Dirty nappy still at newborn frequency

[Writerz34]

My almost 6 month old still has dirty nappies as frequently as when he was a newborn - they're yellow/brown/green, he's breastfed. Is this normal? I thought it was meant to slow down especially overnight! Haven't started solids yet.

Definitely didn't slow down for us! Once at at age we had 9 in one day (all of which overflowed) 🫣

I'm sorry I don't believe it's normal. My DC was like this and it turned out she was allergic to things in my diet. The most likely culprits are egg and dairy because they are very allergenic and also the proteins transfer to breast milk more so than, say, nuts which are allergenic but don't get into the milk as much.

Google the top allergens and compare it against what you've been eating and consider removing the most obvious suspects; keep in mind there could be more than one allergy.

Does she have eczema?

No eczema! I have very little dairy and egg, and it's been constant since birth so it doesn't seem like a specific reaction to something. Maybe it's worth seeing a GP I guess, if it could be allergies

Ours didn't slow down during the day at that age but did during the night.... Unless teeth were on the way.
Teething always made DS poo like a newborn I think it may have been something to do with the extra saliva. But at 6 months definitely max 1 change around 4am, sometimes would go through to 6.

Ok well if there's no eczema that's a good sign, maybe it's not that.

My daughter was like this and it was due to food allergies. Unfortunately if it is allergies it has to be nothing to say for sure. My daughter reacted to a barely visible amount of tomato ketchup on a bacon sandwich.
It might be worth keeping a food diary to see if there is correlations and eat a lot of egg or dairy one day to see if it makes things worse. It take take 3 days for a reaction to occur but when I challenge my daughters egg allergy she reacted within the hour. My daughter has 20 food allergies and doesn't have eczema

What is the consistency of the poos this is probably more important from an allergy perspective than the frequency. My daughter's are pure liquid when reacting and often with mucus in but not always. Her poos were always the consistency of a runny fruit smoothie. A friend of mine only realised her eldest had a cmpa when he youngest did. He had more obvious symptoms but she noticed how his poos were similar to his brother who was now 2 and being treated for toddler diarrhoea. She cut dairy out his diet too and have a big improvement.

Do you have many soya products in particular soya milk, yoghurts and meat replacements? About half of babies that react to dairy also react to soya. When my daughter was born I was mostly vegetarian and when I completed my food diary I found that she was really bad 36-72h after I had eat soya meat replacements. She is exceptionally sensitive to soya and can have soya fed poultry directly

Thank you! @Superscientist they are sometimes liquidy and have mucus, but not always (frequency is always there though), I'll try keeping a food diary for a week and see how I go - and I guess maybe it'll just become more obvious once we start weaning. I have some soya but not much!

My LO was going on average 10-15 times a day as a newborn, always runny/mucous and I kept getting told it's "normal" and should slow down...it didn't! I went dairy free when she was 2 months old (she also had a severe nappy rash but no other symptoms) and she is now 5 months old and goes much less, 1-2 times a day. Her poops also have a much better texture and no longer have mucous. The nappy rash also cleared. If you are considering a dairy allergy, you need to be completely dairy free as even a small amount can cause symptoms x

Mucus is definitely not normal. Are there any other symptoms like excessive crying?

No excessive crying, he seems totally fine otherwise!

It was allergies for us..it can take 72 hours from eating the allergen to getting an 'allergy nappy' so consider that in your food diary. For us it was eggs (me consuming one teaspoon of mayo once a week was enough to cause a reaction), dairy and oats.

Some babies can be completely chilled with allergies. Another friend (most of my friends are now other allergy mums!) Her first had a cmpa with silent reflux and very unhappy prior to going dairy free. Her second was super chill no symptoms started on formula and from then on he had horrendous nappies until he was also put on formula. After weaning they discovered other allergies still always a very chilled.

Loose stools alone can be indicative of allergies all these other things are additional flags but their absence doesn't mean it's not allergies.

Food dairy for a week or two is the way forward a think and when you start weaning take it slow and get nice and comfortable with various veg and fruit before rushing in with allergen directly. When you do give them early in the week mon-wed in case of a reaction the GP /HV will be still still open 72h later. Similarly give early in the day - lunch rather than dinner, gives you chance to get help in motion if needed, and if possible when you have support near by for your confidence if nothing else.