Green poo!

[handbagqueen]

Hi all,

Yet another problem! For the past week and a half Lily has had varying shades of green poo- goes from yellowy green to a proper forest green. I saw the doc when we went for jabs and he said it was just her getting used to being off formula and just being breast fed. But after it had been happening for a week i went to baby clinic and she had only put on 1/2 lb in 2 weeks so spoke to hv and she said it was fine as long as it wasn't watery or smelt offensive. Well it doesn't seem to be and lily seems fine- smiling and cooing when awake, eating fine and sleeping ok... but of course i still can't help but worry! It seems so unnatural to have green poo like this!
Has anyone else been through anything similar?

 

[Bee]

Finlay's poos are a range of colours

They can be yellow, green and darker

I didn't think it was anything to worry about

 

[charlie84]

Is she emptying your boob/s at her feeds as i think that if a baby has more foremilk than hindmilk it can make the babies poo green. If she is having short little feeds try and keep using the same boob for each feed so that she gets the rich hindmilk.

 

[Sherlock]

Yup, what charlie said.

If your LO is not having long feeds from one boob but having short feeds from both then she'll be getting a fair bit of foremilk and not all the hindmilk also. Can cause green poo. If that is the case make sure she feeds from one boob totally before having the other. If she only has a short feed from one boob and then looks to feed again an hour later, put her back on the same one till she's emptied it. The hindmilk also contains all the fats etc so she'll need that for weight gain. She'll have to work a bit harder to get the hindmilk out so may fuss a bit but persevere She'll get better the more she feeds.

FWIW anytime Galen had a short feed I'd put him back on the same boob anytime up to 2 hours after his first feed from it to make sure he had taken all the hindmilk also.

He also had about a 10 day period where he pooed green poo a lot. Didn't smell and was fine in himself and it passed eventually.

 

[abcd1234]

I did hear that green poo could mean baby is a little dehydrated but as you're making a change in your feeding it may not be that.

Tally's not been well this week and her poo has been a range of colours like you have described. As long as she's happy i just assume all is well.

 

[IsaB]

As Charlie & Sherlock said, green poo can be a sign of too much foremilk compared to hindmilk so single side feeding should sort this out (i.e. only one side per feed) - if this is the problem, expect it to take a good week or so before you get back to mustard coloured poos. However (don't want to worry you, just saying this so you can keep an eye on it in case it's not a foremilk/hindmilk issue) it can also be an indication of a gastro-intestinal problem like reflux. My LO initially had green poos due to the foremilk issue which we sorted out, but then she started to get greener poos again which lead to reflux (which sounds more similar to what you're getting with poos getting greener as the day went on, eventually resulting in a screaming session late afternoon - which hopefully ISN'T happening to you!) - I've only recently got her having normal coloured poos after much trial and error - some of what I was eating was affecting her tummy - it was only once I figured out what those foods were and cut them out of my diet that things started improving.

This list is directed at babies with colic, but it's a good guideline for foods that may upset your LO:

http://www.colichelp.com/colicandbreastfeeding.html

As I say, hopefully it's not a sign of things to come, but it may pay to keep an eye on what you're eating and see if that makes a difference

 

[purple13]

if your LO seems well and happy, then green poo is nothing to worry about. as has been mentioned, too much foremilk can cause green poo so make sure you're getting the most of out one boob before swapping.

connor has had 2 spells of unexplained green poo; it stopped eventually

 

[maldives]

Why is everyone associating green poo with breast milk! mine is formula fed and his poos are greenISH! for a long time now! I asked a Dr and she said it's totally normal!
Strange enough. he started getting green poos when I stopped breastfeeding him and put him on formula!

 

[NICCI]

i think the reason theyare associating it with breast milk is because she has changed from formula feeding to breast feeding!

 

[IsaB]

Why is everyone associating green poo with breast milk! mine is formula fed and his poos are greenISH! for a long time now! I asked a Dr and she said it's totally normal!
Strange enough. he started getting green poos when I stopped breastfeeding him and put him on formula!

I *think* I read somewhere that babies can have greenish poos from formula due to the iron in it...wonder if BF babies can also get it if the mother has high iron levels?

 

[Sherlock]

Why is everyone associating green poo with breast milk! mine is formula fed and his poos are greenISH! for a long time now! I asked a Dr and she said it's totally normal!
Strange enough. he started getting green poos when I stopped breastfeeding him and put him on formula!

I *think* I read somewhere that babies can have greenish poos from formula due to the iron in it...wonder if BF babies can also get it if the mother has high iron levels?

Babies are born with enough iron in their bodies to last for 6 months iirc. Its one of the things that does not get to them via breastmilk hence weaning around 6 months to enable babies to start to get more iron into their bodies as the supply they are born with is more or less used up by then.

As to the green poo, I understood it was to do with too much foremilk which I don't think could be iron related.