bf 16 week old and poo

[HormonesAGogo]

A poo question - my 16 week old is bf and on the 99th centile for her weight, is a big bouncing healthy girl as far as I can tell..., but I'm a bit worried about her as some evenings her poo is quite green, and on about 3 occasions late evening or early morning it's had what looks like little streaks of bright orange in it. At first I thought it was blood but it looks more sort of bright orange than red, although it could be red-dish it's hard to tell. She seems fine and very alert, her poo is always soft, and pooing is more often that not accompanied by some huffing and puffing or a bit of grunting, but she doesn't seem in pain or ill. Is this all normal or do I need to take her to the doctor? I'm constantly worried about what I'm eating that might affect her, and if I'm doing this bf right at all - the HVs are no help when it comes to bf! Now I have heard she might be getting too much lactose in her milk - what am I doing wrong? Grateful for any advice thanks

Hormones, that poo is on the normal spectrum - nothing you have said should make anyone think there is too much or too little of anything in your milk. Whoever suggested to you she might be getting too much lactose is merely showing how little they know about normal bf.

Poo of a bf baby is usually yellow, but it can be green, orange, striped, mustard....any of these shades are normal in an otherwise healthy baby. Your baby is clearly otherwise healthy. Speak to your HV - they may know little about bf, but they should know about normal baby poo

What you eat has practically no effect on your bf, by the way, unless your baby is very allergic or sensitive. Lots in the mumsnet archives on this

Thanks tiktok that's put my mind at rest! Sometimes I don't know what to think with all the "advice" I get - someone else told me that as my baby was almost 4 months old I should be feeding her every 4 hours, I feed her roughly every 3 hours or so as this suits me, and she now sleeps through the night and seems very content so surely I'm doing things right?! I ignored them but I wish there was just more information out there about bf as I worry about everything and there seem to be a lot of myths about it!
Ta

Hormones - it's good to ignore people who don't know what they are talking about, as you are doing! There are no rules that say a 4 mth old baby shd be going 4 hourly - makes no sense to schedule a baby like this, and I expect you and the person you talked to eats or drinks something more often than this

You are right about myths!

Ok, more great "advice" from the HV. My dd's poo is now green, at every poo, and getting darker and darker green throughout the day. I took her to the baby clinic to get her weighed yesterday so asked the HV about it - I was immediately asked if I was bf and when I said yes the HV told me my dd was not getting enough hindmilk and to keep her on the breast for longer. But my dd stays on the breast as long as she wants and surely takes what she needs? Not only that but the HV then said I might be eating too many green vegetables!! Last time I looked my milk was white not green...
Anyway she said green poo can also mean a stomach bug but my dd is in great health except for teething grumpiness sometimes, she certainly doesn't seem ill. I am flabbergasted about all this, shall I just stop worrying about it all and stop inspecting the poo?

Dr Jack Newman, internationally-known bf expert from Canada, recommends that mothers worried about this don a pair of sun specs when changing nappies...that way they don't see the colour

Green poo in a baby who is ill, or very underweight, may be part of the picture and give a clue to cause of illness or underweightness.

It does not reflect the vegetables in the mother's diet. That is very, very stupid indeed.

In a healthy baby, it may well reflect the fact the baby is taking a proportionately larger volume of less creamy milk. Fat in milk slows down the gut transit time, and yellow poo is waste matter that's been in the system for long enough to turn yellow (it's to do with the way the gastric juices work on the waste). If the food has gone through more quickly - because of less fat - it has not had time to turn from green to yellow.

But guess what? This doesn't matter!

Your HV sounds especially dim, I have to say.

If your baby is feeding happily, and you are responding to her cues, and she is healthy - and it sounds as if the answer to all those questions is 'yes - then one response to your situation might be to stop asking the HV her opinion