I don't know of any other profession that spends as much time talking about poop as pediatricians do so I thought I would do a series of posts about the subject. (If anyone is worried I will NOT be posting any pictures with these posts!) The subject of poop brings about brings about such varied reactions in our office. The new parent is anxious and worried about it, the school age child bursts out in peals of laughter when discussed and the teenager has the "Really, do we have to talk about this" response.
Let's start off talking about baby poop.
Newborns start off life with the tarry dark stools called meconium. These last for about 2-3 days. Breast fed babies may then have 1-2 days of no stool while mom's milk is coming in. Once her milk is in the baby's stool then should be loose, seedy, and watery. If you are changing more diapers than you can count it means your baby is getting plenty of breast milk. Formula fed babies have more variation in their stool. Some babies may go many loose stools a day like a breastfed baby while others will have a formed stool every other day. The color of the stool can be yellow, green, brown, tan, dark. Quite frankly we really don't care! So when to call us? Please call if you are seeing blood or mucous in the stool, the stools are white for more than a couple of days, or if your baby is going more than 2-3 days without stooling. (As always, if your child is acting sick then call)
As babies get older often times their stooling patterns change and they stool less often. Breast fed babies can sometimes go 1 week without stooling. (This really freaks parents out!) When cereal and baby food are introduced parents notice that stools can change in color, frequency, and consistency. This is normal as well.
That's enough poop for today. Stay tuned for my next post on constipation.
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