Green Poo- help!

[bonbonpixie]

My DD is 12 weeks old and has been is good health since birth, however she only moved her bowels maybe twice a week (vast vast amounts when she did) that pattern changed last week. For a start she began moving her bowels everyday (and sleeping though the night!!) and then on Friday she had awful diarrhoea that has since continued and is now green - like pesto.
She still has lovely smiles for everyone and has happy periods but is also feeding lots and lots, is really clingy and is chewing at her hands all the time.
We are supposed to fly to Singapore tomorrow to be with my DH who is working there just now. I don't want to cancel but I also don't want to go if she is seriously ill. Dr has taken a stool sample and HV doesn't seem too concerned. Just wondered if anyone else has experianced anything similar??

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Is she breast or formula fed?

My ds1 did that and had a milk allergy. I'm not an expert but please keep it in mind - ohhh how I wish I'd had mumset a clue then.
May on the other hand "just" be a bug and she'll be fine very soon.

She has only ever been breast fed. She is salivating a lot because of the hand munching. Could that be related to the poo?

My breast milk flow was too much for my baby which caused her to gag and gulp down too much air which resulted in green poo. In this case I learned to breast feed while leaning back (ie milk had to flow up) and this sorted the problem.

If she is hand munching my immediate thought is teething which can result in some awful nappies.

Green poo is often a sign that the baby is not getting just the thin foremilk, not the richer hindmilk. So I would make sure that she drains the breast fully before switching to the other side, and that you start with the opposite breast each time.

Getting just the thin foremilk!

Is there any way it could be something else? I've been block feeding more or less since DD was born. Or can too much fore milk be caused by something else??

I just found this very good post on a previous thread. Hope it helps.

This is some information I found on a web site, can't find the address, but hope it helps

Green Stools:
The occasional green stool is not unusual in the breastfed baby. Consistently green stools, however, are not normal for the breastfed baby. Most doctors don't seem to recognize this as a potential problem because they often define "normal stool" as that of the formula-fed infant.
Consistently green stools in the breastfed baby can indicate:

• an imbalance of foremilk/hindmilk. *Ê a sensitivityÊto something in the mother's diet, such as cow's milk products. *a sign that baby has an illness. Babies with an intestinal virus or even a simple cold will sometimes have green stools.
• a lot of green vegetables or something with green food coloring in mom's diet.
• If baby has started solids, that could also account for the change in color (this is normal with the change in diet). Ê WHAT CAUSES AN IMBALANCE IN FOREMILK and HINDMILK? Foremilk has a large amount of lactose and is "digested" quickly, hindmilk has more fat and is "digested" more slowly. When the baby gets too much foremilk and not enough of the fattier hind milk, the baby gets a large amount of lactose and not enough fat. This means that the foremilk moves through the baby's system very quickly, and the lactose is not able to be fully digested. As it continues moving quickly through the baby's system, it draws extra water into the bowel and ferments the bacteria in the bowels. This causes excessive gas and very green, liquid, and highly acidic stools. The baby will usually be quite fussy. Sometimes mom can hear his or her tummy "gurgling". These babies nurse quite often because they are not getting enough hindmilk. Nursing actually will help to ease baby's discomfort, at least for a little bit, because it helps to move the gas. Babies often will pass gas and have a bowel movement either during their nursing sessions or shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the cycle then begins again. This cycle often will result in a diaper rash due to the high acid content of the stools. To avoid or reduce the risk of an imbalance you should allow your baby to completely finish the first breast before offering the other. Moms that have an overabundant milk supply will often experience an imbalance of foremilk and hindmilk. A change in her nursing patterns can often help in resolving the problem. NOTE: There has been some confusion over foremilk and hindmilk and "when" one changes from one to the other. To help try to resolve some of the confusion here's one good description (thanks Kelly!) of how the breast works: A woman's breast really only makes one type of milk, and it's what's normally called "hindmilk," nutrient and fat rich milk. There is no sharp distinction between foremilk and hindmilk - it is a gradual change from the moment of the let-down (and there are several per feed, although most mothers only notice the first one). Because the composition of the milk changes as the feeding progresses and because every baby varies in the amount of time it takes him to receive his fill of hindmilk, allowing the baby to feed for an unlimited amount of time on the first side is important. In between feedings, milk collects in mom's breasts. Fat globules stick to the walls of the alveoli, high up in the breast, near where the milk is made. Between feeds (since the fat is stuck higher up), some lower-fat milk (foremilk) gradually moves down to fill the milk sinuses. This is where baby accesses the milk, and this is the milk that is available before letdown. When the letdown reflex is triggered, the milk is 'squeezed' down the ducts so it becomes available to the baby to milk out. As the breast starts to empty, the fat globules start becoming dislodged and move down the ducts. So the further into the feed, the higher the fat content of the milk coming out the nipple, as more and more fat globules are forced out.