Mucus in stool Long, (vent)

[muschiCat1]

My 4 week old baby has been getting mucus in her stool a little more or less around the time she was 1 week old. She is exclusivey breast fed.I suspect a food allergy, but I am not too sure. Accompanied by this is a red ring around her bum (which went away 2 days after using an organic herbal tincture called MotherLove) and although i am happy it went away -- i fear that it's only because I've treated the symptom -- and not the underlying problem.... Aside from this, my baby girl is pretty gassy, cries in her sleep, always needs to be held, and has generally fussy some days. The dr also felt her belly and said that it's "hard". Apparently newborn's bellies should be soft so obviously something is bothering her gastrointestinely. During my pregnancy I had been vegan and very healthy. I compltely stayed away from any junk food, dairy, etc... it wasn't until I was in labor that I started eating unhealthier than usual mainly for comfort. I ate organic potato chips, brownies, chocolate covered raisins, etc .. Turned out that while in labor I actually had an allergic reaction from something because my lip swelled up quite a lot. After she was born, my midwives offered me non organic indian food (which usually i would never eat) .. being so tired i accepted it and am pretty sure there was dairy in it. The first week of my baby's life i ate lots of grilled chz, mac and cheese, pizza etc mainly because that is what i was craving, and they are all easy to prepare. Soon i noticed the red ring around her bum hole .. and the mucus in her diapers. So i eliminated dairy completely from my diet.  That was 3 weeks ago. The problem still has not gone away. I don't do soy either. Today i started an elimination diet. I am living only on carrots, kale, and avocados because I am so desperate for this to go away!! It hurts me so much to see her in such discomfort. And i worry about her future. Will it always be like this?   I feel like it is ALL MY FAULT. I should have known better than to eat the dairy and junk food while in labor. If I hadn't done that -- would the situation still be the same?

My drs also suspect she has thrush as she has some white on the back of her tongue (not much though). Could this be causing the rash as well as the mucusy stools and G.I discomort? Aside from the elimination diet, I am working to get rid of the thrush, as well as supplementing her with Kirkman Labs probiotics. What else can I do?

I was wondering if any one else had experienced a situation similar to this one. Also, if anyone had battled thrush and also noticed mucus in baby's stool? I have been researching thrush and have not found that to be one of the symptoms?

I feel so horrible , guilty, and scared ...... and to make matters worse I don't have any friends or family. None. I feel so alone in all of this. Wish i had someone to talk to :(

[scsigrl]

The ED you propose is NOT healthy for anyone.  You or your child.  You need a lot more than that.

It is nothing you ate while pregnant, during labor or the week after.  If your child is going to have allergies, they are going to no matter what.  Please don't feel like it's all your fault.  It isn't. It's genetics.

Did you have antibiotics during labor?  If so, there may be issues with thrush and it can/does often cause GI issues.  

If I were you, I would eat normally, keep a really good food log and get on probiotics for you and the baby for a while (esp. if you had antibiotics in labor).  

[SweetSilver]

You are not to blame, and you caught this right away.  Even if you haven't figured out the cause, you are working on it actively.  That is the best you can do.  You will figure it out.  And you do have family.  That baby is the beginning.  You can't confide in her yet, but you can create the family you want.  You have the love, I see it.  Give a little to yourself.  Postpartum is an extremely emotional time.  Despair and hopelessness come in waves.  You don't have to sit and do nothing about them, but you don't have to despair about your despair either.  It can be perfectly normal.  This will get better, it will.

[tashantx]

 nak Hi mama . I can totally relate to how you are feeling right now my 9 week old has mucus poop as well. I definately belive candida/thrush is related to it it causes an imbalance in the gut flora which causes reactions to the proteins in your milk creating inflamation (hense the mucus). I also totally overindulged after my baby was born but I wasn't nearly as disciplined as you during pregnancy. I had/have thrush on my nipples too but it is clearing oddly is controlled better when I avoid carbs. Ours mainly started when my son was given a numbing agent and a teeny bit of sugar water on a gauze when he got his tongue tie clipped . just that tiny amount plus my imbalance totally threw the yeast into overdrive,I never had any abx or yeast problems during pregnancy. don't beat your self up you will get it figured out with time and patience. This is just my opinion but doing that much of an elimination diet could deplete you (I know mamas bodies will take from there stores to make healthy milk) but do you want to risk stressing your body that much? you could just do the top eight first and see if you get improvement. we have seen good results with just shy of 2 weeks of dairy/soy/coffee elimination and about 4 days of gluten nuts  elimination. We still have yucky poo allthough we've had a couple semi normal poos and I'm trying to pinpoint things in my food diary. just in the  elim we've done so far my ds barely hiccups reflux symptoms are 90% better congestion is improved and fussiness is far better....I can sit him down when I need to most of the time. If you decide to do just the top 8 I'd suggest a food diary. Also I'm not sure how true this theory is but I have heard that the gastrointestinal system is the last to be symptomatic in cases of intolerances and is often the last to heal. my post is all over the place but if you search the site with keywords like thrush candida yeast allergies intolerance mucus stool etc you will see it has been suggested that the imbalance in gut flora causes intolerances. huge hugs!

[tashantx]

also my son has the ''bloated hard'' tummy and I'm pretty sure that one can be attributed to gluten...Is your babys poop the normal color but with mucus? I'm sure you probably know this but if it's dark green and frothy with mucus it could be a foremilk hindmilk imbalance. I've heard of green with mucus being allergies too but thought the imbalance was worth mentioning.