Is It Normal for Breastfed Babies to Not Poop
The mysteries of a babe'southward diaper are endlessly fascinating, especially in the early months of life. "Babies produce weird poo sometimes, just like adults can," says Adam Hart, Ph.D., professor of scientific discipline advice at the Academy of Gloucestershire, in the U.K., and writer of The Life of Poo.
If you're a newborn novice, the colors, textures, and frequency of baby poop tin really throw yous for a loop. But spoiler alert: You lot're going to spend many waking hours looking at information technology and cleaning it up, so it'south important to know what's normal and what isn't. Consider this your crash course.
| Credit: Eric Jeon
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Your Baby's First Poop
When you lot peel off those beginning newborn-sized diapers, yous'll be confronted with something that looks similar viscid, greenish-black tar. This is your baby'south starting time bowel movement, which is known as meconium, a mixture of amniotic fluid, bile, and secretions from the abdominal glands. Most babies wait until birth to laissez passer meconium. Information technology volition normally stick around for hours, and a few days later, the real stuff will arrive.
Babe Poop Colour, Explained
"Don't expect infant poop to look annihilation like yours," warns Ari Chocolate-brown, M.D., a pediatrician and coauthor of Baby 411: Articulate Answers & Smart Advice for Your Baby's Beginning Year. "If you breastfeed, it will probably look seedy and mustard-like, and if you bottle feed, expect something more than light-green with the consistency of toothpaste," she explains.
Any variation on the colors yellowish, green, or brown is normal. "The but colors that warrant a phone call to the doc are crimson and blackness, which could indicate gastrointestinal haemorrhage, and white, which could represent liver disease and/or nutrient malabsorption," says Nanci Pittman, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Schoolhouse of Medicine in New York Metropolis.
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What Unlike Baby Poop Consistencies Mean
Since your babe is on an all-liquid nutrition, soft, squishy poops volition exist the norm for a while. Infant poop can be equally thick every bit peanut butter or mushier, similar cottage cheese or yogurt. Breastfed baby poop usually looks like fancy mustard: yellow, seedy, or curdy. Formula poop tends to resemble beat-up flan or pudding. Excessively difficult poop can betoken constipation, while soft poop could signal to diarrhea (go on reading for more than information on these types of baby poop.)
Deciphering Baby Poop Odor
The smell is most oft a reflection of how long the poop was in the intestines—the longer information technology sits in bacteria, the more information technology'll aroma. Nevertheless, some babies with very sour- or foul-smelling poop may accept an intolerance or allergy. In full general, breastfed babe poop doesn't stink at all, while that from formula-fed infants is simply lightly odorous. Those early poopy diapers actually shouldn't articulate the room. Even so, once you add baby food, then various protein sources, it'southward another story. If y'all think your baby'southward bowel movements are exceptionally smelly, talk with your pediatrician.
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How Frequently Should My Babe Poop?
Babies usually make upward to 10 dirty diapers per day for the first couple of months, and then go two to iv times per day until around four months of age. This is thanks to the gastrocolic reflex, which occurs as the stomach stretches with food and the colon is automatically signaled to empty and brand room for more than. In babies, the gastrocolic reflex is immature, and so each time they feed they usually squirt out a trivial poop.
Over fourth dimension, some babies' intestines absorb so much milk that they create extremely small amounts of waste matter and their colon doesn't empty more than once daily, or even once weekly in some cases. According to Dr. Pittman, information technology can be normal for a breastfed baby to have one bowel movement each week—but it's likewise normal for them to poop after every feeding.
Formula-fed infant poop is less frequent than breastfed babe poop. That'due south because stool moves through the intestines more slowly with formula, causing babies to go most once or twice per day, every ane or 2 days, after the first couple of months. Notation, however, that some formula-fed infants volition poop upward to three or four times daily at start.
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How Babe Poop Changes After Starting Solids
Once your baby starts eating solid food (usually betwixt 4 and 6 months), their poop schedule will starting time to modify. They'll go less frequently, and the stools themselves will become thicker in consistency. "Certain foods will pass through undigested. This is normal, equally babies don't chew their nutrient well and tend to procedure food quickly through the digestive tract," Dr. Pittman explains.
Because a babe'south outset food is usually rice cereal fortified with iron, you may observe some constipation: Rice and iron are notorious for backing things up, so to speak. If that's the instance, y'all tin switch to iron-fortified baby oatmeal or limit rice cereal intake to once a mean solar day and mix in some pureed prunes.
By your baby'south outset birthday, when they're eating a wider range of solid foods, poop starts to change its style again. You lot might observe that the smell, colour, and texture of the stool varies throughout the day, depending on what the child has eaten, says Dr. Brown. In general, information technology will get-go getting browner and thicker and volition look more like grown-upwardly poop.
Is My Baby Constipated?
If your baby seems uncomfortable and is filling their diaper with something that is thicker than toothpaste or that looks like logs or marbles, then they're probably constipated. This problem occurs for several reasons. In babies under four months of historic period, information technology's usually because your child isn't getting enough fluids, then remedy the situation by encouraging them to beverage more breast milk or formula. Ask your doctor for specific communication and treatment options.
Does My Baby Have Diarrhea?
If your baby'due south poop becomes thin, watery, or streaked with mucus—and they're pooping a lot more often than usual— they probably have diarrhea. This can exist caused past antibiotics; too much fruit juice; milk allergies (which are pretty rare); or gastroenteritis, a viral illness that results in vomiting and diarrhea.
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If your baby has loose stools or mucus in their poop, "it'southward important to keep them hydrated with breast milk, formula, or pediatric electrolyte solutions," Dr. Pittman explains. But if you find any signs of dehydration—such as dry lips, sunken eyes, or sunken fontanels (the soft spots on a babe's head)—call your doctor immediately.
When to Call the Doc
When it comes to baby poop, parents should phone call the doctor for the following reasons.
- The babe poop is white (a sign your babe isn't producing enough bile), black (which signals blood digested from the stomach or small intestine), or contains streaks of ruby (information technology could mean blood from the colon or rectum)
- Your kid screams in hurting or bleeds while pooping
- You encounter mucus in baby poop, which can exist a sign of an infection or intolerance
- You kid's stool changes dramatically after you lot introduce a new food; this may betoken a food allergy
- Your child'south poop is all the same a very runny consistency by age one (if your child has diarrhea—watery stools more than five times a day—mention this to your doctor too)
Source: https://www.parents.com/baby/diapers/dirty/the-scoop-on-poop-whats-normal-whats-not/
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