16 week old with cold, diarrhea with small amount of blood?

[sunwise]

Hi all - my 16 week old seems to recently have caught a cold. (DH and I have it as well.) He has been congested and coughing for several days. However, he is not acting sick - he has been acting the same as ever, and is not having any trouble nursing or sleeping. In fact, the past 2 nights he slept for 9.5 hours straight, which he has never done before. We have been sleeping with a humidifier and keeping DS more upright when sleeping to try to help with the congestion.

However, today DS seems to be getting diarrhea. He has had 4 watery stools that are basically the same color as his normal stools. But tonight he pooped while being changed, and at the end of the poop there was a dime-sized blob of blood- tinged mucus. I looked at the rest of the poop and did not notice any more blood. But my husband changed him for his other poops today, so I don't know whether those poops had any blood or not.

So I'm worried and probably going to call the pedi tomorrow morning. But does anyone have any words of advice on this? Thanks!

[carrierwright]

I agree, a call to the pedi in the am is in order. Sometimes when there's blood tinged bms there's been a small fissure in the anus that's bleeding. If he's had several watery bms he may have some breakdown of the skin tissue which would be expected. (As long as you're such he didn't eat a red crayon or fruity pebbles today that's probably what's going on :) ) Good luck through the night!

[sunwise]

Well, for the record, I did call and spoke with the pedi's advice nurse this morning. They told me not to worry unless the diarrhea persists longer than 2 weeks or if DS gets severely dehydrated. She also said that they are not concerned about a small amount of blood in the poop - she said to call if there is ever a lot of blood, but in small amounts to not worry. She just told me to breastfeed often to keep him hydrated and other than that, I don't need to do anything. As it is, we are seeing the pedi in 2 weeks for his 4-month well baby visit, so I can discuss it more then if needed.

[sosurreal09]

well you did say it's mucousy...does he have known food intolerances?

[Asiago]

Sounds like some sort of virus or bacteria in the GI tract may have caused a bit of inflammation and an immune response. My guess is that it's related to the cold virus he has. 

[sunwise]

No known food intolerances, but I am keeping my eyes open for the future. His diarrhea ended after one day and he seems better now. His pooping and sleeping schedules seem to have returned to normal.

[sosurreal09]

thats wonderful! trust me you dont want intolerances lol my DD had a ton of them...it "started" with a cold then 2 weeks of diarrhea and I was flipping out and ther then pedi was like its a virus shes fine...then i had her stools tested and a whole weeks worth of stools were bloody! then i put myself on an elimination diet and got a new pedi! (i swear the whole thing started when I vax'ed her but thats a whole nother story)