Green poo and no sleep

[Peggsy]

My 3 month old often has green poos. I read on this site that it could be to do with my breastfeeding technique. Generally he will only feed from one breast, he falls asleep before I offer the other, but the suggestion is that he needs to completely empty one breast to ensure he is getting the right balance of hind/foremilk. Any ideas for improving my technique? Also, he wakes every hour and a half at night so the 2 could be connected. Any ideas on either are welcome

peggsy my dd had green poo too and i bf til 6 months. to make sure he gets the hind milk i think u have to start the nxt feed on the same boob, cant remember, only 6 mths ago! i was told not to be alarmed by the green poos .if he is gaining weight and everything else is ok, the wakings - my dd went thru that phase, i think itll just happen even though u are knackered,

Hi Peggsy, my ds feeds for 10mins on each breast during a feed and most of the time he has yellow poos, but can be green/yellow maybe once every other day. He has a tongue-tie which is why he's so quick (gets tired quite easily) so we are always on this border of is he getting enough hind milk.

Personally I feel better myself having ds feed off both sides during one feed, otherwise I get quite engorged. Maybe try a 50/50 regime (you don't mention how long a feed lasts) by splitting the time you currently do on one breast across both breasts? I think alot of people do what you do (feed on one side per feed) but if its not clicking maybe try a few days doing 50/50. I also find that my ds's poops only catch up a feed or so later, ie. the green poo may appear following a bad then good feed IYSWIM and I looked a bit perplexed as to why it's green and then remember the quick feed (or whatever).

As hermykne says as long as ds is gaining weight don't be alarmed.

HTH

Check out this website imaternity.com/advice/postpartum/breastfeeding/topic.asp

It says that you should feed for 2-3 hours on the same breast if your baby is having problems. I have been doing this and ds seems a bit more content. I have also been expressing about 50ml off a fresh breast to clear away some of my excess fore milk (and to make me feel more comfortable) so that he can have a big, filling feed.
Hope that helps x

Agree with Cha.
My 2 year always had this problem. Latest theory is that he is not eating enough. This fits into Cha's idea of baby having too much fore milk.

Thanks for all the tips - I am going to try the 50/50 if I can manage to get him before he sleeps - if he falls asleep he doesn't seem to take the other breast.

Also, expressing is a good idea. I might try that too. I was expressing a little when he had colic to add to Coleif and there were fewer green poos then!

Cha - what a fantastic website! Have read all the breastfeeding bit and is really helpful. Thanks for recommending that