Green poo in breastfed baby

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

DS is 6 weeks and his poos are now mainly green, not the yellow they are 'supposed' to be. I have googled and some sites suggest an attachment problem. He feeds fine, seems healthy enough but he is quite unsettled I would say. It's hard to judge when it's your first! He cries quite a bit for reasons I can't pinpoint but is happy as long as he's being held.

He also feeds about every two hours but will go longer at night or if we're out and about. Do I need to get this checked?

No pain when he's feeding and he will feed for about 15 mins usually.

I would get him checked if you are worried.

My experience of green poo is this: dd produced consistently green poos with the occasional yellow one until she was about 4 or 5 months old. She was otherwise fine, we had her looked at by a paed but there was no cause for concern.

I was told that green poo on its own is not necessarily something to worry about.

But of course you should have him looked at if you are at all worried.

I don't want to be a worry wart but I'd get it checked out. Maybe call your HV?

This is likely normal, my 7 week old alternates green then yellow. There has been a thread about this recently. Some thoughts are that green poo is where the baby only gets foremilk and not the fatty hind milk. I'm not sure whether this is proven. If your baby is otherwise well it is unlikely to be anything but if you are worried, see your GP.

Hello!

When ds was about the saME AGE HIS POO TURNED GREEn (oops) for a few weeks I think. I remember feeling worried but it changed back to yellow again and he continued to gain weight well (on 98th centile)He spent hours bf-ing (on demand) so am certain he was getting fore and hind milk.

However you absolutely should speak to someone if you are worried

This has just happened to my dd who is also 6 weeks... But she seems normal in herself. She is also quite unsettled and fussy and needs to be held a lot.

I have no advice... But just wanted to say that I am in the same boat. I casually mentioned to my dr at my 6 week check and she didn't seem concerned or say that I should bring in dd. I would however get her check if she seems different or gets a temperature or any other symptoms

Hope this is just anther weird thing which turns out to be nothing!

Hi

In one book I read it mentioned that green poo on it's own was nothing to worry about but if it was combined with a high temperature could be a sign of an infection. HTH

My DS is 5 weeks old and also has mainy green poo.

My HV said that green poo can be an indication of underfeeding (too much foremilk) AND over feeding, which I'd never heard of before.
I'd assummed you couldn't over feed as the baby would just be sick, but not so according to her.
Anyway, my DS can be quite unsettled, and like yours is fine when held. The HV has advised I try gaviscon, in case it is reflux that is causing him to be unsettled and therefore feeding very frequently.

I haven't started using it yet, can't get the prescription until next week.
I'm not sure if this is the problem or not, but I can't see any harm in giving it a go to see if it helps.

DD2 screaming so typing fast - make sure you're emptying one side before offering the other, and that you offer both sides at every feed, then start the next feed off on the side you were on the previous feed.

DD2's poo is green if she has any sort of cold, even very mild.

HTH

My LO had green poos as she was getting too much foremilk - the lactose makes it green and frothy.

I had help from the BfN with it and it turned out that what I though was her finishing on one breast was her taking a break. This meant she was just getting foremilk from both breasts and was hungry all the time.

To get back on track I spent longer feeding and when she took a break I either left her on the breast until she started up again or put her back on the same one to make sure she had enough hind milk.

It took a couple of days, but then it settled back down to being yellow.

Hope it helps.

this happened with my DD as well, I block fed her for a few days to ensure she was getting enough hindmilk, so basically only gave her say the left breast for blocks of 6 hours and then only the right breast. poo returned to yellow after 2 days. I read about blockfeeding on kellymom after googling!
still get the occasional green poo but it's preceded by a windy evening, doc also said it was nothing to worry about.

If the green poo is due to a fore/hindmilk imbalance then it can be a bit runnier & babe can be a bit windier & can feel uncomfortable with it & when passing the poo. The green colour is something to do with enzyme action on the sugars in the foremilk IIRC - if there is more then it is not balanced out into the more usual mustard colour by the enzymes that work on the fat which comes out in larger proportions later in the feed. Rather than trying Gaviscon to start with I would personally advise trying the feeding methods to prevent fore/hindmilk imbalance as these are quite easy & you would start to see a difference after several feeds (definitely within 24-48hrs).

Green poo due to fore/hindmilk imbalance is generally not regarded as a health problem unless babe is very low weight or has other health issues & will eventually correct on its own. It can occur on occasion due to things like missing a feed or your supply changing (which effectively would cause a fore/hindmilk imbalance).

Thanks elvisgirl.
When you say to try the different feeding methods to prevent fore/hindmilk imbalance, what do you actually mean? Sorry if I'm being dim.
I find it difficult to tell when DS has actually finished feeding. He'll feed well off one breast, then seem to fall asleep. If he wakes, he'll always carry on sucking no matter which breast I offer, so I can't tell if he's sucking for comfort on an esentially empty breat or if he's still hungry. (does that make sense?)

I would like to try to see if something else works, before the HV starts suggesting other things and compltely confusing me.

You would think I knew what I was doing by now - this is my 3rd DC.

Just to add, DS is gaining lots of weight - 2lbs in just over 2 weeks, so he must be getting enough hind milk??????

The feeding method is to feed from one side only per feed, or several feeds in a row (known as block nursing or feeding). If you think babe is getting towards the end of the feed encourage more flow by gentling massaging/squeezing - if babe has definitely had enough he/she will come off then as won't like the extra milk coming down. You should be able to see swallowing if babe is still taking milk rather than comfort sucking. If it is difficult to tell you may have to arbitrarily decide to finish the feed, like after 3 or 10 or whatever more sucks/swallows.

Hello I had this with DS, spoke to HV who said she found it was the result of too much sugar im mums diet.....I was consuming dried apricots and pineapple by the truck load! I did reduce the fruit significantly and the green poo went so who knows?

Bugger - maybe the chistmas chocs aren't helping then!

My bf ds had green poo until he was 4.5 months. My gp told me it was likely he had a slightly immature gut which meant in essence things were going through him a little fast and, in fact, you could see the white seed like bits of fat in his poo. He fed a lot to compensate and his weight stayed on his line so there was no problem. I didn't change anything I did and his poo reverted to normal breastfed mustard poo. Which was a relief as I was sick of changing 6 dirty nappies a day.
In our breastfeeding group the only other baby who had green poo turned out to have a lactose intolerance, diagnosed when she was weaned - however I tink she struggled to keep her weight up. Gp said as long as gaining weight the colour of poo didn't matter.

this happened to me,i'd feed my baby on one breast for 15 mins then he'd either fall asleep or come off soi'd put him on the other. This ment he'd only get the watery fore milk, i then tried putting him back on the same breast if he wanted feeding, i now do block feeding,eg between 12-3 feed from right,3-6 from left etc. This instantly cleared the problem and we got yellow poo!

Thanks everyone, lots of things for us to try there. I was worrying and can't get to the health visitor because of the holidays. Since posting I have tried encouraging him to feed more on one breast but he still has green poo for now so will try block feeding next. Maybe if we can sort this out he will be more settled too.

I've started to try block feeding today, I'll let you knoe how it goes.

good luck, keep us updated with the poo's :)

I had a few issues with green poo (made a few threads here) and never felt entirely satisfied with what was causing it. What I would say is that my DS although occasionally windy and annoyed, was generally happy and healthy otherwise I might've been more concerned.

I did some block/one-sided feeding but felt it wasn't great for my supply, plus my son had already dropped a centile and I felt in my particular case that I wanted to be able to offer as much food (and both breasts) to him as possible. It works for a lot of people, though.

Instead I just made sure I always offered both sides, but tried to ensure he always finished on one before going to the other. Eventually the poo just turned mustard yellow and went that way for a couple of weeks. Then I had another green week - no idea why at all. Since then it's been more yellow/brown except for yesterday when he only woke once in the night and I ended up very engorged. Looking back I do wonder if a lot of it was to do with being engorged sometimes in the morning. I think he'd get full from only having the foremilk, whereas when my supply is more stable (ie he doesn't miss any feeds), he's getting the right amount each time. When he first got green poo I was doing a lot of expressing, but not every day, and I think my boobs got confused as to how much they needed to provide!

The only other thing I can think of is that there's something quite specific in my diet he's reacting to - not dairy as I've not stopped that at all. Maybe garlic or something like that.

I hope you can get it sorted. FWIW, I do think a lot of babies who have green poo for a non serious reason (when serious means dairy allergy or diarrhoea) grow out of it as their digestive system matures.

My DD had green poos from when I started feeding on both sides. If everything else is ok (weight gain etc) then it's really nothing to worry about.

We had this issue and it was mainly down to positioning - if the chin isn't well into the breast, fattier milk from lower in the breast doesn't get shifted so you get the low-fat milk (foremilk/hindmilk imbalance) issue.

If its linked to poor weight gain, it's an issue.

According to my GP it is fine, she said breastfed babies poo can be any colour. I will see the health visitor and get him weighed and ask her about it just to double check.

How did the block feeding go MajorPettigrew?