EBF newborn with very watery poo!

[SassyPants87]

My 4 week old has really watery poo. I know breastfed babies tend to have runnier poo but my baby's poo is really watery! And she poos constantly throughout the day!

Even when I do a nappy change she'll keep dribbling poo, this can happen even 10 times! Only little bits but I have to constantly keep cleaning her before I can get a nappy on

Does anyone else experience this? Going to speak to HV about it tomorrow

[RedRedRobinBobbin]

I was coming on to say runny poo is totally normal but actually at 4 weeks I wouldn’t expect 10 dirty nappies a day. Are there any days when it is better? I am wondering if maybe he has an intolerance and his bad days coincide with you having more of the allergen in your diet. Dairy is a common culprit so you could experiment and see if cutting certain foods for a couple of days sees any improvement.

[BertieBotts]

Some breastfed babies poo every time they feed, DS2 did.

It is usual for it to be totally liquid, after all they have a totally liquid diet but it should be more like milkshake consistency than water.

[Pegase]

Sorry OP I don't think this is normal. I would speak to GP about possible intolerances or an infection.

[Pegase]

Thickish liquid rather than water is normal

[BertieBotts]

The constantly dribbling doesn't sound right though. Usually they poo a lot but they are separate poos, not a constant dribble. Defo ask health visitor! If she doesn't say anything useful I would try GP as well.

[SassyPants87]

I am actually vegan so don't eat dairy anyway. I did mention this to the GP but they seemed to think it was normal!?

Going to speak to HV about it tomorrow

[RyvitaBrevis]

Watery poo with a few curds in it (sorry) is a good sign in a breastfed baby of that age meaning that they're well fed and hydrated. Or so I was told by a midwife!

[RedRedRobinBobbin]

Soya is a common allergen which might be a component of a vegan diet.

[Tomatoandbasil]

My breastfed baby was allergic to dairy and soya from my diet. Soya was a worse reaction than dairy.

[ChinDiaper]

My DS was like this, I had a thread about it on here at the time. He pooed every 10 - 15 minutes. He ended up with severe nappy rash because it was impossible to keep him in a clean nappy. The nappy rash looked more like burns than a rash and the GP ended up sending us to A&E it got so bad.

Anyway they tested a stool sample for lactose intolerance and it came back mildly positive. Lactose intolerance is very unusual in full term babies. The paediatrician said his gut was just a bit immature for some reason, but he would grow out of it and to keep on breastfeeding. He did grow out of it gradually, he was certainly a lot better by the time he was 6 months old.

[SassyPants87]

@RedRedRobinBobbin @Tomatoandbasil
I don't actually eat Soy either so I have no idea what it could be :(

[SassyPants87]

@ChinDiaper my baby also has a bad nappy rash that's turned into a fungal infection! It just won't clear because of how often she poos

[ColdNovemberNights]

Are you using cotton wool and cooled water.

Dont use wipes, as they will irate the skin even more

[KiriAndLou]

Oversupply? What colour?

[Tomatoandbasil]

Try cavilon barrier cream. It’s excellent. Although if the skin is broken try the spray instead.

[Tomatoandbasil]

I was vegan without soya whilst breastfeeding and it was a very limited diet so I’m at a loss to suggest any allergen in your diet. Are you completely free from traces of soya?

[ChinDiaper]

We used a combination of Orabase to clear up DS's rash. This is what they prescribed in A&E. Orabase is amazing, we'd literally tried every type of nappy cream you could buy in Boots and none of them worked, but Orabase cleared him up in a week.

[ChinDiaper]

Sorry meant to say a combination of Orabase and fungal cream

[SassyPants87]

@KiriAndLou

Oversupply? What colour?

@KiriAndLou it's a yellow mustard colour. Sometimes she'll have small green bits but when I spoke to GP they said that's normal

[KiriAndLou]

www.laleche.org.uk/too-much-milk-and-oversupply/

Any of that sound familiar?

[SassyPants87]

@KiriAndLou

www.laleche.org.uk/too-much-milk-and-oversupply/

Any of that sound familiar?

Hmm some of it does actually. She's gained 2lbs in 4 weeks. And one of my breasts does seem to always feel really hard and full (softens when she feeds) but when she does feed so much milk comes out that she chokes and has to come off to catch her breath. I think I'll look into this further to see if I can do anything to help that and reduce her frequency of watery poos

[KiriAndLou]

That's good, OP- half the battle is knowing the problem. Reclining when you feed, unlatching when you feel letdown building and then relatching once it's gone, expressing a bit off before the start of a feed of the breast is hard and feeding more frequently so that the milk doesn't build up so much in the breast should all help. Try to keep her throat above the nipple (so gravity works against the milk and slows the flow).

[KiriAndLou]

Oh, and the @SassyPants87 the thing that has helped us most has been sticking to the same breast until it feels totally drained, rather than switching every feed. So I might use the same breast for two or three feeds on the bounce rather than swap. This ensures baby gets a balance of the watery milk at the start and the creamy milk at the end, rather than getting mostly watery milk all the time. Too much of the watery milk can lead to excess gas and explosive poos.

[Pegase]

Timodene cream worked wonders for us on fungal nappy rash plus blistering. Prescription only