or larger.)

If your breastfed baby is passing hard, dry, or infrequent stools, they may be constipated. However, constipation is very uncommon, if not rare, in breastfed infants who are well. If your baby is just having infrequent stools, especially after 6-weeks old, it’s likely normal. On the other hand, if your baby has hard, dry stools along with the symptoms listed below, they’re most likely ill, rather than constipated:

vomiting
having a dry mouth
not wanting to breastfeed
being fussier than usual

Seek immediate medical care for these symptoms.

Your infant’s stool may not have a smell for the first few days. After they pass meconium, many parents claim their breastfed infant’s poop still doesn’t smell very foul.

In fact, it may smell slightly sweet or have a smell resembling popcorn. Other parents have reported their infant’s stool smells like hay or porridge.

Usually, as long as your baby is having frequent bowel movements and their stool is soft, the smell isn’t a concern.

Let your pediatrician know if you notice loose, green stools, or a smell you’re worried about. Your baby may have an allergy or intolerance to something in your diet.

Breastfed babies have frequent bowel movements. Expect at least three bowel movements each day for the first 6 weeks.

Some breastfed babies have 4 to 12 bowel movements per day. Your baby may also pass stool after each feeding.

If your breastfed baby is having less than three bowel movements a day, they might not be getting enough milk. Your pediatrician will be able to check if they’re gaining enough weight. If they’re gaining weight, having fewer bowel movements generally isn’t a problem.

After 6 weeks of age, some breastfed infants will poop less frequently. Some babies have only one bowel movement a day, while others only pass stool every other day or every few days. If it’s been several days since their last bowel movement, it will likely be very large.

If your baby is happy, feeding, and appears to be gaining weight, having less frequent bowel movements after 6 weeks of age isn’t anything to be concerned about, but let your pediatrician know if you’re worried about the frequency of your infant’s stools.

You may notice changes to your infant’s stool anytime there’s a change to their diet, such as when they start eating solid foods. If your baby switches from breast milk to formula or vice versa, you’ll also notice a difference in the color and texture of their stool.

Formula-fed infants typically have a more solid stool and it may be more yellow-green or tan in color.

Some weight loss (5 to 7 percent) is normal in breastfed babies during the first few days of life. Most breastfed babies regain their birth weight after 10 to 14 days.

If your baby is gaining weight steadily after returning to their birth weight, they’re likely getting enough to eat. Steady weight gain means that they’re gaining weight most weeks.

Let your pediatrician know if:

Your baby isn’t gaining weight. Their pediatrician may recommend working with a lactation consultant to confirm your baby is latching properly and getting enough breast milk.
Your baby isn’t feeding well or passing stool, or they’re passing hard stools. These may be signs of constipation or illness.
Your baby is passing black, bloody, or green frothy stools. These may be symptoms of an illness.
Your baby’s poop is unusually watery and more frequent. This may be a sign of diarrhea.

Over the first months of your baby’s life, it’s important to monitor their diapers carefully. Checking their poop’s texture and color is a good way to confirm your baby is healthy and getting enough breast milk.

Usually, a slight change in color or texture isn’t anything to worry about. That’s especially true if your baby has recently switched to solid food, formula, or was sick with a cold.

Let your pediatrician know if you notice any blood or black stools in your baby’s diaper, or have other concerns. Your baby’s doctor may also ask about their diapers at your well-baby checkup appointments.

Color, Texture, Frequency, Smell, and More

During the first few months of life, breastfed babies typically pass stool several times per day. Their stool will also be a soft-to-runny consistency, and mustard yellow in color.

Read on to learn what to expect from your breastfed baby’s stool, and when to talk to a doctor or lactation consultant.

As your baby grows and starts solid foods, you may notice changes to the color of their stool. It may be more greenish-yellow or tan-brown in color.

Always let your pediatrician know if your baby has stool that is:

red
bloody
black
pale-grey or white

This may or may not be a sign of illness. Your doctor will be able to evaluate your baby and give you peace of mind.

Expect your breastfed infant’s stool to be soft to runny in texture. It may also be watery, almost like the consistency of diarrhea.

The texture may resemble mustard and contain small, white seed-like particles.

Each bowel movement should be about the size of a United States quarter (2.5 centimeters or larger.)

vomiting
having a dry mouth
not wanting to breastfeed
being fussier than usual

Seek immediate medical care for these symptoms.

Your infant’s stool may not have a smell for the first few days. After they pass meconium, many parents claim their breastfed infant’s poop still doesn’t smell very foul.

In fact, it may smell slightly sweet or have a smell resembling popcorn. Other parents have reported their infant’s stool smells like hay or porridge.

Usually, as long as your baby is having frequent bowel movements and their stool is soft, the smell isn’t a concern.

Let your pediatrician know if you notice loose, green stools, or a smell you’re worried about. Your baby may have an allergy or intolerance to something in your diet.

Breastfed babies have frequent bowel movements. Expect at least three bowel movements each day for the first 6 weeks.

Some breastfed babies have 4 to 12 bowel movements per day. Your baby may also pass stool after each feeding.

Formula-fed infants typically have a more solid stool and it may be more yellow-green or tan in color.

Some weight loss (5 to 7 percent) is normal in breastfed babies during the first few days of life. Most breastfed babies regain their birth weight after 10 to 14 days.

If your baby is gaining weight steadily after returning to their birth weight, they’re likely getting enough to eat. Steady weight gain means that they’re gaining weight most weeks.

Let your pediatrician know if:

Your baby isn’t gaining weight. Their pediatrician may recommend working with a lactation consultant to confirm your baby is latching properly and getting enough breast milk.
Your baby isn’t feeding well or passing stool, or they’re passing hard stools. These may be signs of constipation or illness.
Your baby is passing black, bloody, or green frothy stools. These may be symptoms of an illness.
Your baby’s poop is unusually watery and more frequent. This may be a sign of diarrhea.

Usually, a slight change in color or texture isn’t anything to worry about. That’s especially true if your baby has recently switched to solid food, formula, or was sick with a cold.

norm, how many times a day, color

So many experiences are connected with how a newborn baby "walks big". Mom is worried about the frequency of the stool, its color, consistency. So how do you determine if the crumbs are all right with digestion? Perhaps he needs help?

Many mothers know that it is very important to monitor the baby's stool, and during the examination, the pediatrician is always interested in how the baby walks in a big way. This information is one of the most important points in diagnosing the health of the crumbs. Unfortunately, quite often mothers mistakenly interpret the completely natural and safe states of the baby. And because of these mistakes, they can start unnecessary treatment and worry about the baby for no good reason. So let's figure out how a baby's chair should look like and when to worry and when not.

Immediately after childbirth

When the baby is in the mother's tummy, he receives all the necessary substances and trace elements through the umbilical cord. The digestive system of the crumbs does not work, but his stomach is not empty. The baby sucks his fingers, opens his mouth and thus swallows a small amount of amniotic fluid. When the baby is born, this substance will be in his intestines and will gradually come out as the baby is attached to the chest and his digestive system begins to work.

So, the first stool of the baby is meconium: dark, plasticine-like feces. So the baby recovers the first day or two. Sometimes it gives him discomfort: the baby worries, cries, pushes, before he manages to go big. However, this is not always the case - many children recover easily, only slightly pushing.

If everything is in order with the baby, he was put to the breast in time and fed on demand, then his stool gradually changes. On the third or fifth day, the baby has the so-called "transitional stool", partly consisting of meconium, which is still in the gastrointestinal tract, partly from digested colostrum and milk. As a rule, streaks appear first in the meconium mass, then the feces gradually turn yellow. By the end of the first week, the baby's stool usually acquires the features of a normal infant: yellow, rather liquid.

When should you worry? If the baby did not go down in a big way in the first two days, it is necessary to consult a doctor. There are children with individual characteristics who will continue to do this less often than most babies. However, the cause of the stool retention should be determined by the doctor. If the crumbs have some kind of problem with intestinal patency, help will be needed immediately, but you should not diagnose your baby without a doctor.

We are at home

On the third or fifth day, the mother receives milk, and the baby has a fairly stable stool by the end of the first week. The literature sometimes says that the stool of newborns is "creamy", and this confuses mothers, who begin to suspect that something is not right with the crumbs. In reality, the stool of a healthy baby is liquid and not always homogeneous. The normal color of feces is yellow and its shades. You may notice lumps, a little mucus - it's not scary. Do not be afraid if the baby's feces have a greenish tint for up to three months due to the immaturity of the liver enzyme systems and the characteristics of bilirubin metabolism, such a condition has the right to be and also does not require treatment.

Many mothers sometimes worry that the baby's stool "suddenly" becomes watery and the baby walks in a big way with abundant gas, a sharp sound. Doctors in this case often suspect lactase deficiency. In reality, things usually go like this. In the period from 3 weeks to a month and a half, the baby has frequent growth spurts, so at certain moments the baby literally “hangs on the chest” to help the mother produce more milk. Within a day or a few, the baby needs to breastfeed more often and longer than before, and the mother begins to suspect that there is not enough milk. As a result, she often begins to shift the baby from one breast to another, and the baby receives mostly "forward" milk, which comes at the beginning of feeding from each breast. This milk is rich in carbohydrates and proteins, the baby is actively growing from it, however, the stool is liquid and gassy because of this milk (sometimes the “result” looks frothy if the baby is held over a pot or basin when he needs to clear out, and the mother can observe the consistency chair). In this situation, there is no need to panic - just the baby does not need to be constantly shifted from one breast to another, fearing that he is starving. Give the baby the opportunity to get "hind" milk, rich in fats, which will not cause flatulence and stay longer in the intestines.

In this situation (when the baby suddenly begins to clearly suck more milk), the mother may feel insecure and start drinking lactic teas. From this, more carbohydrates again begin to flow into her milk and the baby's stool becomes more liquid and with gases.

Similar problems due to "front" milk occur in the case of improper attachment to the breast, as a result of which the baby swallows the air and interrupts feeding itself, or simply cannot get "hind" milk. The best way out in this situation is to consult with a breastfeeding specialist to correct the application technique and stop panicking that the baby "does not have enough milk."

In short, don't worry if your baby has problems with this type of stool. Of course, the flora of his intestines is unstable, it is just beginning to be established - it takes at least three to four months. Your task is simply to feed the baby on demand and correctly and not to rush to treat him for imaginary diseases.

Delayed stool

Mothers worry not only about the appearance of the stool, but also because of its periodicity. How often should the baby "do things"? Normally, the baby walks in a big way several times a day, usually after feeding. However, in some children, the norm may be a chair and once a day, and even once every few days. Typically, these children have an anatomically weak anterior abdominal wall and intestinal motility. Such a periodicity of the stool can be considered the norm, if the baby still walks more regularly, the stool is of normal consistency and, in general, the baby is cheerful and cheerful and does not suffer from colic. It's not worth worrying. However, if the baby is allergic, then you need to do everything possible so that he goes to the toilet at least once a day. Atopic dermatitis is much more severe if the baby does not empty the intestines often enough - consult a doctor about this.

Babies also have physiological delays in stool at the age of one and a half to five months. Here it is important to monitor the condition of the baby. If he experiences discomfort, you should consult a doctor. Children can hold back their stools for psychological reasons, just as adults sometimes cannot go to the toilet if they are nervous. Do not panic because of a one-time problem, but if the problem persists or recurs, consult your doctor.

However, in babies there are not just "delays" of the stool, but also real constipation. Constipation is called not only when the baby does not go to the toilet at all, but also feces "peas", overdried, when a bowel movement is difficult. What could be the reason?

Regular constipation is usually caused by improper feeding of the crumbs. However, this condition can also occur if the mother does everything right, but she has her own health problems, for example, with the thyroid gland. Medications can also be the cause of constipation. For example, intestinal weakness is provoked by all kinds of sedative mixtures and drugs, which are often prescribed to children by neurologists at an early age. Even cough medicines or tooth gels can cause constipation. In any case, the doctor should deal with this. You should not give your baby medicines and laxatives on your own, or act on it mechanically with an enema or gas tube. It is better to discuss with the doctor the issues of feeding, drug treatment and the lifestyle of the baby - so you can understand the problem.

Weaning time

Of course, when you start to introduce complementary foods, the baby's stool pattern changes. First of all, you need to remember that the task of the first complementary foods (at 5, 6 months) is not to feed, but to help adapt to new tastes, to new food. Give the baby complementary foods in the amount of "lick" and only gradually move on to doses "with a marigold" or "half a teaspoon". Recall that you need to introduce one product into the diet of crumbs so that you can understand how and what the baby reacts to. Quite often, as soon as we give the baby “with a fingernail” some food, it is not digested - we find the product in the feces almost in its original form. Within one or two days, this is normal, the baby’s body has not figured out the new component in the stomach, but if this continues on the third day, the product must be removed from the diet, since it is obvious that the baby is not yet ready to accept it. You need to take a break for a week or two, without offering the baby anything but the breast, then try again with another product.

The baby's body can also react more violently, for example, with loose stools and abdominal pain, and sometimes with allergies. In this case, you also need to cancel the product and keep the baby breastfed so that the gastrointestinal tract calms down.

When you introduce protein to your baby, he may react with constipation. To avoid this, you need to remember simple rules. Proteins require more liquid, so if this is your baby's first food (for example, cottage cheese), give him more breast milk. If you started introducing proteins when the baby is already drinking liquid, provide him with a drink. Do not worry about the fact that the introduction of new products has to be postponed - nothing terrible will happen to the baby. And be especially calm about the opinion that at 6-7 months the child needs to be given meat products so that he grows well. Not all children are able to absorb such a protein; for many, even a homogenized meat product at this age will lead to constipation and overload the kidneys. Let the baby eat breast milk for a longer time and receive vegetables and fruits as complementary foods - this way you will avoid many problems with the stool.

In general, mothers' concern about baby's stool is quite justified: after all, this is an important diagnostic symptom that allows you to understand a lot about the baby's condition. However, it must be remembered that not all situations require intervention, and most problems can be solved simply by correcting feeding mistakes. Do not rush to treat the baby and resort to medication, start with a diet.

Text: Anna Babina
Consultant: Olga Ivanovna Tkach, pediatrician, Center for Traditional Obstetrics

Stool of a breastfed child

Stool of a child who is exclusively breastfed (exclusively breastfeeding) from birth until the introduction of complementary foods, changes several times . Initially, it is a viscous, almost black meconium, which accumulates in a child while he is in his mother's stomach, and after birth begins to come out. The color of the stool in the first days is an important indicator of adequate nutrition for the baby! By the third day, as the baby gets more milk/colostrum, the stools become lighter. If on the fourth or fifth day the child poops meconium, it is urgent to assess whether the baby is getting enough milk and improve the organization of feeding.

By the end of the first week, the baby usually has a bowel movement at least 2-3 times a day, and he already has the usual "milk stool" - liquid or pasty, mustard-colored, usually with only a slight sour-milk smell. Options are also possible - the stool is from green to orange, may contain mucus and white lumps. If the appearance of the chair is just that, and the child feels otherwise normal and adds well (according to WHO standards, at least 125 g per week, counting from the minimum weight), you can not worry.

As the child grows, the stool frequency gradually changes. For the first weeks, children do “it” at least once a day every day. Often this happens every breastfeeding. If a child under 4-6 weeks poops less than once a day, most likely, he does not receive enough milk [10], and it makes sense to check the child's weight earlier than at the end of the month (for example, go to the clinic). Recall that the minimum weight gain during this period, according to WHO, is 125 g per week. By noticing the underweight in time, you can correct the situation by changing the organization of feedings before you need to supplement with artificial formula.

However, after 6 weeks, the baby may switch to a less frequent bowel movement . For example, many children during this period have (AFTER 4-6 weeks and BEFORE introducing complementary foods) stool every few days [14]. During this period, the child may occasionally pass gases, and then, quite calmly and without tension, the child can empty the intestines, for example, at the end of the fifth day. At the same time, if the stool is of soft consistency and large volume, this is not constipation for an infant. Signs of constipation - hard formed stools, reminiscent of "goat nuts", causing the child great discomfort during bowel movements.

A stool once every five days may seem abnormal to a medical worker, because such a rare stool is not normal on artificial feeding, namely, on the basis of studies of artificial children, many norms are derived in textbooks for future doctors. For a child on IV, a chair less than once a day is considered a problem: the microflora in his intestines is much closer to the flora of an adult, and the norms of bowel movement are also. While for babies, the norms differ due to the unique features of its nutrition and digestion. Firstly, breast milk, produced from the components of the mother's blood and lymph, is as close as possible to his needs, and is assimilated as well as no other product is digested, being almost completely digested for some children. Secondly, when feeding exclusively on breast milk, the intestinal microflora has its own favorable features - there is a higher content of bifidobacteria (up to 10 to 11 degrees), including due to the content of bifidus factor, N-acetylglucosamine and L-fucose in breast milk, which create unique conditions for the growth and reproduction of these bacteria. Bifidobacteria create an extremely favorable environment in the intestine, prevent the reproduction of conditionally pathogenic flora, and stop the development of putrefactive processes [12]. As you know, even the acidity of the stool on breastfeeding is noticeably higher than on artificial, which is an additional protective factor against the development of processes of rapid fermentation and decay.

Infants empty their bowels in very different ways - for example, in one study, a two-week-old baby did this eight times a day, and a two-month-old once every 27 days. Both children were healthy, term infants ([3], Weaver et al, 1988) and doing well. When, after 27 days, the second baby pooped, the stool was soft and large in volume. World Health Organization in a practical guide for health workers “Breastfeeding. How to ensure success? indicates that “the stool of a breastfed baby can be very soft and appear at intervals from several times a day to once every ten days” [2, p. 24]. Leading breastfeeding organizations and experts (Dr. Jack Newman [11], Savage King [9], International La Leche League [10], American Academy of Pediatrics [8]) agree that with normal development and well-being of the child, the interval between bowel movements can be up to a week or more . The conclusions of the Committee on Constipation, established by the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterologists to develop uniform clinical guidelines for constipation in children, are consistent with these expert opinions [7, 13]. After processing almost 4,000 scientific articles, the committee selected for the final analysis 160 papers that best meet the requirements of evidence-based medicine, as well as the topics of recommendations. Analysis including infant stool studies (e.g. [4-6], Hyams et al, 1995; Fontana et al, 1989; Sievers et al, 1993) led the committee to conclude that “the stool frequency of infants is much more variable than that of formula-fed infants (4,89,90). If there is no suspicion that the baby has Hirschsprung's disease, management of a breastfed baby consists of reassuring the parents, monitoring the baby's weight gain and feeding arrangements, and checking for signs of bowel obstruction or enterocolitis" [7]. Let's clarify that Hirschsprung's disease occurs in about one in 5,000 children. We also add that, on average, the frequency of stools on breastfeeding in the first two months of life is one and a half to two times higher than the frequency of stools on artificial feeding, and by four months the average values are compared and equal to about 2 times a day.

Breastfeeding consultants have observed that a child's stool frequency may also be influenced by his or her psychological state. The frequency of the stool may change, for example, due to a change of scenery, moving, frequent attendance at large gatherings or receiving people at home, water in the child's mouth during bathing. Periods of illness or cutting of teething, problems with the work of the intestines of the nursing mother herself (in particular, constipation or diarrhea) can also affect. If there are problems with the child's stool for one of the above reasons, it can be recommended to eliminate the cause, as well as check the organization of breastfeeding. The cause of the problems may also be a lack of so-called child. "back", more fatty milk. The main recommendations to correct this problem are to ensure the correct capture of the breast by the baby, keep the baby at the breast longer, until he releases the breast on his own, apply more often. Your best bet is to have a lactation consultant help you check and adjust your feeding arrangements.

If, besides the unusual frequency of stools, the child is worried about something else -

- it is better to contact a specialist. Whenever possible, clinicians should support breastfeeding and be aware of differences in stool frequency between breastfed and formula-fed infants.

In any case, if you are concerned about your child's health, the best course of action is to contact a competent health professional, as no article on the Internet can replace a personal examination and individual recommendations.

I would like to thank for the informational support when writing the article consultant AKEV Lilia Kazakova , certified lactation consultants (IBCLC) Irina Ryukhova and Maya Bolman , as well as Ph.D. Lyudmila Akhmaltdinova and biologist Natalia Baburina.

Literature:

1. Maria Gudanova. Breast health. My Baby, July 2009.

2. Tine Winther, Elisabet Helsing. "Breast-feeding. How to ensure success? A practical guide for healthcare professionals. WHO, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen. 1997

3. Weaver L. T., Ewing G., Taylor L.C. The bowel habit of milk–fed infants. J. Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr, 1988

4. Hyams JS, Treem WR, Etienne NL, et al. Effect of infant formula on stool characteristics of young infants. Pediatrics, 1995;95:50-4.

5. Fontana M, Bianchi C, Cataldo F, et al. Bowel frequency in healthy children. Acta Paediatr Scand 1989;78:682-4.

6. Sievers E, Oldigs HYD, SchultzYLell G, Schaub J. Faecal excretion in infants. Eur J Pediatr 1993;152:452-4.

7. Clinical Practice Guideline. Evaluation and Treatment of Constipation in Infants and Children: Recommendations of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. JPGN 43:e1-e13, 2006

8. Parenting site from the American Academy of Pediatrics www.healthychildren.org, article "Baby's First Days: Bowel Movements & Urination" https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages- stages/baby/Pages/Babys-First-Days-Bowel-Movements-and-Urination.aspx

9. Savage King Helping mothers breastfeed. Republished in 1995 by WHO as document WHO/CDR/95.8

10. Proceedings of the International League of La Leche Is my baby constipated, The importance of accounting for the frequency of stools in a newborn child.

11. Jack Newman "Is my baby getting enough milk?" http://breastfeeding.narod.ru/newman/enough.html

12. One bottle won't hurt. Or hurt? Marsha Walker, IBCLC.

13. Evaluation and Treatment of Functional Constipation in Infants and Children: Evidence-Based Recommendations From ESPGHAN and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition M.M. Tabbers, C. DiLorenzo, M.Y. Berger, C. Faure, M.W. Langendam, S. Nurko, A. Staiano, Y. Vandenplas, and M.A. Benninga, Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition - Volume 58, Number 2, February 2014 http://www.naspghan.org//files/documents/pdfs/position-papers/Constipati...

14. Factors associated with defecation patterns in 0-24-month-old children. Tunc VT1, Camurdan AD, Ilhan MN, Sahin F, Beyazova U.