Breastfed 12+ green poos a day

[Sara1988]

Hey all,

My exclusively breastfeed baby is producing a LOT of poo and it's generally very watery and always green. She is gaining weight but it's slow. No other symptoms.

We've been referred to pediatrician but are yet to hear anything and it's been weeks.

Latch and tongue tie checked.

Any ideas?

My bf baby was still doing green poos after they were 'meant' to have turned yellow. Weight gain was slow as well. Turned out she had a tongue tie, and after we had it cut they changed to yellow straight away (next day). Someone told me it is the fatty hind milk that makes the poo yellow, so the green poo suggested she was only drinking the foremilk.

You said you've had tongue tie checked - was this with a proper tongue tie practitioner? My understanding is that, although knowledgeable, midwifes and health visitors are not qualified to check for tongue tie, and if it's a less obvious one you will need a proper practitioner to spot it.

I hope you hear from the pediatrician soon

Ours had 12+ green poos/day when very small, she still poos more than the average child! Welsh HV described poos as "like lavabread". It turned out she had cows milk protein allergy CMPA and soya allergy, took us more than a year to work it out. You could try cutting dairy/soya out of your diet for a week or two and see if it makes a difference. The protein passes into breast milk. We found oat milk the easiest substitute for milk. For a week or two you can just avoid cheese/yogurt (I find the non soya substitutes pretty gross) then if it does make a difference let your GP/HV know and do the research about nutrition, ladders etc and do the diet properly, happy to give pointers if it does turn out to be that. Good luck.

Mine had green poos as a soya allergy reaction. She also had CMPA and a tongue tie.

My friends baby had green poo when she was taking a spirulina supplement 😁

My second had this when I had a HUGE oversupply. Once my supply decreased and he was getting more hind milk, his poops turned yellow again and came in fewer amounts

My first thought was CMP allergy.

Thanks all.

I'm vegan, so not cows milk. Trialed no soya for three weeks no changed. Reintroduced and again no change. We think potentially oat, so trialling that now.

Oversupply definitely not an issue. If anything, concerns about undersupply.

Hindmilk theory would explain the green poos but not the amount. She also has seedy bits, which undigested milk fat.

Oh no what a nightmare to try cutting out oats as a vegan! Good luck. Also have you tried Infacol yet? We found that did help once we got up to the full dose.

Is that not for gas? Cause weirdly that's not affecting her despite the poos!

How slow is the weight gain?

Green poo can be allergy- proteins are your most likely culprits but if she's not gassy and very settled that reduces the chance of that.

Poor feeding, so not enough milk can also lead to green poo, have you tried compressions and switch feeding to improve weight gain? Have you seen an IBCLC?

Ditto extremely high supply can cause green poo but you don't think it's that.

Underlying illness is also possible from minor to more significant and that is what the paediatric team need to evaluate

Also worth thinking what you are eating in terms of supplements and foods as some can turn baby poo green although it's less common,

My first had this in tge first few weeks. I had a very big oversupply so she was only getting the watery foremilk and not getting the thicker hindmilk. She also had reflux. She still gained weight though. I was leaking everywhere. I went to a breastfeeding support group and they recommended block feeding on one boob for a fixed time before moving onto the next boob to fully empty the one boob and discourage the supply a bit on the other at the same time. I wouldn't recommend doing this without checking with a breastfeeding expert though. My supply settled by 12 weeks and I had a normal supply when I had my second baby.

Re the Infacol, we were dealing with gas and colic as well but from memory I think it consolidated the poos as well as helping the gas. Probably a different situation though to be fair as yours isn't milk allergy.

There's no evidence to support Infacol working! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8008533/

Was there no change at all after 3 weeks without soya? I'd say it took mine 3 weeks after me cutting out soya/ diary before it really helped her. I had to cut out all soy. Its in everything, soy lethicin soy flour. I didn't realise how common it was.

The seedy bits are normal if she's still small.

If you're vegan, do you eat a lot of greens? It can give them green poop. Has she no other symptoms like vomiting or actual discomfort, it's just the colour? 12 poops a day was normal for both my newborns.

@RabbitsEatPancakes I'm not worried about the seediness. Or necessarily the amount. It's that her weight gain is slow, so she's dropped percentiles and they're green and watery.

Infant feeding team don't seem to think intolerance cause she has no other symptoms. Three weeks of soya free made no difference and again no different when I had it again.

I know it's everywhere. I've been vegan for 15 years, I'm used to checking labels.

If not milk or soy allergy I'd expect it to be tounge tie. You would be surprised how often it's missed even when the midwife 'checks'

I've had IBCLC check

It could be other allergies. My daughter has 20! I was vegetarian and she's allergic to soya, pea protein, tomato, coconut and aubergine as well as others which were the stables of my diet. At first we couldn't notice patterns in symptoms it turned out I was eating several things every meal she was allergic too!

Green can also be caused by sugar in the diet,are you drinking anything that's sweet that could also be an allergen?

Had meeting today with infant feeding team. Latch OK. No tongue tie. Possible undersupply, so regular pumping suggested and breast compressions.