Green, frothy, mucousy, watery poo - intolerance or just normal poo?

[sheeplikessleep]

DS2 is 25 weeks on Sunday and EBF (we are about to start weaning). He had quite a rise in weight initially, but is plateuing off now a bit, not to the point of being a concern though. He was 6lbs7 (and 3 weeks early), now 16lbs6.

He's always had quite green and very runny poos (like the consistency of water). I notice it most when he poos when nappy is undone when I'm changing him - it goes into a watery puddle, then gets quickly absorbed by the nappy. Often he has quite mucousy, stretchy poo too. Visually, it looks like threads in his nappy.
This morning, there was a bit (not much) of blood in his nappy, so I took him to the Dr. She said he has an anal fissure, fair enough. I am slightly dubious, as I can't really see it myself and it was like the mucous itself which was bright red, it wasn't blood 'on' the poo, if that makes sense?
Regarding the consistency of his poos, she said there is no such thing as abnormal poo, and the green, mucousy and watery consistency is probably just 'his poo'.

I asked about possible dairy intolerance, she said it is very rare and the only way to assess it would be to move him to formula, which I am keen to avoid.
Feeding wise, he does feed little and often. Often 10 minutes max and every couple of hours.
I just wondered if anyone had any similar experiences or knowledge? I don't think it is anything major, but something just doesn't feel right to me.
Thanks for reading. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, my DD had dark green, frothy, mucousy poo from soon after birth until we started weaning. We saw the dr about it but they weren't very concerned as her weight gain was very good. I did however cut out dairy myself and that helped make the poo more normal so I think she was intolerant to cows milk protein.

The dr did prescribe a predigested formula for if I wanted to stop breastfeeding(Nutramigen (spell?) then Neocate) but they both tasted so FOUL that she wouldn't drink them (seriously bad- I nearly threw up after tasting them).

Obviously going onto normal formula (made of cows milk!) no good if dairy is an issue. Also apparantly lots of dairy intolerant babies are also soy intolerant so was told not to bother with soy formula either. Anyway- we just carried on breastfeeding and the intolerance gradually faded (by about age 2) and now she's fine with dairy.

If you do think there's a dairy intolerance get him referred to a dietician because there can be issues with calcium intake during weaning onto solids and if you decide to stop breastfeeding.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for posting Anniebunny. That's reassuring that you noticed an improvement after you started weaning. Our DS sounds very similar - his weight gain is fine too (pretty much!). Our Dr did say that if it was a cows milk intolerance, he would be 'ill' in other ways, i.e. sick a lot, not as happy or smiley as he is. She was talking about a non-dairy formula, I guess similar to what you were prescribed. I'm so reluctant to give up breastfeeding - it's going so well this time around. Did you find that when your daughter ate dairy herself (or did you cut it out from her diet totally?), her poo was even worse?

My DD is lactose intolerant - was diagnosed formally at about 16 weeks after I cut out dairy at 4 weeks old on the advice of a friend / HV.

She had Nutramigen formula for when I wanted to go out, Nursery and after she stopped bfing at 10 months, and then moved onto rice or soya milk from 2 years plus. (She's now on Lactofree milk which I think is the ideal solution long term as we can all use it happily).

Her poos were runny, bright green and stringy like cooked spinach. And they stank. I could always tell when she'd had milk by accident as her bum would get very sore and the smell would make me heave.

She had piled on weight from birth, despite being very sick and suffering from colic.

I'd try cutting out dairy (we saw an improvement within 24 hours and had a different baby within 4 days) and if that seems to make a difference get him tested by the GP.

Thanks trinitybleu.

Like your DD, my DSs poos are runny, bright green (varies between bright green, dark green and greeny yellow) and 'threadlike' i guess the stringiness of cooked spinach. So that seems exactly the same.

They don't smell that bad though, I mean I can tell when he's poo-ed, but not to the point of making me heave.

He possets a bit, but not much and he too suffered with colic when he was younger.

I will try cutting out dairy. Thought of cutting out biscuits and chocolate does make me sad though, eek.

Thanks for posting.

sheep - if you're going to give up dairy yourself then please be aware that it takes 2 weeks to clear completely from your systems, so don't draw any conclusions before that. You need to watch out for hidden dairy too - it gets added to so much stuff that you wouldn't expect that you'll find yourself having to read every label, and avoiding eating out very much.

And obviously if you're shortly to start weaning, avoid all dairy products in anything that you give to him directly.

And your GP is quite wrong about it being very rare - it really isn't. It's thought to affect around 7% of babies.

My DS had a couple of nappies which were green and frothy, I didn't take him to the doctors, but having a look on the net thought it sounded like a fore/hind milk imbalance, where he was feeding for a short amount of time and getting more fore milk than hind milk.

I've since started getting him to feed for up to half an hour on the first breast before switching to the other. If he comes off after 10 minutes then I start with that breast first next time. That seems to have sorted it out and he was more settled between feeds (until we hit the 6 week feeding frenzy).

This article is quite interesting - www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVSepOct95p69a.html

can'tsleep - thank for posting, i've been looking at packets of things recently and shocked by how much stuff has milk in. luckily i don't think hobnobs do (which i'm amazed by, every other biscuit seems to!).

ds1 always had quite runny and green, frothy nappies too. again, at the time, i listened to the doctors and hvs that any type of poo is 'normal' and just carried on. from being on mumsnet, i've learnt a lot more now and feel more confident to try to address it now.

i need to look into making sure i'm taking enough calcium though, as that is a concern i have.

helen - your post is interesting as i had also read about the whole foremilk/hindmilk. ds2 does feed frequently and often for only 5 minutes or so before coming off / being distracted by things happening, that it could be that. in some ways, it feels like he gets 'bored' after the initial burst of milk he gets and comes off. not sure how i can encourage him to stay on. he does seem to feed frequently (partly due to me still feeding him to sleep ). he is definitely a 'frequent snacker', so maybe i should try this first and give this a few days. if i see no change, then i'll go down the dairy elimination route.

well, i've pretty much done 24 hours of only feeding from one side for 3 hour 'blocks' and whilst we had a couple of yellow poos this morning, he's just done a very dark green, mucousy poo, with tiny streaks of blood in it again.

i'm going to try dairy free and if that makes a difference, i'll go back to my doctor. it just feels like one of those things though that isn't taken seriously though, either by my hv or doctor. it feels like i'll have a battle on my hands to get referred etc, if going dairy free does make a difference. hey ho.

they're a funny breed GPs! Mine thought that there was nothing wrong just because dd was still piling on weight. Thankfully my hv was supportive.

What would you want your GP/paed to actually do though? If you want to switch to a hypoallergenic formula then there's reason to get a referral yes, but otherwise they won't do a lot tbh. The one I saw for dd prescribed formula (which other than putting in solid food which she refused to eat anyway we never actually used), and said that he'd see us again if she was still intolerant when she was 2. Thankfully she outgrew the intolerance a little before that, so we didn't go back.
If you are happy to continue dairy free yourself and breastfeeding then there's prob no reason to bother with a referral at this point. Use oat milk in cooking when you wean, and go easy on soya products as milk intolerant children often have a problem with this too, esp if exposed to too much of it too early.

On the biscuit front, bourbons and fruit shortcakes and jammy dodgers are often dairy free - all the ones you wouldn't expect basically! And some brands of rich tea and digestives are ok too (the cheaper ones mostly). Oh, and party rings! :)

thanks cantsleep for the biscuits heads up! i'm moping around the house now with my insatiable sweet tooth at the moment and dh is merrily eating choc digestives. best get shopping tomorrow and stock up on the ones i can eat!

i guess i'd like some sort of guidance on calcium foods i need to be eating to make sure ds and i are getting enough of the nutrients we need. but you're right, i can be checking that out online. we use the oatly milk already (i tried dairy free a while back, when he was very colicy - it did help a bit, but he grew out of his colic and so i reintroduced again). dh also drinks oatly as he thinks he reacts to dairy (gets quite phelgmy and coughy). i do want to continue breastfeeding and would like to get to a year. but the thought of not giving ds cheese/yoghurt etc does concern me. i guess we are bombarded with messages of how good milk is that it is a bit scary considering weaning without it. i just need to gem up on alternative sources.

so is oat milk okay to use in cooking for little ones? i guess the first step is to see if me cutting out dairy improves his poos first. thanks so much for posting.

My DS2 is 18 weeks and same here - green watery poo. Weight gain okish (was 50th has dropped to just under 25th) and he is very happy and contented baby. I don't think its a cows milk intolerance as he did normal yellowy poos until 15 weeks and he is always happy and calm.

I am trying to keep him on one breast for as long as I can, but the block feeding will not work as eventually he just refuses the empty breast - ie keep on offering when he comes off and he screams until he gets the other one.

He was sleeping all night and now he is back to feeding 3-4 hourly day and night ... will be watching this thread.

Haven't read the other replies so you may well have tried this. When my dd has poo like that, green and foamy, it is usually when I have got the feeding mixed up a little - she feeds little and often and I have to make sure I keep going back to the same breast so that she doesn't get too much of the more watery first milk. I tend to block feed (this helps because she has reflux and needs to suck - hence frequent feeding) - that is I go back to the same breast for a good couple of hours before I switch to the other side.

From what I've read if your ds had a dairy intolerance you would have other signs - such as constant crying, bringing legs up in pain etc.

I khow, from a friend whose children are dairy intolerant, that it is better to cut down but not cut it our completely as it can make the intolerance worse. So you may just get away with cutting out milk as a drink, cutting back on cheese etc.

Sorry, just read that you have tried block feeding - might be worth continuing it for a bit longer and seeing if it settles down longer term?

Jacanne - it isn't better to cut down rather than out. Both my two proven intolerant dc (not sure about no 3 yet) were terribly affected from even the smallest bit in my diet.

And yes sheep - oatly is fine to use in cooking, just not nutritious enough to use as a main drink.

your post is really interesting jacanne. my ds is very content really, everyone comments how smiley and relaxed he is and he isn't in any pain. my doctor mentioned to me that he would be quite unsettled and in discomfort if it was dairy intolerance. he did have colic when he was weeks old, but he grew out of it at around 3 months.

interesting too that your friend says not to cut it out completely. i'd love to be able to eat biscuits etc and quite happy to cut out milk on cereal, cheese etc.

i've not had any dairy for 24 hours now and he is still having green poos, but they seem less frequent. but i know these things take time and it's only a day. we're off on holiday in 10 days time, i'd love to not be dairy free then! i think i'm going to see where we are then and if he's still the same, i'll try block feeding again, but for longer. the feeding behaviour of your LO does mirror my ds. he only feeds for 5 minutes at a time really and quite frequently.

can'tsleep - were you two content or unsettled babies (before changing yours and their diets to dairy free?). i'm just trying to understand how to differentiate foremilk/hindmilk imbalance versus cows milk intolerance. thank you so much for posting, it is so useful to hear of others with experience. thanks

i would say it doesn't sound like an intolerance to me, if he is content and happy

my second child is intolerant to dairy and we had a lot of symptoms, the main one being hours and hours of inconsolable screaming. also arching back, pulling legs up, very explosive poo (as well as being mucousy), eczema all over his face

i also disagree with only cutting it out partially. I had to cut it out 100% from my diet. If I had even a little bit he would be very unhappy from the next time he fed

DD had a few weeks of similar green poos, generally well in herself but pooing in the night as well. Block feeding didn't help, but my cutting out dairy completely did. Normal colour returned with 3-4 days and frequency within 2 weeks.

We have been referred to a dietician to help me with weaning, but I have avoided soya and used Oatly for cereals and cooking.

Mine were VERY unsettled sheep, and I think that that's common in intolerant babies, but not necessarily essential.

My DS1 always had these type of nappies until he was weaned. Neither the HV nor GP thought it was anthing to be concerned about although he was monitered because of poor weight gain (he's a strapping 5yr old now though).

I expressed for him due to trouble with bfing so I don't think hind/foremilk was an issue and he doesn't seem to have any intolerence to cows milk - doesn't really narrow it down for you, sorry. But perhaps some babies just 'do' have this kind of poo.

oooh just thought though that he was (is) a 'snacky' eater, little and often, perhaps that plays a part?