my youngest daughter madison will be 2 in july, and for the past couple of weeks she's been using the potty (yea!!) BUT... the times she doesnt use the potty, its because her feces look like the have sand or coffee grinds in them... now i know newborn infants can have BMs that look like that, but i cant find anything of why a toddler should have this! her diet has been the same as its always been, and nothing hurting her so i feel the pediatrician would be an unnecessary trip... anyone have any thoughts??? thanks ladies!
THANKS LADIES for your concern.... but its not GI bleeding... its BANANAS!!! i was on my way to the dr and remembered something i had read years ago in a medical text... eating a lot of bananas causes the dark, gritty 'coffee grinds' in the stools, and sometimes it can have little dark stringy things in it also... so less/no bananas= NORMAL POOP!! seriously, i laid off the bananas for a day and its already back to normal! thanks again!! i appreciate everyones concern!! ~R.
if she has something that looks like sand or coffee grounds, get her to the doc ASAP!!! it could be something, it could be nothing. but you will have the peace of mind either way.
I don't know about the sand part, but if something looks dark and grainy, like coffee grounds, that could indicate gastrointestinal bleeding. That is an emergency. Call you dr. now to make sure that isn't what it is. I would think if nothing hurts then it can't be that bad, but I'm not a doc. Good luck.
It is probably nothing but call your baby's doctor. Do it, just to be on the safe side.
If you are finding something that looks like coffee grinds in your daughters diaper, you should at least call the pediatrician. It could be dried blood. When blood dries it looks dark brown like coffee grinds. Anytime you see this in vomit or stool you should see a doctor.
I hope it's nothing, but it would be better to check.
Hi R.,
I don't want to scare you, but you might want to go to the pediatrician and have it checked. I know coffee grind looking stools in adults is internal bleeding...but I don't know what that means in children. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Maybe you can take a stool sample so they can test it. Good luck, keep us updated if possible. Take care.
S.
coffee grounds usually refers to blood found in vomitus, not stool. black, tarry stool is what indicates bleeding. If you have speck of black, it could be that your child's body is disposing of excess iron in his diet. Nothing to worry about if the rest of the stool is a normal color like yellow, green or brown.
