6 wk old and runny green poop...should I worry?

[shinaabikwe]

My 6 wk old has been having very wet and green bowl movements in every other diaper change or so for the past few days. She is breastfed so I am wondering if it might be something I am eating or if it's just a normal variation and I shouldn't stress.

She is my first so I am not so familiar with baby bowel movements!

TIA

[mlwlovell]

Is she otherwise acting normal? How has her weight gain been?

[Llyra]

Runny poo in a newborn is normal and nothing to worry about. Most babies have runny or soft poos until they start eating a significant amount of solids.

Green can be fine, and it can be an indication that something is amiss, but it's nothing to lose any sleep over. Possibilities: 1. baby may have been exposed to and is fighting off a gastrointestinal virus. That can cause green poo, even if you see no other symptoms. If that's the case, it'll stop in less than two weeks. 2. you may be dealing with oversupply. If you're producing too much milk, baby may be getting too much of the less-fatty foremilk and less of the fatty hindmilk. The foremilk is higher in lactose and can cause green, frothy poops. The solution to this is to take steps to reduce oversupply-- like block feeding, for example. 3. It may just be normal variation.

[beebalmmama]

I had the same thing with my LO at about 6-8 wks. I started obsessing about it, trying to figure out a cause. I saw my midwife at 7 wks for our follow up and she said I really was over analyzing. He was gaining weight really well and seemed otherwise healthy. So it is probably a variation of normal unless you are seeing other signs or lack of growth, etc.

[ThankfulMama]

Just wanted to jump in there to say that it could also be an intolerance even if the LO is growing/gaining fine. Any other symptoms? Does she seem fussy? Have a rash (diaper or other), etc?

[tzs]

i always heard it was a foremilk imbalance thing like one of the other posters said. mine can even have an occasional random green poo.

[MsVyky]

My babe has had slimy, green poo on and off for as long as I can remember. I took her to her paediatrician and he told me not to worry as long as she is otherwise content and is gaining fine.

[ellairiesmom]

thread crashing...hope it's ok i share our experiences with our 4 week old...

we are dealing with the same thing here. but she is also very gassy so i have been more obsessed with it than normal.

pediatrician is not concerned at all...they are saying as long as there is no blood, the baby is gaining weight-that any color poop is ok with a BF baby...???? and they thought she would outgrow the gassiness & grunting???

i was reading some threads here about the foremilk/hindmilk thing & I thought some mentioned that experts are now saying they don't think there is much of a difference in them...but I had always read there was??? anyone know anything about the newest chatter on that?

i am trying to decide if in our case, it is normal early digestive system gassiness, overactive letdown/over supply OR a food allergy...i am dreading going down that road & it seems EVERYONE on mothering.com would have you take out dairy. that seems so overwhelming!

[Path2Felicity]

Hey mama

My babe was having green, runny poos a little bit earlier than that. But, at about 5-6 weeks, it was accompanied by vomiting, stomach pain, etc. I took out dairy, but it didn't help much. Her pediatrician had me take everything out in my diet except for a few things. I'm still on that very restricted diet, but her poos are yellow and she seems less distressed. I will be adding in food one at a time.

If your babe is otherwise doing fine, then I wouldn't worry about it. However, if she is upset/gassy/in pain OR if she's not gaining weight OR if she develops rashes anywhere on her body, I would say that maybe you should start with eliminating dairy. For us, dairy didn't do much (but soy did!), but for so many, that's the real culprit.

The digestive systems of these babes are really weak and so we just need to make sure we are really gentle with them.

[EricaE]

Yep, my ped said that green poop can be a sign of too much foremilk, and not enough hindmilk.