Baby poo during labour?

[Holly34]

I was watching an episode one born every minute today whilst in labour the midwife informed the mother the baby had poo! I got so confused! How? where? what does it mean? Could it be dangerous?

Yep. It can happen and I don't even think it's uncommon. The issue is that it can mean the baby is in distress, so it can effect the birth you are allowed to have. For example, most wouldn't let you labour in water if the baby poos. I think you are just monitored more in case the baby is in distress so interventions can be made promptly if needed.

If the baby swallows or breathes in any of its poo (known as meconium) then it can cause infection in the lungs and be dangerous for a newborn baby.

It happened to my sister it meant she had to go into the consultant led unit instead of the birthing centre.

Yup this happened with one of mine (meconium) she was just watched and was fine. Nothing came of it :)

It can be a sign that the baby is distressed. Can also be quite normal especially with an overdue baby.

I had this with DC1: meconium (poo) in the waters when they went. Meant I had to be transferred (by ambulance) from lovely little midwife led unit to Big Hospital (~30 miles) to be monitored throughout the rest of labour and have lots of specialist people appear to check DS over when he was born.

He was fine, but I'm sure had he not been there would have been all manner of neonatal help available.

I swear, though, I felt him trump a day or two before he arrived...

Yep. DS inhaled meconium during his birth & spent 4 days in SCBU. For the first 24 hours he was on a ventilator. No lasting damage thankfully, he's a strapping 28 yr old now but it was scary at the time.

Thing is I knew my waters were leaking and were green. Apparently I was just incontinent and didn't realise. Hmmmm green wee... Thankfully they did admit me and induced me with a sweep. Dread to think what might have happened if they hadn't.

DD1 had Meconium Aspiration syndrome and was very, very poorly. Baptised within 3 hours of being born as we were told she wouldn't make it! Horrendous time and wasn't something I'd ever really heard about.
However, after a very scary 2 weeks in PICU (she was transferred to Leicester as they had a specialist lung/heart treatment ECMO) she recovered fantastically and now has no problems whatsoever. At the time it was horrendous as the meconium had been inhaled and swallowed, totally blocking her lungs. We then had a collapsed lung and infections that required lumbar punctures to diagnose, heartbreaking watching those being done!

She is now very proud of telling people she nearly died as a baby as she ate her own poo! And on the positive, I will never forget the absolutely, sheer brilliance of the midwifery team and NHS.

Sorry that probably sounds terrifying! it's very rare to be as bad as we experienced and my second birth was text book perfection so it didn't put me off having another

Woah, that does sound terrifying MrsT. I see now why they were so insistent at transferring me! (Glad I was blissfully ignorant at the time, though!)

The majority of babies who do poo during labour are born without any problem or complication at all. Serious mec aspiration is rare.

My son had meconium aspiration. He was born by ELCS and went blue and floppy, he had to be resuscitated in front of me and then a crash team came in and took him.

It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. I was in recovery while everyone else had babies with them, my son was transferred by ambulance to a larger hospital with NICU as there was only SCBU. I was told the chest x ray showed severe meconium aspiration and that he was making no effort to breathe unaided and they'd gone from just oxygen to him being on a ventilator. They also thought he had sepsis. I asked if he'd be okay and got "we've done all we can, it's all down to him now".

Luckily he's okay now and recovered amazingly but for quite a while I wasn't sure whether I would take home a baby. Meconium in the waters isn't something to be taken lightly.

MrsTatum that sounds horrible glad she is okay now!

Thanks all and again, I hope I haven't scared anyone as the chances of serious Meconium aspiration are very, very small.
We had a year under a consultant for check ups but that was due to her not breathing at birth and extended time on a ventilator but we were very fortunate as she developed normally.
I was the unlucky one as (I hope I'm accurate here) it was timing and the Meconium was inhaled/consumed ugh as she began to take independent breaths which led to it travelling into her lungs and blocking them. We had no signs such as green waters etc so it was just one of the those incredibly unfortunate things! I'll always be thankful for Glenfield hospital in Leicester though, they were truly fabulous.

Same to you Tali! Glad all is well for you too.

The hardest thing for me was not having her with me and people being to scared to send a congratulations card, just in case. Was a very traumatic time and I still feel very resentful at times that it didn't go as planned. I have to be very careful to keep my mouth shut when people mention home births (which I know are fabulous and can be truly wonderful) but I just always think, my DD wouldn't be here now if if listened to that advice. I'll always be thankful for the medical intervention as she wouldn't have made it otherwise.

Some very scary experiences here; I had no idea it could be so serious.

DD was 2 weeks overdue and when my waters broke during labour they were clearly full of brown and green bits She was then monitored for the rest of labour and delivery but, apart from having poo encrusted into her hair, she was absolutely fine. Apparently it's very common for overdue babies to do that, just because they can. DS was 2 at the time and thought it was hilarious that his sister had pooed on her head :o

With dd1 I had meconium in my waters as it was a long back to back labour and she was starting to get distressed. She was completely fine though. Was home within 18 hours of her birth and only because there wasn't a dr around to do the paperwork for us to get out the night before.

It can be dangerous if baby swallows a lot but it doesn't always mean that it will cause complications. X

DS had a little bit of meconium in the waters during a long, not going particularly well labour. I think it was one of the factors in taking me into theatre for forceps (along with no urge to push, contractions slowing down, heart rate going a bit dodgy on contractions etc).

Luckily he was absolutely fine but probably because of the intervention taking place swiftly.