Green Poop

Maybe this was discussed before, but I need some reassurance that this is normal. About three weeks ago, Finn started having green poop. He previously had frequent yellow, seedy poops then went a couple of cycles where he would go a couple days without any poopy diapers and then these green ones started showing up. I was on antibiotics for mastitis about a week ago and that gave him diarrhea for a couple of days but I'm long done with the pills and he is still having several green poop with pretty much every diaper change. I took him to the pediatrician today because I was concerned about thrush after the antibiotics course (doctor said no - normal milk coated tongue). I brought up the green poops and he seemed to think it is nothing out of the ordinary for a breastfed baby. Finn doesn't seem more uncomfortable except when he had the diarrhea (he tends to be a fussy baby in general). I was concerned about a fore milk/hind milk imbalance so I've been trying to have him feed longer on one breast at a time but it doesn't seem to be making a difference in his poop color. Does anyone else have a baby who produces green poop?

Yes. My twins are 90+% breastfed. One gets the yellow seedy several times per day and one gets one-per-day thicker greener poops. It's all normal.

My son has had yellow to greenish poop and it is never seedy. It's always very liquid and slimy. He did have underlying digestive issues (dairy/soy intolerance) but his poop has never gone back to being seedy. The pediatrician is not concerned - he said the older they get the better their gut gets at absorbing nutrients so there are less residues (seeds) in the poop. I would give it some time and if Finn seems happy/is gaining well I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Claire has had mainly green poop for over a month now. It was dark green and mucousy for several weeks then started to be a little more yellowish/brownish green after I had been on my dairy & soy free diet for a couple weeks. Now it fluctuates throughout the day. Her pedi said it could just be her normal. She also said that if it is foremilk/hindmilk imbalance it will be frothy green.

We had green poo for a while around the two week mark, right at the same time he was struggling with my overactive letdown. I started nursing on only one side per feeding and that seemed to do the trick (though it took two or three days to see the difference). It's pretty much been all yellow and seedy ever since. But if your pedi isn't worried then I probably wouldn't worry either! :)

Evelyn's poop has been green almost all the time. She has the occasional yellowish poop but it's almost always green. I tried cutting out dairy and feeding on only one side (I thought there might have been a fore/hind milk imbalance too) but nothing seemed to help. My pediatrician is not concerned, so I basically just try not to worry about it. She is growing and is a happy baby so I don't know what else to do.

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Originally Posted by beccasweet

Claire has had mainly green poop for over a month now. It was dark green and mucousy for several weeks then started to be a little more yellowish/brownish green after I had been on my dairy & soy free diet for a couple weeks. Now it fluctuates throughout the day. Her pedi said it could just be her normal. She also said that if it is foremilk/hindmilk imbalance it will be frothy green.

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I tried going dairy free (not soy free though) for about two weeks and didn't see much of a change. It's definately more slimy than frothy. I'm going to try not being too concerned which means I need to stop doing internet searches because though the green & mucusy seems to be a sign of lots of different things (viral infections, food allergies, excess drool, etc).

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Originally Posted by kel-02

We had green poo for a while around the two week mark, right at the same time he was struggling with my overactive letdown. I started nursing on only one side per feeding and that seemed to do the trick (though it took two or three days to see the difference). It's pretty much been all yellow and seedy ever since. But if your pedi isn't worried then I probably wouldn't worry either! :)

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Since I started trying to limit feedings to one side a couple of days ago, the frequency of poops seems to have slowed down and I even got one that was a little less green.

Couple of you mentioned modifying your diets. For those of you that went on dairy and/or soy free diet, what indications did you have that your baby wasn't tolerating it?

We have not had any bloody stools or rashes, but Finn is very fussy and I had trialed going dairy free for two weeks at recommendation of my midwife to see if it helped his fussiness. I don't think there was a noticeable change but I wasn't keeping a diary. As much as I don't like labels (especially this young) I think Finn may be what Dr Sear's calls a "High Need Baby" but if there is some other reason he is this way because of discomfort from my diet or otherwise I want to make sure I pursue all options.

Sorry, never had green poop over here! Trystans are always yellow, sometimes seedy, sometimes not. My only concern with his is he's only pooping every other day... but from what I've read on here that's normal. It's just strange to me because for the first couple of months he was pooping eight or nine times a day!

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Originally Posted by xtinagreen

Couple of you mentioned modifying your diets. For those of you that went on dairy and/or soy free diet, what indications did you have that your baby wasn't tolerating it?

We have not had any bloody stools or rashes, but Finn is very fussy and I had trialed going dairy free for two weeks at recommendation of my midwife to see if it helped his fussiness. I don't think there was a noticeable change but I wasn't keeping a diary. As much as I don't like labels (especially this young) I think Finn may be what Dr Sear's calls a "High Need Baby" but if there is some other reason he is this way because of discomfort from my diet or otherwise I want to make sure I pursue all options.

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Ryan was diagnosed as Milk Soy protein intolerant - our telltale sign was blood in his poop. First just tiny specks, then larger streaks. We went to the hospital and they tested him for infection etc, and it came back as clear. I then cut out all dairy and soy, even hidden. It's not easy, but doable especially if you are used to making your own food and not eating too much processed foods. I found bread at the store that is both soy and dairy free and that makes it much easier.

Ryan's poop is also slimy and sometimes green, but normally it is yellow and slimy. I just showed it to his pediatrician and he said it is normal. We went on hypoallergenic formula for 1.5 weeks to give his gut a chance to heal. I reintroduced breastmilk after being dairy free for 2 weeks and soy free for 1 week and promptly had bloody diapers again (within 2 days). I took 3 weeks of dairy and soy free for the blood to go away, so maybe the 2 weeks you gave it wasn't long enough.

Ryan was also quite fussy (and sometimes still is). Sorry to say that just never went away even with the diet changes. We also had feeding issues that have only recently started getting a bit better (I have been soy and dairy free for about 8 weeks). I don't think the fussiness, feeding issues and the soy/dairy thing are necessarily related.

You can ask the doctor to do a test on Finn's diaper for occult blood (blood you can't see). That might give you some answers. If there is not blood I wouldn't bother cutting dairy and soy unless you really want to try again. If you do I would give it at least 3 or better 4 weeks.

Good luck - I know it's frustrating and you just want an explanation for the poop and the fussiness, but I have come to the conclusion that with my son I will likely never get one and will just have to wait for him to outgrow it.

I tried limiting (not cutting completly) dairy to help with fussiness after our Chiro suggested it but didn't see any change. A few weeks later her fussiness got worse, she was pulling off and refusing to nurse, and started to have the dark green poop so I decided to try going completly dairy and soy free. I read that 50% of babies who are intolerant to dairy also have problems with soy so I figured best to do both if I was going to give it a serious try. She slowly became less fussy and was nursing better after a couple days. We still have a day or two every week where she seems to be gassier and fussier than the rest but overall I think the diet made enough of a difference that I've stuck with it. I would still call her a high need baby but now she is usually consolable.