[Godiva]

My dd is almost 9 months old now and has been a fantastic sleeper since she was 3 months old. She's been sleeping 12-13 hours a night straight through. The last few weeks though shes been sleeping much more than usual during the day and she's been waking very frequently (during the day sometimes waking every minute, at night every 20 min to every few hours) and just crying so hard! She won't nurse so I just hold/rock her til she falls back asleep but she wakes again shortly thereafter. I don't think it's teething since she didn't have many problems with the first one and she's not being very "chewy". She sounds like shes either terrified or in pain when she cries.

A few other things I've noticed, could be related, might not: her poop is extremely black- I have no idea if that is possibly a healthy color for a mostly breastfed, some solids babe. She is spitting up a lot more than usual. She has lost weight (could be from being a crazy crawling maniac

: or I have a messed up scale). She is generally unhappy during the day, she will crawl away from me but cry that I'm not there (if I go pick her up she's happy). She was sick 2 weeks ago but has seemed to be better for the past week, I had the same illness and I was better a week ago with no lingering effects.

What could possibly be wrong? Do I need to scrounge up a dr and fight the no vax fight? (we don't do WBV, and recently moved so no dr yet) Any and all ideas are very appreciated. TIA!

 

[famousmockngbrd]

Now, I don't want to freak you out. She is probably fine. But the black stool concerns me a little and if I were you I'd take her to a doctor. Do you have a ped.? IME, usually when you bring a child in for an actual illness (vs. a WBV) they don't even ask you about vaxes. The emergency room will ask but they just mark it on a chart, they don't try to convince you to vax or anything. Their job is to treat your child.

The reason the black stool worries me is because I think I have read that blood can look black, and bloody stool is not good. Like I said it is probably nothing but I'd still get her checked out.

 

[Ivan's Mom]

Hi,

I feel for you. Ivan does the partly awake thing too. The wimpering, crying, thrashing and kicking me in bed. I do not know what it is either. It does not correspond with teething all the time. When he was little, he would do it and sometimes pass gas. Maybe keep you pain reliever of choice close by for some dosing? That is what I do. I know it is hard.

 

[~member~]

http://www.drjaygordon.com/developme...ricks/poop.asp

Quote:

Black stools often accompanied by constipation This is the result of iron supplementation. Iron fortified infant foods and infant vitamins can cause constipation. A healthy breastfed baby does not need iron supplementation. The iron in breastmilk is much more bioavailable than any other form.

Perhaps no need to worry, as I reread and it said you had been feeding your baby. HTH.

 

[Brinda]

Gotta second the taking her in for the black stools. They will want a sample, so try to take one in as close to the appt. as possible. Even if you do have to put up a fight, I would. Black stools can be a bad sign.

 

[~member~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bailey228 What could possibly be wrong?

Sounds like constipation from too much iron. Try to get her some water. If she is so constipated she is spitting up and not nursing, she can be in danger of dehydration.
http://www.saferchild.org/dehydrat.htm This is signs for severe dehydration, not moderate/mild. If your baby matches any of these symptoms, then, yes she needs to go in.

Quote:

With severe dehydration, call for emergency help: If you, your child, or someone you know has symptoms of severe dehydration (dry mouth, sunken eyes, reluctance to drink, inability to pass urine or cry tears, high fever, lethargy, confusion, cold hands and feet, rapid and weak pulse, rapid breathing, (in infants, a sunken fontanel) -- call for emergency help and have the person sip a electrolyte-replacement fluid (for babies or children, one that's made especially for them such as Pedialyte).

Hope your baby feels better soon.

 

[mamaverdi]

I agree with MITB. It depends on what solids you are feeding her. What about cuttting those out and see if it goes away?

If however you think she is in pain and needs to be seen, trust your intuition and find someone to take her to. Maybe call local homebirth midwives to ask about no-vax friendly docs in your area....even if you didn't have a homebirth.

 

[Godiva]

Oh geez, I didn't know that black was really a bad sign! I thought it could have been from her food. She hasn't been constipated or any other elimination changes. And no iron supplements or formula. (I have been taking a basic multi though, could the iron in that be getting to her?) I will find a ped or a GP in the morning. There should be some good ones around here, I live in a crunchy area right by Dartmouth medical center. If anyone in the upper valley area of VT/NH knows of any good docs let me know please.

Oh one more thing that could be related, might not: she bumps her head frequently sometimes quite hard but I've never seen any marks/lumps and she's up and bopping away again seconds later (she head bangs a lot and sometimes catches the furniture or a wall)

 

[Godiva]

Oh, I forgot to say in the post above, she doesn't have the signs of dehydration. She nurses a lot (she only refuses when she does this waking and crying thing) and she loves to drink water out of a cup so she freuently drinks water as well (she gets more excited to see the cup than any food I give her)

 

[eclipse]

The head bopping thing is pretty normal for her age, so that wouldn't concern me. The multi-vit could be the culprit - they affected my oldest. The black stool would concern me, unless you're feeding her things like black beans (that would come out the same color they went in). The only time any of my kids had black stool was when Liam was nursing through a pregnancy and my colostrum came in - that made nasty, sticky, black poop. The poop combined with the sudden change in sleep habits and temperment would be enough to get me to take her to the doctor.

 

[bri276]

I wouldn't worry about bumps, they're a normal part of childhood.

But the ladies are right, blood in the stool can be a sign of internal bleeding. It is very important that she be seen, forget about the vaxing issue and if they bring it up look at them like they're crazy and say "Can we please stick to this pressing issue and discuss vaxes at another point?" I doubt they'll even ask.

As a matter of fact- I would take her to an ER tonight. I do NOT like to scare mamas but black stools scare me. If she was acting normal and happy it would be one thing but from what you describe she is in pain.

 

[bri276]

Quote:

However, if your infant's stool is black or a red/jelly like consisitency you should notify your pediatrician since this can be a sign of a more serious problem, such as intestinal bleeding or blockage

http://parenting.lifestyle.excite.co...care/poop.html

I hope it's nothing serious, please update whenever you find out what it is.

 

[Godiva]

My husband just did some googling and found out that blueberries can cause "false" (not dangerous) black poop and well the other day we went bluberry picking

She had a bunch of blueberries but would it still cause black poop a few days later? Also it wouldn't explain the waking/crying. Which she is doing right now....

 

[flapjack]

Sorry you're going through this.
If one of mine were crying like that with funny poo I'd pop them in the car and take them to the emergency room, if we didn't have a doctor. Better safe than sorry.

 

[EVC]

Chances are she's fine, but if I were you I would take her in just for peace of mind. You'll feel much better

 

[~member~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bailey228 My husband just did some googling and found out that blueberries can cause "false" (not dangerous) black poop and well the other day we went bluberry picking She had a bunch of blueberries but would it still cause black poop a few days later? Also it wouldn't explain the waking/crying. Which she is doing right now....

Blueberries shouldn't cause constipation.

 

[mamabeth]

ITA with taking her in to check, but I do have to say to maybe ease your mind a bit that my dd LOVES blueberries and we have to cut her off because if we don't, she will have crazy black poos for a few days (she is 3.5 now) and her "tummy hurts."

Also I can't imagine that there's not a non-vax friendly ped in that area? let us know what's up.

 

[earthmama369]

My first thought was blueberries, too -- dd's poop stays black for days after eating blueberries.

 

[Godiva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MamaInTheBoonies Blueberries shouldn't cause constipation.

I mentioned before that she is not constipated. Still going like she always does.

I brought her in today and did get a vax lecture

(yes... because vaxes are completely relevant to black poop and crying) It wasn't horrible though, I just said "we're waiting" (..indefinatly) so he only bugged me for a minute. I have to bring back a stool sample but he thinks it was the buleberries. It still doesn't explain the waking and crying all of a sudden so his advice for that was to stop nursing her to sleep. ::sigh:: drs and their crazy advice. She's been sleeping for 5 months now straight through the night after only needing to nurse for 5 min..that's bad how? Plus she isn't even waking to nurse, she refuses to nurse when she wakes. A baby waking in pain has nothing to do with nursing to sleep. So we'll do the stool sample and get it tested for blood and go from there. Hopefully it's just the blueberries.

 

[bri276]

ugh, IDIOT. Yeah stop nursing at night, this is the time to do that, when your baby isn't feeling well.

I've had to collect stool samples before- fun fun fun!! I could barely get enough for the three tests they wanted to do. I put a piece of plastic wrap inside her diaper and then scraped the poo off. Gross, but otherwise the diaper soaked up too much of it. They need kind of a good amount of it or the test can be wrong. Good luck, I hope it's just the berries and maybe a tummy ache or something.