Green Bowel Movements of a 8 Weeks Old Breastfed Infant

[Mawood]

I have an eight weeks old little girl and she breastfeeds just fine with lots of bowel movements or "pipi" diapers. However her bowel movements used to be yellow custard like but recently she has a lot of really green ones (with strings). She 'll still have some yellow ones or sometimes a mixture of green and yellow. I remember reading somewhere that green would mean she is not getting enough?? I don't seem to remember where I read it though and can't find it again.

Should I worry or change something when her bowel movements are greenish?

Thanks so much for your insight!!!

[cheryllynn]

If I remember right, she is not getting enough hind milk. I'm not sure about the strings.

[ellairiesmom]

nak

a friend who is a lc told me that color isn't really an issue as much as whether there is blood, mucus etc. if it's really foamy, it could be too much foremilk & you could try to just have her nurse longer on one breast.

dd is same age & we go from yellow to green all the time. sometimes seedy, sometimes stringy.

i recently read a thread here that said there were some new thoughts on hindmilk & foremilk not being that different??? i gotta try & find it so i can link it...

anyway-if there is no blood or mucus & she seems normal/happy-i think it's fine.

[groovyem]

We went thru the same thing. I never really got an answer. Some say not enough hind milk, maybe a virus, I also heard eating too quickly. It passed. And since she was good in all other aspects I tried not too worry (but we do anyways!).

[fruitfulmomma]

If you have overactive letdown then she is getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk, which will cause green foamy poops. If you think that is what it is, you could do a couple of things... latch her on and then remove her and let down into a towel and then latch her again or do block feeding which would mean feeding off the same side for several feedings in a row and then switching breasts. So like four hours on your right breast and then switch to your left breast for all feeding for the next four hours. This should help her get the hind milk and also help balance out your supply.

[PatioGardener]

If baby is happy and growing well, with no blood or mucus in the stool then I would not worry what colour it is! We all poop different colours from time to time.

[Mirrormonkey]

We have green poopies lately too, no froth though so I am not worried. I like what Dr. Newman says, if baby is gaining and healthy then put on colored glasses so you can't see what color the poop is!

[rlmueller]

Poo

Laura is the same way. If she is a little boogery for some reason, the poo goes green. She is alive, well, and thriving.

[northerngirl]

what are the "strings"? is that mucus? nak

[Mawood]

Thank You!

Hmm, I didn't think of mucus when I look at the strings...but she does foam it out a lot of time. We nurse a lot, long times (like one hour on one breast) and I can feel it coming down several times. I thought we were nursing too slow. She is a very happy baby though and gaining weight just fine it seems!