black diarrhea

[graye_pearl]

My 2.5 year old has had a diarrhea stomach bug since Thursday night (it's now Saturday evening). She's had a low grade fever, but is fine and even happy between diarrhea episodes, although she complains of a tummy ache, especially when she's going.

This afternoon she had a regular brown colored diarrhea movement, but just before she was done, she went more and it was BLACK. I called the our local nurse hotline, and they advised I take her to the ER.

I'm going to take her in soon, but wanted any advice or experience with this before we go in.

Her fever is gone now, and she is playing, so I feel almost silly for taking her to the ER.

What do you think?

[Addy's Mom]

Probably an obvious question, but did she have any Pepto Bismol recently? That turns stools black.

I might wait for one more bowel movement and see what the color is. If it's still black, I'd go to the ER. But that's just me, I don't want to contradict medical advice because it might be serious. It might mean bleeding somewhere in the digestive system.

[graye_pearl]

Nope, no pepto here.

I'm waiting to see if she has to go again. Of course, the time I actually WANT her to poop, she tells me she doesn't have to go!

Thanks for you're response!

Edited to add:
she also has a sort of strange sweet smelling breath - almost like sweet playdough. I know it sounds weird, but isn't breath connected to the gut? Jeez, I wish she would poop again!

[William's Mom]

Just wondering how she is now? Hugs!

[mbravebird]

Black could be old dried blood, a significant amount if it's entirely black. At the ER they'll take a stool sample and culture it for blood. If you have any of the black poop left, you could take it in.

Or it could be lots of blueberries. Has she had lots of blueberries?

[lolar2]

If she's lost her appetite and hasn't eaten much, that could cause ketosis which would cause the sweet-smelling breath. I hope they help her out quickly at the ER!

[katheek77]

I would definitely take her in.

Between the blood in her stool, the abdominal pain, and the ketones in her breath, it sounds like there is something that needs to be taken seriously. Ketones on the breath indicate a severe electrolyte imbalance (ie...dehydration). She souds like she's definitely getting dehydrated, and you're going to need to get her rehydrated and find out what's causing such bloody, painful diarrhea.

I hope she feels better soon.

[lalaland42]

Any update OP?

[Talula Fairie]

This is pretty serious. Take your child to the ER. Not tomorrow, NOW. Assuming you haven't already.

[graye_pearl]

not to worry...

Well, it turns out that the black stuff in her poop was actually just from the vitamin I had given her earlier on in the day. Apparently, iron containing vitamins can give the poop sort of a "coffee grounds" appearance, and b/c she has diarrhea, the not-well-digested iron supplements mixed in and made her poop look black. I haven't given her another since yesterday afternoon, and it's now back to it's "normal" diarrhea.

I've been giving her a ton of smart water, and the doc's said she's actually well hydrated considering all the diarrhea.

I'm still concerned about the poop though. It's been really mucous-y, and now that I'm not concerned about the color so much, I am going to worry about the consistency. I'm have a bad feeling this tummy bug might actually be caused by parasites - AHHH!

I'm taking her in to the our family doc. tomorrow to run a full fecal / parasite scan on a sample. I hope I get to the bottom of this soon...I hate not knowing what's going on. I'll try and remember to update when I find out what's going on with all the mucous, in case anybody wants to know.

Just wanted to add:
Thank you for all the replies!