Green newborn poop

[namasteak]

At first I thought it was because of a fore milk/hind milk imbalance but for the last 4 days I have been hand pumping/expressing 1/4oz - 1/2oz before every nursing session to help with my over active letdown. I don't hear him gulping, the milk doesn't dribble out his mouth and he sleeps a bit better so I think it's working & he's getting enough hind milk.

It's not mucousy but it is runny. What do you think it is? Should I ask the pedi?

[t]

I think the color varies. As long as it's not frothy I think your good.

[Deleted]

It's not really necessarily anything. It's on the spectrum of normal. I'd give it at least a week, and if you want to talk to someone it would be a LC or LLL leader, not a pedi.

[kaycee]

I heard that the color is based on how long it took for it to get out of his system. I will try to look for the article again. Yellow is super fast, green is slower, and dark is really slow.

[namasteak]

Oct 12, 2015 9:08:56 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

It's not really necessarily anything. It's on the spectrum of normal. I'd give it at least a week, and if you want to talk to someone it would be a LC or LLL leader, not a pedi.

I'm working with an LC

[namasteak]

Oct 12, 2015 9:11:46 GMT -5 kaycee said:

I heard that the color is based on how long it took for it to get out of his system. I will try to look for the article again. Yellow is super fast, green is slower, and dark is really slow.

I saw this article and wonder if maybe he has a milk sensitivity like DS1 did since he has lime green poop. I haven't had much dairy though...

incredibleinfant.com/health/baby-poop-color-chart/

[pooh8402]

E had green poop last week for a day, but it quickly changed back to yellow. Musty have been something I ate. I do eat lots of dairy, but there had been no change in my dairy intake that would cause the green poop.

I asked on here and was told that it could be normal, but to call the doctor if it lasted longer than a few days. It didn't.

[namasteak]

Oct 12, 2015 9:16:04 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

E had green poop last week for a day, but it quickly changed back to yellow. Musty have been something I ate. I do eat lots of dairy, but there had been no change in my dairy intake that would cause the green poop.

I asked on here and was told that it could be normal, but to call the doctor if it lasted longer than a few days. It didn't.

This has been going on for at least a week.

[heygrey]

Once Rs turned green it never went back to yellow. My doctor insisted it was within the realm of normal and no matter what I tried at home (expressing foremilk, cutting out dairy) it didn't make a difference.

[namasteak]

Oct 12, 2015 9:22:11 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Once Rs turned green it never went back to yellow. My doctor insisted it was within the realm of normal and no matter what I tried at home (expressing foremilk, cutting out dairy) it didn't make a difference.

This is good to hear!

[Deleted]

"I was just asked by email to post about green bowel movements (stools, poops). My usual response to mothers is along following the following lines:

"Is the baby usually content? Is the baby drinking well from the breast (see the videos at our website that show babies drinking well from the breast or not)? Is the baby gaining weight well? If the answer to all these questions is "yes" then don't worry about the colour of the poops, don't go on any special diets, don't feed the baby on just one breast at a feeding. Feed the baby normally, that is "Finish one side and offer the second side". If the baby doesn't want the second breast, fine. But offer it. Do not do "block feeding"."

Note that keeping the baby on just one breast is not the answer. If the baby is not actually drinking at the breast, he is not getting hindmilk. I wish we had never heard of hindmilk. True, milk increases in fat as the baby continues to get milk from the breast (but not if he's sucking without drinking). Usually the notion of hindmilk causes confusion and results in mothers getting advice that doesn't make sense.

I am often tempted to say also, "put on sunglasses, so you don't see the colour of the bowel movements", but I don't.

If the baby is not usually content, if the baby is not drinking well, if the baby is not gaining weight well, then the problem is not the colour of the bowel movements.

What causes the bowel movements to be green? Rapid transit through the baby's gut. That's all!"

That's from Dr. Jack Newman. Please, don't worry too much about this. He's a smart guy.

[Deleted]

That post from Dr Newman is awesome!

I heard about block feeding a couple of months ago and it just sounds like a good way to get mastitis.

[statgirl]

Are you taking Colace? When I did, my son had greener stinkier poop, so I had to cut it out and go with other methods for myself. (It wasn't working on me anyway--but it had a hell of impact on the kiddo).

[namasteak]

Thanks for that @tokenhoser ! He is gaining weight well (up 2lbs when he was checked last week) so I will try to relax.

[Deleted]

I just asked about this at DD's 6 month well visit last week. My pedi said green is fine, it's from the variability in my diet (I'm BFing). He said as long as the stool isn't bloody or frothy, (and baby is gaining well) it's fine.

[sparkythelawyer]

My doctor's office told me "If it is a color that matches the forest, you're fine."

We have had lots of green over at the house of sparky. Baby seems fine, so I let it go.

[namasteak]

Oct 12, 2015 13:03:21 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

My doctor's office told me "If it is a color that matches the forest, you're fine."

We have had lots of green over at the house of sparky. Baby seems fine, so I let it go.

It's more lime green but he's gaining well and not too fussy so I'm trying to relax about it.

[whitemerlot]

My first had green poop quite a bit for the first few months. Sometimes it was bright grass green. My pediatrician said not to worry unless it was black.