Green poo in two week old. Is this a problem?

[neolara]

Just hoping I could get some MN wisdom on this. My two week old has started to have green poos. The health visitor was worried a few days ago that he hadn't yet regained his birth weight, so I'm slightly anxious that the green poo might be related to DS not getting enough food. (He is completely breastfed and feeds often but for only 5 to 10 mins at a time before nodding off.) Has anyone else's child had this and if so, was this considered a sign of something wrong?

green poo is normal for bf babies. I remember ds having it.

Ok - just googled it. After all traces of meconium have passed through poo will turn something between yellow and green with maybe a hint of brown.

Is it actually poo, neolara, or is it mucousy stuff? And is it yellow/green/brown, as TA describes, or really green?

ooh yes we had lots of green poo here! just around the time it turned that delightful piccalli shade of yellow!

Is he cool enough when he's feeding? keep tickling his feet

Congrats on getting to 2 weeks with your sanity intact

Thanks for the reassurance. Not sure about my sanity actually.....

JanH - it sometimes looks a bit mucousy and it is definitely green. It's still quite liquidy as opposed to that creamy consistency it goes when they are older.

Can't believe I'm writing a detailed description of poo!

The last thing I want to do is worry you, but I'm sure I read that green poo in a breastfed baby can be an indication that they're not getting enough to eat. I could be wrong on this though - hopefully someone will be along to say yeah or nay to this. I think my DS's poo went straight from light brown to mustard yellow. We got khaki coloured poos later on though. Can you try feeding him more often and see if this makes a difference?? And is he doing plenty of wet nappies?

In that case I would check back with your HV, neolara - this happened with one of mine who was also a dozy feeder who didn't regain her birth weight and the green-ness was an indication of a feeding problem. It doesn't mean you have to give up breastfeeding but you may need to augment it a bit.

I had to supplement with formula (I've had 4 kids and couldn't breastfeed any of them successfully because my supply just would not increase) but if your supply seems to be OK then it might be a good idea to get hold of a breastpump and use that to keep your supply going while he's not not feeding well. If you use one of those breast-substitute bottles to give it to him a) he shouldn't get nipple confusion (???) and b) he should find it easier to suck and will take more and grow a bit better.

Good luck, hope he will start to feed for longer and put some weight on soon

Am I wrong in thinking that sometimes green poo is due to the baby taking the fore milk and not enough of the hind milk (that contains all the calories). I believe in this case it's best of offer the one breast rather than both. Definitely not an expert, worth checking theory with HV. You might get more info. on the bottle and breastfeeding thread.

I have also heard the same as Jalopy - that it can be due to the baby taking too much foremilk and not enough hind milk. I too had an (initially) sleepy baby, he used to feed for five minutes and then sleep for ten minutes, and then feed for another five, taking two or three goes to complete a single feed. I used to try to wake him up completely before a feed - when he woke up screaming I wouldn't immediately feed him, I would take him to the back door and get some sun and wind in his face before settling down. This seemed to help him stay awake a little bit longer, as did tickling and jiggling if he seemed to be dropping off. I also used sometimes to offer the same breast over the course of a couple of feeds to ensure that he drained it properly, then I would switch and offer the other breast for a couple of feeds. I don't know if this is a wise idea or not, I was never told to do it, I just made it up myself as I could feel he had not nearly drained the breast first go. It seemed to work for me but who knows, there might be some medical reason not to do this, maybe check with an NCT BFC before adopting any weird nursing practices!

I would definitely try to get hold of a bf counsellor Neolara. The foremilk/hindmilk thing is a bit misleading as it's not really how it works. And have you seen the website www.kellymom.com - there's loads of information on there. I'll put a link to this thread on the b/f boards - it's a shame Tiktok isn't around at the moment but there are many more very knowledgeable people that hang out over there.

fgs sake check with more people than just the HV - hopefully yours is better, but mine doesnt know her arse from her elbow when it comes to bf...

Ok, he's not yet regained his birthweight, but is he putting on weight? How is he generally? Is he pooing a lot? Making lots of wet nappies?

You say he feeds often: how often is often? Is he feeding much in the night? Is he sleeping with you?

Is he sleeping a lot? What happens if you bf him right when he wakes up, so he won't be tired in the feed?

Does he seem well?

Is he jaundiced?

I don't think you need to be giving formula, but as others have said, a trip to a bfc might not be a bad idea, just to check all is ok.

Personally, I think green poo is often a sign of green poo.

Oh yes, definitely agree that formula is not necessary. And my HV, though supportive, was useless when it came to the practicalities of breastfeeding.

Ah, bfcs - what a lovely idea - there were none round here last time I had a baby . My HV was not unsupportive, and I did also get visits from very supportive and experienced ones, but a proper bfc would have been useful...

Anyway I think I was the only person who mentioned formula, and I wasn't suggesting neolara use it, just said that it's what I had to do - I do think she would benefit from using a breast-pump, pref an electric one (milking machine) and that she should give that milk to her DS in a bottle while he gets a bit stronger and her supply builds up. That was the theory behind what I tried to do with my babies.

Anybody who hasn't had a seriously dozy baby who drops off after the exertion of 5 minutes sucking and then sleeps for half an hour or more, with or without clothes removal/foot-tapping/refrigeration/tickling/jiggling/etc, doesn't really understand what this is like. Sorry.

JanH - I ended up mixed feeding my DS too as I had so many problems with breastfeeding. I can see from your post that you weren't recommending it to neolara . I really really do sympathise with the sleepy baby problem btw - my DS wasn't sleepy as such, but I had such trouble getting him to latch on, and then once he was finally latched to actually suck. It was a complete nightmare!

Thanks, tm

Sorry I got defensive, you wouldn't think it would matter so much after such a long time, would you? And as long as they feed and grow, that's the main thing!

Understand completely JanH! It's all pretty fresh for me still and I almost have to sit on my hands sometimes so as not to snap back at someone!

you get poo all colours of the rainbow as they grow! ask your HV if concerned, but mine's was black-green-greeny-yellow-mustard-orange-mustard again etc etc!!!!!!!
congratulations BTW, big Well DONE!

BF is so hard-core! Stick with it as best you can, but if you decide to stop that's fine too!

The first few eeeks were pure agony for me, as I never realised I wasnt latching her on correctly.
About month 4 she bit me and I got a nipp abcess, that was even more painful...but I stuck with it and now at 7mths I am really enjoying it and feel very close to my dd.

Best of luck and dont wory too much, baby will be scoffing soon enough!

my DS kept dozing off during feeds and my mum (bless her) came up with idea of stripping him down to his vest (or even just nappy) for every feed - it worked a treat and kept him alert enough to have a proper feed.
Think problem with BF is that they skin on skin to lovely warm mum and just want to doze off......

Neolara, the exact same thing happened to my DS2. Can't remember all the details but here is a rough idea...

Two weeks old - DS2 started having green nappies.
Three weeks old - Took him to the GP, doctor said he would probably be alright.
Nappies got greener and more mucousy - always liquid and never that "mustard consistency". Also, DS2 fed at two- to three-hourly intervals for much longer that I would have expected.
Eight weeks old - At eight-week check told GP that this was still a problem and got a paediatric referrel.
Eventually DS2 was having six or seven green nappies a day. They didn't smell too bad, but they didn't smell like normal baby poo either.
Sixteen weeks - Started weaning DS2 on baby rice.
Seventeen weeks - Nappies back to normal.
Eighteen weeks - Finally got the paediatrician appointment. A bit late.

DS2 is now coming up to seven months and he is fine.

Here's my advice.
Do not give up breastfeeding. It will only make your life more difficult. It's so tempting to give up, particularly in the early weeks but after a few weeks it will be the easiest thing in the world.

There are two likely causes for the green poo. The least likely is lactose-intolerance. Even if your baby has lactose-intolerance you can still continue to breastfeed him and it will pass in time.
The more likely cause is the one previously mentioned on this thread. Your baby is getting two much foremilk. Because the foremilk is watery it passes through the stomach very quickly and a whole lot reaches the large intestine at once. This produces the same symptoms as lactose-intolerance because your baby's digestive system is being presented with more lactose than it can deal with. Your baby doesn't digest the milk properly producing the green poo, and more worryingly, he isn't getting all the nutritional benefit.

There are a few websites like www.kellymom.com that will explain techniques you can use. You can try feeding him from one breast. Then at the next feed offer him the "used" breast first, then the unused one. You may need to express a bit to prevent yourself getting sore. Don't let the milk build up too much - you don't want a blocked duct. Ouch. There's another technique called breast compression.. When your baby has finished feeding and is just giving an occasional suck-suck-suck (not swallowing much) you encircle your breast with your thumb and forefinger and squeeze hard to squirt a bit of milk into your baby's mouth. Baby will suck and swallow for a while then go back to suck-suck-suck and you do it again. I tried both these techniques with DS2 and it did seem to make things a bit easier.

I am convinced that weaning him at 16 weeks cleared it up. The change in his nappies was so abrupt that I don't think it was just a coincidence. I did check with my HV about weaning him early and her opinion was that it wouldn't do him any harm if it was just baby rice. I think it just gave his stomach something else to work.