Blood in poo

[Gooseygoosey12345]

Has anyone got any experience of blood in their baby's poo? DS is 4 days old and had some blood in his poo for the last 4 nappies. I've spoken to the paediatric nurse who isn't concerned as he's still breastfeeding well and weeing and is very relaxed now my milk has come in but obviously I'm going to worry. Is this common?

Is it possibly your blood? Cracked nipples?

No not my blood, no cracked nipples. It's a bit mucousy I think

My DD had this at 7 days old, it was a temporary lactose intolerance. Her poos were also explosive and up to 9,10 times a day. Within hours of putting her on lactose free milk powder it stopped. She was also fine in herself,feeding well, putting on weight so doctors refused to consider it was a lactose intolerance , took months for the diagnosis.

More possible causes here:

kellymom.com/health/baby-health/bloodystool/

@katheroo was she in any discomfort? He just seems too relaxed for it to be bothering him. Ds seems to poo as soon as he's put to the breast and it's comes out with a force but i dno if I'd call it explosive.

She wasn't at all distressed. By explosive I mean it was so loud! And not very much blood, just a little but every time. Also quite mucousy.

@noblegiraffe thank you! Wish I knew which it was!

@katheroo hmm yeah his are quite loud too. He seems to be pooing less each time though now so maybe he just had something he had to clear out as he's pooping at every feed. I'm so hoping it's not an intolerance though, he's such a good little feeder I'd hate it to be the end of breastfeeding

Yes that would be a shame. My dd was formula fed so not an issue, but at least it made it easier to try the powder which gave me the answers straight away. After about 6 weeks on the lactose free powder I switched her back to normal with no issues, she's 3 now and has never had any issues since. Good luck finding the answer!

It would be very rare for a breastfed baby to be allergic to breastmilk. My DD had a period of a few weeks of this, I asked the paediatrician about going dairy free and he said (after checking her over) that the blood sometimes clears up on its own and women end up dairy free for no reason. It did clear up without any intervention and I never found out why she had it!

She was a few months old though. I'd take photos of the nappies and show to the doctor if it continues.

Have you checked his bum for cuts?

@katheroo I could always keep expressing I suppose but not sure if it'd work. Dd was formula fed after about 3 weeks so I wouldn't have minded so much

@noblegiraffe well that's good in a way I suppose. Not that she had it but that it cleared up. I've kept the nappies to show the midwife tomorrow as they told me to. Fun for her! Hoping I can carry on with the breastfeeding. I'll change my diet if need be

Meant to say, can't see any cuts

My son(now 19 yrs) had also traces of blood in his poop as a newborn.He was also breastfed exclusively.As the weeks went by he became increasingly difficult to settle especially in the evenings.I voiced my concerns repeatedly at the Doctor that all was not well with him.On account of me being a nurse they thought I was overreacting and that it was only colic.At around 6 weeks went to change him and found a very large clot of fresh blood in his nappy.We brought him straight to the hospital where an ultrasound was done with inconclusive results.I had suspected a rather more complicated condition (Intususeption) and was glad when this was not the case.I then started to take note of what i was eating and noticed he was always more distressed after I had eaten any dairy products.I told the paediatrician and he was then tested and found to be lactose and soy intolerant.He was so sensitive that he reacted to the lactose that was obviously in my breast milk.I changed my diet to completely dairy free and he thrived.I ended up breastfeeding him exclusively for six months and gave up after a year.My son was on a lactose free diet for his first three years which was unusual and difficult those days as there was nothing available lactose free.I will never forget his face the first time he got an ice-cream! He is now 6ft 2 and a strong as an ox.

@schnubbins ok so I'm definitely going to ask for testing if this doesn't clear up then! Glad to hear he thrived after a diet change though :) definitely willing to do whatever it takes to keep him happy, healthy and preferably on the boob

My eldest daughter had blood in her poo from 5 days old. She was a happy baby who fed well although didn't sleep very well at all to start with and struggled to put on weight. She was ebf too. She was quicky diagnosed with a cows milk protein allergy (not a lactose intolerance- it's quite different) and was reacting to the proteins in my breast milk. I had to have a dairy free and eventually soya and egg free diet. Once everything cleared her system she started sleeping really well and put weight on too. She's now coming up for 3 and still can't have dairy, soya or egg but it's not impossible to avoid these and she has a pretty healthy diet as a result. Oh and there is no test for this, the only way to confirm it is an exclusion diet that solves the problem.

Happened with one of mine on and off for a while. Saw paed, who was unconcerned. Went away by itself. I am a dairy avoider already, so it wasn't that.

While her poos were not specially explosive, I think it was probably just that. Very new delicate skin and a lot of poo gives you blood flecked poo...

Looks like whatever the diagnosis it's easily dealt with. That's good. I'm happy to live on dry toast if it helps lol. I'm going to watch my dairy intake anyway then. I don't eat a lot anyway, mainly just milk in tea but I'll drink it black or switch to juice. Seems more common than I thought and no horror stories so that's put my mind at ease a bit. Hoping it clears up for him soon. Although he's been so settled since my milk came in today it clearly bothers me more than him

Just wanted to say, blood in poo seems to have resolved itself (hope I'm not speaking too soon..). Midwife check is tomorrow not today. I'm guessing it was either something I ate or just from my milk coming in but he's very happy anyway :)

Good news :)

My DD had runny green mucousy/bloody nappies when she was a few weeks old, I cut out all dairy/cows milk proteins from my diet for 2 weeks and it went away. I then reinteoduced dairy back into my diet and she was fine and the problem didn't come back.