Horrific nappies from a BF baby - what's going on?!

[lainey1234]

Baby is 7 weeks old and EBF. Since the weekend he has had horribly green poo and loads of it, but only once a day. Before the weekend he would have a few poo nappies throughout the day and they were yellow and seedy (sorry for TMI!!) he seems well and alert in himself, and has gained 13oz in the last week when weighed today! No other symptoms of being poorly that I can detect - is this normal or do we need a trip to the dr? Sorry if this is all normal stuff - paranoid first timer here !!

Have you just had your first jabs? Mine had strange green poos after the jabs. And also has them after I've given calpol. Could that be it?

Nope, jabs are next week and no medicines at all

Dd had vile.poos when she was cuttong her first few teeth - dark green and smelled.of.vinegar. It was truly awful.

Could it be teething?

Could he be cutting teeth at 7 weeks?!? Hadn't thought of that! Omg!

Green poos can be a sign that baby is getting too much foremilk. Are you switching sides every feed? If so try to ensure that the first breast is completely drained before offering the other one. Hth.

I had heard that green poo meant that they were getting too much fore milk and not enough hind milk.

Are they completely draining the breast? Good weight gain though.

Some babies are born with teeth!

I had read about the fore milk. When I express I have noticed that I have a lot of thin watery milk before the richer looking stuff comes thru. If it is this, what can I do to prevent it? Express a bit before each feed?

DS had this at 7wo. I asked around extensively and the general response was that green poos are in themselves not necessarily anything to worry about. As long as he seems healthy and happy in every other way, you dont need to be concerned. DS had this for a couple of weeks or so then went back to normal. He wasn't ill at all, so have no idea what it was.

Oh and I wouldn't start buggering around with expressing (unless you want to build up a stash of bm in the freezer) if he's putting on 13oz a week and otherwise happy. It's normal to have thinner milk at the start of a feed, and I believe the fore/hindmilk imbalance thing is pretty rare. I'm sure he wouldn't have such a whopping weight gain if you had any problems with your milk.

Yellow/ orange runny and seedy is what you would expect from a breastfed baby. Green might mean too much foremilk, have you got a breastfeeding clinic you can go to for advice? Many gps don't seem to have had any training about bf issues I would go to a bf clinic first. You may need to ensure baby gets more hindmilk.

Thanks- he definitely a big healthy boy 13lb 6 oz already!! Weight gain has been consistently very good from birth so i doubt it's a milk issue too . Just really horrid nappies!

Actually cancel what I said about hindmilk I think Fred's right. Actually expressing can cause oversupply I'd stick with exclusive direct feeding until things settle down.

I've got the number for a bf specialist from my NCT group so will give her a call tomorrow - thanks

Green poo is a normal variation, and all babies have green poo at some time, and some babies always have it.

It rarely means any of the things people talk about - too much foremilk, for example, or not enough milk.

The vast majority of women do not need to be in the least concerned about foremilk/hindmilk - this explains why: www.nancymohrbacher.com/blog/2010/6/27/worries-about-foremilk-and-hindmilk.html.

No one needs to aim at draining the breast, let alone 'completely' draining the breast....how do you do this, given breastmilk is made in response to removal of milk :) and the 'emptier' the breast the more quickly the milk is made (opposite also true - the fuller the breast, the more slowly the milk is made)?

No need to express. No need to worry about colour of poo. No need to drain the breast....no need to do anything, really, with a healthy thriving baby who shows no signs of distress or ill health :)

I have a 14 week old dd who is EBF. She has had two periods of having green poo's for up to two weeks, some of them with seedy bits in (imagine the top of broccoli being spread about)

I still have no idea of the cause. Hv said hind milk thing is a myth and they don't work like that and told md not to mess with my supply in any way.

It went back to normal again. I put it down to something I had eaten.

Thank you all for your replies :)

We had every shade of green imaginable for a few weeks (some almost glowed in dark). Never got a good explanation. Sorted self out. I wouldn't stress if no other issues.

I had one with green poos all the time, it's normal apparently (also posted on here for advice ).

Ds poo after my first post birth Indian takeaway was a wonder to behold (he was 2 months or so). I'm not, er, consistent depending on what I eat, so he won't be either. Sounds like you're doing all the right things.