Upset baby & green poo - should I stop BF?

[LuluLulabelle]

DD (12 weeks) has just not been herself for a few weeks now. She used to sleep 4 - 5 hour stretches but then reverted to waking every hour and a half at night and suddenly feeding from both breasts so I assumed it was a growth spurt and went with it. She also cried a lot. Towards the end of this she had her first vaccinations, after which she had diarrhea for about a week. Today she has had green poo in her nappy - really dark green. I have googled it and it says it is a foremilk hindmilk imbalance.

Is this because DD is now having both breasts? I wait until she comes off one before offering the other. I wonder if I have got it wrong which is why she's been so upset. I just don't have any insticts with BF, I thought offering both breasts was the right thing to do because she seemed hungry still but I feel like it was the wrong thing and its me thats made her cry so much.

I am now wondering if I should stop BF and give her formula - there wouldn't be a risk of foremilk/hindmilk imbalance then would there?

Any help would be appreciated.

p.s. I would like to continue BF but I can't bear to see her so upset.

p.s. I would like to continue BF but I can't bear to see her so upset.

I'm no expert here but my DD has been having green poo this week because she's been feeding a lot due to the warm weather.

I think someone will come along who knows a lot more than me, but I think although the current advice is offer only one breast, you can certainly give both. I did when my DD was about 12 weeks and it led to a significant increase in her weight!

Have you asked your GP about the reaction to her vaccinations? There is a lot of poo in a 12 week baby, isn't there?!

I certainly don't think foremilk/hindmilk imbalance means you should stop BFing, but I think Tiktok is the lady you need!

You are doing really well, BFing still at 12 weeks, if it helps?

And my DD was the shoutiest, cryingest (not a word I know!) baby EVER! She calmed down at about 14 weeks... it is heartbreaking though to see them so upset. Have you tried infacol?

For what its worth, DD is now 20 weeks and sometimes wakes once in the night, sometimes four times, so what your baby is doing is not unusual!

Feeding from both breasts, allowing her to come off one and then offering the other sounds perfect to me and I've breast fed three babies.

Bfed baby poo does come in all weird colurs and types - I once took dd1's nappy off as she was doing a poo (didn't realise) and to my horror this green frothy stuff was emerging from her bottom - like something out of a horror film!

I was told all the foremilk/hindmilk stuff when I started breastfeeding 11 years ago but I have heard posters on here disagreeing with the clear differentiation and saying basically that breast milk is breast milk - however long it takes to come out!

You aren't doing anything wrong - it may be her guts are just a bit green this month, it could be a totally normal after effect of her vaccinations or other little bug she's picked up, it could be because she's having a growth spurt and has stimulated your supply like crazy and now the rest of her system has to catch up with the processing. It definately isn't because you are producing dud milk or have failed in any way.

If you are worried she's not well then go to your doctor but otherwise just persevere and I'm sure things will settle.

My bf baby (and the one before it) regularly have green poo - it goes on a spectrum of bright yellow - mustard - light green - dark green. I think this is normal. I think some of it may be related to what I've been eating. Also the poo is always very liquid; not sure I'd know if they had diarrhea? (Unless maybe pooing much more frequently) So maybe the 'diarrhea' is on the normal spectrum too?

I don't think you are wrong to offer both breasts if she is willing to take both. I think you'd only get a serious foremilk balance problem if you were forcing her to leave the breast after a couple of minutes?? (THough I'm not an expert). FWIW, it seems to take my 14 week DS2 about 6-8 minutes to be finished with one breast (was much longer when he was much smaller), though he sometimes wants to comfort suck for longer. From looking at my expressed milk, I'd definately say he's getting full cream well before he gets to the 6 minute mark. He won't take the second breast if he doesn't want it - just sucks for a second or two, then comes off and turns his head away.

So, I'd say hang on in there with the BF - as a general rule, your body will adapt itself to her needs and you can't get that with formula feeding.

Having said all this, I'd definitely raise it with your HV or GP if you've noticed a real change in your DD and are at all worried that she's unwell. I wouldn't stop BF until you've talked to them about it.

NB - I'm not a bf expert, other than by having done it myself. Hope someone more qualified also replies!

Ds had green poo from time to time. It quite often coincided with having a cold.

Please don't worry about foremilk/hindmilk. It seems to me that it just makes things sound more complicated than it needs to be.

For what it's worth, I don't think I had any instincts when it came to bf. Ds knew what he wanted though and I couldn't go far wrong when I just went along with what he wanted. If she wants both breasts then that's fine isn't it?

I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice, just wanted to say we've all been there green poo-wise

Thank you pookamoo, that means a lot actually, although it was Tiktoks advice that meant I was able to get to 12 weeks!

Do you think the green poos mean she's had pain? She's been crying in her sleep & waking lots and I just couldn't work out why. She also fusses at the breast before almost every daytime feed & for the last couple of days I've had to be walking with before she'd latch on - raised a few eyebrows at Sunday lunch with the in-laws.

I don't think my DS's green poos particularly correlated with unhappy days. If she's feeding fussily, she might be unhappy because of trapped wind? My DS2 has been a v messy feeder and needed LOTS of burping attention - quite different from DS1 in that respect. DS2 can get very red in face and angry and crying even a couple of hours after a feed, then produce burp and settle down.

To get her to latch on when fussing, have you tried getting her to suck on a dummy first, then doing a quick switch to breast once she's sucking nicely on the dummy? Works for me sometimes and can be a useful trick in company...

I second the comment that you've done well to get to 12 weeks. Keep going if you can - it's lots less hassle than getting the bottles and the steriliser going.

lulu,maybe she is fighting off a little bug, maybe she's a bit thirsty and hot, maybe she was fussed over a lot by gps yesterday, maybe....who knows? She's almost certainly basically ok, and the poo colour is normal...no one needs to worry about green poo in an otherwise healthy thriving baby.

'Foremilk/himdmilk imbalance' is a rubbishy, unhelpful concept...only ever relevant in cases of true and overwhelming oversupply, which can be easily treated by deliberately offering the same breast continiously.

Two breasts at each 'session', offering the second when baby seems to have had what she wants of the first, is the usual way to bf.

A call to any of the bf helplines will help you talk through various possibilities...and changing to formula is almost certainly the least possible way of addressing this

ah-ha tiktok to the rescue!

I think as others have said, that green poo is not something to worry about in the great scheme of things.

I don't think it means she has had pain, but I can sympathise with the crying out in their sleep. It's sad to hear it... I always wonder if it's a baby bad dream. DD seems ok when she wakes though.

If you want to carry on BFing (as you say you do) then go with the baba and hopefully she will settle down soon.

Have you been to any BF support groups or baby cafes?

shonaspurtle - now that you mention it she has also had a blocked nose which along with the diarrhea I put down to her jabs (stirlingstar- I say diarrhea but I know what you mean - she was having poos like water and at one point she was having her nappy changed a couple of times an hour but like I said -no instinct!).

I will take her to the doctor tomorrow.

Pookamoo - thank you for the bit of hope, DD is getting a bit of a reputation as a cryer - my neighbour commented to DH this week. It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong as her mum. I hope she gets better soon, she is a lovely baby. She smiles and babbles loads but when she cries she really cries...

Thanks everyone! I think I just panicked...I'll be more careful when I google in future.

I do go to a babycafe actually but I can't make it this week. I hadn't thought of calling one of the helplines either (MN was first thought!). I'll try my GP and then a BF helpline.

Thank you MNers, I am genuinely grateful

Let us know how you get on!

[They all say my DD has a "cute cry"... I say not so cute at 4am! It's all ok in the morning when they smile up at you though, isn't it?!]