pls help: poop question

[bubbamummy]

My 3 and a half month old daughter is given expressed milk from a bottle. I exclusively pump for her. I also pumped for my son for a year and this never happened with him.

her poops are almost always green, not bright green, but def. green. She has no other syptoms, no rash, no fussiness, no gas or colic. She is happy, content, sleeps well and gains pretty well (usually around 5oz a week). She sometimes has some stringy mucus in there too-but like I said, no other 'symptoms'. I know green poop can be a foremilk/hindmilk imbalence but im quite the pro at emptying my breats with the pump and she never seems gassy or upset. She goes 3-4hrs between bottles so im guessing she must be getting suffcient hindmilk?!

My other guess was a dairy sensitivity, but again, no other symptoms at all.

should this still be something I concern myself with? or do some babies just like to poop greenish poop?

[PatioGardener]

If baby is gaining well, there is no blood in the stool and baby is not in discomfort then I would not worry about poop colour at all.

[Amanda L]

When my son was a couple of months old he would have green poo's without any other signs of discomfort. I figured he had a mild sensitivity to something (probably dairy since I love me some dairy!) but as long as he was gaining well and nothing else was going on I wouldn't mess with it. They went away as he got older, I'm assuming because his gut matured enough to handle my diet.

[love2mother]

My DD has always had green poo, and she is EBF, now 5 mos old. Like you said- no other symptoms (no gas, fussiness, etc) and is gaining weight nicely, so I have been assuming it's just her "style" of poo! Nothing to worry about that I am aware of

[bubbamummy]

Thanks for the replies. Ive been worrying about this for weeks but every thing I find relates it to too much foremilk - which im almost 100% certain isnt the issue, a virus - again, pretty sure she doesnt have an on going virus and dairy sensitivity. I was worried I was damaging her gut with something I was eating its good to know that some other babies poop green too

[PatioGardener]

good article on poop :http://drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/general/poop.html

[mojobin]

My babe has always had greenish poo as well and I've never thought anything of it. I honestly thought green was in the range of normal colors. Going to check out that link now.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by mojobin

My babe has always had greenish poo as well and I've never thought anything of it. I honestly thought green was in the range of normal colors. Going to check out that link now.

it is! "In summary, stools in breastfeeding babies are predictably green, brown, yellow or orange. "

from the link - Dr jay Gorden

nak

[P.J.]

My baby also had a lot of green poo until he was about 6 weeks old, and sometimes still gets them at 9 weeks. I had read various things from not enough hindmilk to allergies, but my midwife said it was okay and we didn't do anything about it, and lo and behold it went away on its own.

[bubbamummy]

thanks ladies, Ive learnt so much more about poop!

its good to know I dont need to cut out dairy- that's what I was afraid of (yes selfish ) I think id die with out dairy in my diet

[stephbrownthinks]

Everyone has already given you a lot of reassurances, but I thought I'd chime in as well too. I asked my IBCLC about this and she basically said that as long as the baby was happy and didn't seem to be in pain/discomfort to not worry about the green poo.

Good luck!

[Heba]

Yup. If all else is fine, Dr Jack Newman suggests wearing sunglasses when changing nappies. Then we won't worry about what colour the poo is

[Casha'sMommy]

I think the mucousy poo in combo with green poo can be a sign of a food sensitivity. You might consider keeping a food journal to see if you can determine what you're eating that might be a culprit. Maybe a digestive enzyme and some probiotics for you because if you're not digesting proteins completely then dd may be getting something that's a bit difficult possibly resulting in a odd poo here and there.

HTH and GL!