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Infant feeding

2 week old breastfed baby producing bright green poo

10 replies

appledumpling · 06/04/2007 20:42

DS has been unsettled all day, very grouchy and not feeding well. Keeps wanting to feed then will only go on for 5 or 6 minutes, fall asleep for a few minutes then wake up and grizzle again.

Just changed his nappy and the contents were bright green, not the usual mustard yellow. I'm guessing he has an upset tummy but is it anything I should be worrying about?

He is grumbling as we speak and wants feeding again...best go see if I can make him happy.

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Lio · 06/04/2007 20:43

If by any chance you have started taking a supplement e.g. cod liver oil, it will be that. Otherwise hang around for people who know more than I do.

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mummytosteven · 06/04/2007 20:44

I think green poo is normal for bf babies.

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squirrel999 · 06/04/2007 21:07

green poo happens when the baby is not drinking the hind milk which is the fatty best milk. the fore milk is watery and when it digests quicky without a mixture f the two green poo is produced. i found this out from reading babycentre... type green poo into the search engine and it will tell you. i think you will need to keep feeding the baby as newborns want to be drinking milk all the time but keep the baby on the same boob for 30 mins. so after 5 mins of drinking then baby fals asleep but her back on and again and again until she has got the hind milk - iyt settles them more too as the hind milk is more satisfying than foremilk. hope this helps

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tinkerbellhadpiles · 06/04/2007 21:16

Green poo can also mean a tummy upset though. Did you eat a lot of onions? My DD was like that when she was under two months and I ate onions. Grouchy, then green poo. Fine the next day.

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popsycal · 06/04/2007 21:17

but the hind milk is not separate from the foremilk - it just comes in different quantities.....
was normal for ds2 though I read lots about it not being enough hind milk
tiktok would know...

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appledumpling · 06/04/2007 21:17

He has just fed for 15mins and seems alot more settled. He dosent always want to feed for very long and dosn't always want any more when I offer it. How can I pursuade him to feed for longer?

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tiktok · 07/04/2007 13:57

You cannot be dogmatic about green poo in newborn babies, and babycentre have it wrong if they say something as prescriptive as having to keep the baby on for 30 mins.

Green poo can be normal. Green poo can reflect certain supplements the mother is taking. Green poo can sometimes be a sign the baby is not taking as creamy a feed as other babies do. In all those instances it does not matter a bit if the baby is well, thriving and growing.

It can also be a sign of a temporarily upset tum.

apple - you really do not have to try to make your baby feed any longer than he wants to. Feed him as and when he wants, and offer the second breast when he signals he is taking a break from feeding.

If your baby is ok, then please don't worry about the green poo.

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Lio · 07/04/2007 15:46

hi tiktok - nice to see you

appledumpling I should have said it MIGHT be that, not it WILL be that.

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MG72 · 07/04/2007 19:33

I had a similar worry - green poo all of a sudden, and read the 'foremilk/hindmilk' advice, plus upset tummy, plus plus, and then it went back to yellow. Then back to green, then back to yellow. In the end I concluded that my ds just sometimes had green poo and I never found a cause, and he never seemed ill or unhappy, so I stopped worrying!

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appledumpling · 08/04/2007 13:39

Thank you all for the advice.

As it turned out the poor thing has caught a cold so I suspect it was just that coming on. He seems absolutely fine apart from the blocked up nose (you would have been forgiven for thinking it was a piglet in the cot last night and not a baby - there was some impressive snoring!).