My 4 month old (30 week preemie so adjusted 2 month old) has the dark, almost black streaks in his poop. Anyone seen this before. Could it be darkened blood or is this normal? I'm definitely calling the ped. tomorrow. He's acting fine. He was very uncomfortable when he pooped, but that's normal. He has had pooping issues since birth and has a long list of curiosities about his GI tract that haven't shown anything diagnosable yet. He was very swollen when he was born especially in his abdomen. They called it an abdominal ascietes(sp?). They ran tons of tests in the NICU and couldn't find anything. His belly has always been large and bloated looking. We are currently seeing a GI doc as a follow up from the NICU. He put him on some new meds 1 1/2 weeks ago. He's have a tummy ultrasound and some blood tests Thursday and seeing the doc after that. We have just noticed the black streaks today and wanted to know what to do. Any ideas?
P.S. He's a four month old preemie so he isn't eating bananas yet alone or in his cereal. He jsut gets breastmilk and plainn rice cereal to thicken for reflux.
Just wanted to let everyone know that the black streaks did turn out to be from the rice cereal. The GI dr tested his stool for blood two different times and didn't find any so he said it was probably the rice cereal. Whew!
Thanks for the help!
It may be his meds doing it. The doctor put my daughter on iron when she was a baby and it did that to her poop.
my daughter had the same thing... she is 6 months old (32 week preemie) turned out that it was the Bananas in the rice cereal that she was eating... are you feeding your sone rice with banana's? if so, that could be it! But I would still follow up with your Ped about it... introducing solid foods is so much fun! LOL... their poop changes with each differnt food you try with them... look forawrd to greens, yellows, browns and carrot orange! The first time i saw my daughter's orange poop I laughed... I knew that the poop could change with their foods but I wasn't expecting BRIGHT orange!
Good Luck,
H.
Mamma to Jaidyn 6 months and seven in heaven...
I would call your GI doctor today and let him/her see your baby. That would concern me that it could be blood. I work for a doctor and blook in stool manifests itself as a dark color often times. I hope this helps:)
Check for allergies. A GI doc won't do this. This could be causing his bloating. I would hold off on any vaccinations until you have this resolved. I am the mother of a 10 year old vaccine injured child. I would also rethink how you intend to vaccinate. The current schedule is much too aggressive for babies, especially one that already has something wrong that no one can tell you what it is. I took my son to THREE different pediatric GI physicians in this state and finally had to take him to Austin, Texas to receive the right diagnosis. If you take any of my advice and they laugh at you, fight another doctor. The doctors in this state have no clue about how to spot the warning signs of autism. One out of every 94 boys will be diagnosed with this medical condition, which by the way can be reversed. Not to scare you, but I only wish someone had told me this when my little boy was a baby.
My sister told me that sometimes the seeds from mashed bananas show up as black streaks. not sure if you have your baby on mashed bananas at his early age, but thought i would throw that in.
A friend of mine had something very similar just happen with her 6 month old. It was a bacterial infection caused by taking high doses of antibiotics. It was exactly as you described it. It can be very serious in babies and seniors. I would get it looked at immediately. Also, one thing you can do for your baby is make sure an give them a dose of acidophilus(?) every time you give them a dose of antibiotic. I've been giving my son acidophilus when he is one antibiotics since he was 4 months old. It makes a huge difference in their digestion.
Yes absolutely call the doctor immediately. Black in stool is often blood and can be a sign os something serious.
K.,
Yes dark black can be dried blood an with your son's issues I would be concerned too. Did they tell you that ascietes in the abdomen is fluid. I too suffer with it and my belly can expand as much as 3 inches in one day. it goes down at night in my sleep as I expell the gas that has acumulated during the day. Good luck and do call the DR.
black streaks do usually indicate blood....or could be you are giving him iron??
Congrats on staying home! Good for you AND your beautiful children! You will NOT regret it. As for the streaks, definitely call the Ped. but a very basic guess could be if you've eaten any green veg's lately, particularly "greens". I've never had experience with preemies so your Dr. is your best bet. Good luck and God bless!
