Explosive poo and breast feeding

[LAF77]

DS (10.5 weeks old) has had quite a few very explosive poo nappies this week. They are yellow in colour and very runny. He has always pooed a lot as a baby, but he has seemed to step up the frequency and quantity of over the last few days. He has done poo nappies overnight (small quantities) which I understand should have stopped by now.

I understand that baby diarrhoea is green, so it shouldn't be that. I won't be able to get to the bf clinic until Thursday.

My left side is over active. The nipple will sometimes have 2 jets that will keep spraying. This side will leak too. DS will feed from this side without too much complaint although he will pull off spluttering. Could an over active side cause explosive poo? Should I try to reduce the feeds on this side?

Could it be a food intolerance in DS and I should try to cut out dairy?

Everything I've read says that I can't over feed a bf baby, but DH thinks that DS will never refuse the breast if I keep offering it to him when he is signalling for it (sucking his hand).

He has put on 2 lbs since birth after losing 9% of his weight. I last had him weighed 3 weeks ago, so it has probably gone up more as I have been able to get him into some 3-6 month outfits.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hello lovely Laff :)

If it helps DD does this from time to time. She is also ebf.

If you're at all worried, go and see your GP or out of hours service. I checked with HV and she said as long as DD is happy and content then more watery poos can be normal. DD poos are always explosive.

Hi There - I suffered from oversupply and explosive, runny, watery poo was one of the things my LO had - when things were really bad they could be green and sometimes frothy, but most of the time they were just watery and projectile! Is your LO suffering with wind/colicky type symptoms? The spluttering/coughing is also quite common as it is often difficult for a baby to cope with a really fast flow of milk. They end up having to gulp and sometimes this means they take in a lot of air. As hairytale says, it never hurts to double check anything you are worried about with your GP/HV, but if your LO is happy and healthy otherwise, I wouldn't be worrying too much.

i had spruting jets one side with mine when they were babies and sometimes resulted in bigger poos though i had exploding babies anyway

as long as isnt green and frothy or offensive smelling it should be fine but like other posters have said checking to put your mind at rest isnt unreasonable
is there a la leche league local number you could ring?
they ar e a mine of information

Yes an overactive letdown can cause explosive poo. There are a few things you can do to help, like hand-expressing to get the letdown going first before latching baby on (wear your raincoat ). Also 'uphill' feeding positions can help as gravity slows the flow.

Explosive poo can also be a sign of a mild tummy bug - or sometimes food intolerance, but that's pretty rare in BF babies and not really worth worrying about unless the symptoms are severe and nothing else is working. Overnight poo I think is pretty normal at this age.

I think you are doing the right thing by responding quickly to your DS' feeding cues. Waiting til the baby is screaming makes BF so much harder for everyone, and there is really nothing to be gained by trying to space feeds at this point - he'll do that himself when he's ready for it.

It sounds normal to me.

Thanks for your messages and big waves to hairy it's nice to be discussing things in a different place!

I am trying to manage the number of feeds from my left side as it is easier for me to use it out and about so I can still have my right hand free. The poo consistency seems to have improved a bit. I'm also working on elimination communication with DS as he tends to have several a day so they are easier to clean up, but that's for another section!