Different colored poo

[laralou]

One of my twins has orange poo and the other's is dark green. What could be causing the difference since they eat the same thing and have the exact same dna?

Is dark green significant for something like teething or illness?

[Drewsmom]

I'm not a lac. consultant but I can tell you from my experience that it could be one of two things. Most likely when a green poo happens it is b/c the baby is eating more of the foremilk vs. the hindmilk (the fattier milk that comes at the end of feedings). Do you feed each one on one side each time or switch? I was able to feed ds on one side each time. Your breasts will adjust to the production that's needed, so that may be an easy way to keep track of foremilk/hindmilk.

The second reason that caused it in my little one was allergens, or things that I was eating that were not being processed well in his tummy. Usually allergenic food gets passed through too quickly and that causes greenness in poop. Milk was the big allergen for him as well as soy. I would try the first suggestion first though and then if you're sure that the baby is getting hte hind milk then look for allergens.

The orange poop is pretty normal from what I remember. Depending on how old the baby is, I seem to remember htat the first couple of months at least.

[laralou]

They only nurse one side all day long (and usually nurse for 30 mins plus each time) so I doubt it is too little hind milk.


Do I have to do the elimination diet to find out what she is allergic to? I already cut out milk and chocolate.

Can one be allergic and the other not be if they are identical? Does anyone know?

[mom3]

The same thing has happened with my twin boys from time to time. I'm not sure about the allergy thing (mine are fraternal) but they are separate people and their systems could process things differently as each has their own experiences with the world. I can think of a couple of reasons dd might have gotten less hindmilk than you think. If she is a less aggressive nurser then 30 minutes might not have been enough that time to get all the hindmilk she usually does. Your breasts could also have been full of more foremilk if she nursed less the time before and that filled her up before she got more hindmilk. Unless this is a daily occurrence I wouldn't worry about it. Babies just sometimes have upset tummies and we never figure out why : .

[laralou]

Her poo has been dark green consistantly for over a week. She also does twice as many as the orange poo baby. Maybe I should call her doc?

[DaryLLL]

http://www.drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/poop.htm

[laralou]

So it looks like it is either a virus or teething. Since it has been going on for over a week, I guess it is teething (already thought she was due to all the chewing, drooling etc). Mom says I had 2 teeth by 4 mos so maybe she does resemble her momma after all (all she got from me was the cleft chin- looks just like her daddy!).