green poo!

[catherineangelmusick]

Hello lovely ladies.. would really appreciate any help..
After 4 weeks of pumping after birth as she wouldn't latch, my little one has now been on the boob for 4 weeks (she is 8.5 weeks old now)
I have had nearly 2 weeks of green poo now-:( I just don't know what to do! I believe I have fast letdown and possibly over supply from all the pumping? (but now after these last weeks where things have settled, my boobs only ever feel uncomfortable at night when 4 hours has passed since last feed)

I was spraying and she was choking at every feed, but now only 1 in 5 feeds perhaps, and my boobs feel soft during the day. (ie not engorged as in oversupply?)

The advice seems to be to let her feed on the same side for 2 feeds, which I have done and still the green poo continues. :(

And if I express off the foremilk , then am I not going to compound over supply??? PLUS someone told me not to express too much as she needs the foremilk in this hot weather!!!!! And how would you know how much was just the right amount to express off??!

I am just so confused by all the conflicting advice. Has anyone had this issue and resolved it? She doesn't seem upset or distressed. She has put weight on. She is very unsettled in the evening but then so are all the babies at her age in our local nct group! It seems to be overtiredness rather than tummy pain.

I have had such a battle with breastfeeding and I don't want to give up now. Does the green poo/ foremilk imbalance actually matter if she is gaining weight? Will she grow out of it as she gets bigger?
Help! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!

My daughter had green poo until I stopped drinking cows milk. She also pooed at just about every feed even in the middle of the night and that also cleared up when I stopped drinking cows milk. Could she have an intolerance to something you're eating? I didn't have to stay off the cows milk forever, she seemed to tollerate it better when she got older. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon I just wanted to say it mght not be a too-much-foremilk issue at least based on my experience.

Didn't want to read & run, I have similar issues but not as far ahead as you, DD is exactly one month today. I first tried block feeding but it didn't work for me. I have a very colicky baby but I am convinced this is linked to the green poos as both started the same time (around 2 weeks). The two things I've found to work a little better over the last few days is Colief & I know it seems silly with an oversupply issue but feeding from one boob until she comes off calmly by herself or falls asleep, I get her up, wind her, change her bum if need be & the if she's awake & rooting I offer the next boob. There's a reason she will have come off first boob calmly, either nothing left to come out (could also be slow flow for some but I know this isn't an issue for me) or she's full, if she's full she won't have second boob but if still hungry she will take it, then next feed I start on last boob so if she didn't take second boob I start on boob 1, if she did take second boob I start on boob 2. This might not be the right thing to do but it's worked for me. The Colief is a bit of a pain as you can't give drops directly but I just express around 2oz first thing on a morning then when she needs to feed I use a sterile spoon & give drops with a little of that mornings expressed milk. We still have the occasional green poo but its not all the time & she's now less fussy too.

Is the poo mucusy? If so it could be a sign of intolerances from your diet, they don't always start straight away. Dies she vomit much? Often it can cause reflux and associated signs. Or could just be you're eating a lot of green veg, my dd always had extra greeny poo when I'd eaten green cabbage!

Green poo is normal
Mustard poo is normal
Caramel poo is normal

Give your local NCT breastfeeding counsellor a ring, she will confirm this.

If baby is happy, gaining weight and plenty wet nappies then you are doing great. Please try not to stress.

thank you so much lovely ladies.
I haven't had much success with the block feeding, but the thing is she never wants feeding again before 2 hours, so I don't get the chance to "put her back on the same breast so she gets the hind milk" as is always suggested online!! I can't force her to have milk if she doesn't want it can I?!
I have decided to chill for now, as you suggest! I will weigh her slightly neurotically again this week to make sure she is still gaining weight and if she is I might just leave it.
I really find it amazing the amount of conflicting advice out there about this. Never experienced anything like it! My HV also was saying about over and under feeding, and telling me to express off even though after this long arduous journey since birth, I already KNOW that if you remove more milk from the breast than the baby needs you will end up with over supply which might be half the bloomin problem anyway!!

Honestly! Anyway thank you .... I am a mums net virgin but very happy to have been "broken in." thank you xxxxx

oh- and I might give up the cows milk out of interest as I do have a lot of milk. I LURVE milk. x

I have to add my experience to this!

My ds is aged nearly 4 months. He's ebf and I've had problems with green poo, mucusy poo, over supply of milk, fast forceful let down, engorged boobs, regurgitation - basically the lot!

I've been keeping a feeding diary for the last two months. It's helped understand that when baby doesn't have a good feed e.g gets the hindmilk, he has green poo the next day.

It don't think it's something I've eaten, I don't drink cows milk ever so I can't comment on that.

I find the best thing to do is block feed on one boob for up to 8 hours to decrease demand of milk on the other side and vice versa. At first I ended up with an engorged boob on one side but it's settled in the last few days. Block feeding for that long also gives my baby the opportunity to get the hindmilk even if it's not until the 3rd feed of the day.
Pumping/expressing doesn't work for me because my let down is pretty swift (after about 20mls) so I end up increasing demand and increasing the problem.
I'm seeing my hv in a couple of weeks to check baby is doing ok. I can see he is putting on weight but he does have a lot of wind and maybe reflux and I have to be really careful about which position I feed him in. I try to avoid positions where gravity will send the milk gushing to the back of his throat where he coughs and splutters. Mostly lying down positions which are very difficult to do outside of the house!!

I haven't cracked it yet but I've got a lot of advice from these websites:
kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/
blog.nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2011/02/23/managing-oversupply/

I hope you find some answers and please post them if you do I would love to know!

Don't get hung up on the foremilk/ hind milk thing, if you let your baby finish the feed when they want they will get a full feed, including hind milk.

If your baby is generally happy then green poo isn't really an issue I don't think.

I had so much foremilk that my baby was getting full up before getting to the hindmilk, then he was very hungry soon after because he wasn't being sustained by any of the fat of hindmilk.

There is hindmilk in foremilk and foremilk in hindmilk. It's likened to a hot tap that is warm to begin with but gets hotter the longer you run it until it's piping hot.
Green poo is a result of having to digest lots of lactase. It's not something to get hung up on but it does reflect an imbalance.