My 8 week old is breastfed and thriving. She had a recent dr. appt. and I love our pediatrician. I asked about my daughter's stool as it is no longer the yellow, grainy texture of a breastfed baby but it looks a little rust colored and is very smooth. They did a culture to be sure there's no blood in it but all is fine. She has gone to pooping only about once or twice every other day but when she does, it's a total blowout. I know this is fairly normal but the dr. said she had not seen this kind of stool in a breastfed baby. Anyone else had this? I'm not worried but just want to be sure it's not something I'm doing. Nothing has changed in my diet since day 1 breastfeeding. Thanks!
Hi J.,
Not sure what the rust color looks like, but I can tell you from my own experience with my EBF daughter that at 4 weeks she slowed to pooping only once a week and her poos became smooth like pudding or toothpaste and the color has been a medium color brown. Still smelled the same. Ped hasn't been concerned. My other daughter (fraternal twins) poos more regularly but she also transitioned to smooth poo soon after her sister.
S.
When my son was EBF we had technicolor diapers- everything from the standard yellow to orange, brownish, greenish, you name it! He also had times when he would only poop once every 2-3 days. All of that is within normal range for breastfed babies. It all depends on what their body needs at the time, what you are eating, how active you both are, etc, etc.
As a side note- I gave my little one (22 months) a cupcake with blue sprinkles on it the other day, and the next morning there was blue playdough in his diaper!!
Hi J.,
this happened to my girls, when they had excess drool, because the teeth start forming underneath the gums before birth, and the teething symptoms are there, almost at birth. There is a lot of acid in the excess teething saliva, and this causes changes in the bowel movement. No worries, as long as you don't see blood in the stool.
She may not be nursing long enough. During around the 1st 10-20 minutes they get the watery milk and during the last 10-20 minutes they get the fatty milk. Don't switch breasts until she has nursed on the same one for 30+ minutes. This is my theory and the time depend on how fast the infant gets the milk out. If she already is nursing at one breast for a long time it could be other things.
Did they do any kind of food sensitivity testing? Even though you have not changed your diet, your baby girl might have a sensitivity to something you eat. Sometimes the food sensitivities show up at odd times and can change the poop of the person suffereing from them.
My daughter was the same way only sometimes she would go up to 6 or 7 days inbetween poops and they were always massive blowouts. We just learned to stay close to home on her poop days! ;) But she eventually grew out of it. So if your doctor says everything checks out, I wouldn't worry. ;)
-J.
www.mytimecalendars.com
Hi J.,
I breast fed all four of mine and all had strange diapers at one time or another. One of them had a hard time digesting lots of different things and was very colicky too so its hard to say what caused what, but....he also "held" it and exploded every 3 or 4 days. the upshot was, although his grandmas didn't like it and the doctor didn't prefer it to be that way, as he just turned 17 last monday, well some babies are just made that way and don't move to the same beat as the rest. He is totally healthy, always has been and probably always will be. don't sweat it!
Best wishes,
K.
