Diarrhoea vs poo - how do you tell the difference?

[newmum234]

What does newborn diarrhoea look like compared to their normal poo? My five week old’s poo looks similar to mustard in its colour and consistency. It’s obviously not solid at this stage, so how would I know if he had diarrhoea? I just wanted to check because he’s already done two poos this morning but normally only does one a day.

It's much wetter. Newborn poo has a paste like consistency.

It’s not always pasty. Breastfed poo in particular can be very watery at times. If baby is otherwise happy and poos are normal colour, and not mucousy, I wouldn’t be concerned unless they were pooing VERY frequently (like considerably more often than they were feeding). Is baby feeding more in the warmer weather?

Poos are normal colour and not mucousy. He seems to be drinking less but more often in the warmer weather.

When my newborn had a tummy bug his poos were much darker in colour and basically water