Is this green nappy normal??

[Essie3]

My son just produced a strange green nappy. He's 3 weeks old on Monday and breastfed exclusively.
The nappy was sort of stringy and a bit like spinach - normally it's yellowy brown.

Is he sick?

IT could be that he's getting too much of the fore milk during feeding. This is thinner and thirst quenching whereas the hind milk is thicker and more filling. Is he feeding for long enough at each breast before changing over?

Phew! Thanks for the quick reply.

Sounds like you might be right. Today we've travelled from N. Wales to London, and he's been really unsettled, and snacking at the breast instead of feeding properly. So I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's only been taking the foremilk. Would make sense - his feeds have been short and for comfort mainly (it seems).

Oh, I was worried there!

I agree wirh laylaandsethsmum but it isn't anything to panic about. My DC3 is 5 weeks old and I'm still getting the occasional green nappies from him despite trying to get him to drain one side before moving him over to the next.

With DC1 I read all sorts about how long to let her feed before changing over - many books seem to contradict each other and the HV contradicted them all. In the end I decided how long to feed before changing over seemed to change depending on our circumstances so I went on the fact that if I pulled her off and found that I still could get milk out relatively easily myself then I kept her on that side for longer.

Mention it to your HV if you are worried though and there is always NHS direct if you want an answer quickly. IME it has nearly always been down to too much foremilk rather than anything more sinister. If you completely forget about the green nappy and look at all the other signs do you think he is OK? If you do then he is probably fine.

X post - serves me right for trying to type and BF at once!

Essie, I really wouldn't read into the colour of the nappies too much. All of my four had a phase where they had green nappies for a few days but they were all healthy thriving babies and although I worried about it on ds1 (PFB!) it has ever bothered me since