Your Child’s Feces: Healthy or Unhealthy?

It’s a pleasure moment for you parent to witness the delivery of your healthy newborn. However, you’re not always bound to heave a sigh of relief. As the first-time parents, your relief don’t last long, when you observe unexpected watery, abnormal colored feces showing up in their diaper, skin rashes, diarrhea, constipation, weight loss and other warning signs. These symptoms can all be downright scary and can easily send chill down to your spine or may even put new parents or moms into extremely surprising mode.

You may have read on my feces articles Are your feces healthy?, Are your feces healthy? Two and this is the third piece of my feces article. In this article, I’ll discuss more on baby’s or child’s feces.

Green Feces 

You may observe green feces show up in your baby’s diaper and you may take a look at it by asking yourself, “Is my baby’s feces healthy?” In this case, you shouldn’t have yourself worried much as the green feces generally cause no concern at all. Formula-fed babies will normally have green feces developed due to the iron-fortified formula they’re taking. As long as your baby seems happy and not suffering any problems with constipation, there’s nothing for you to worry about. To improve the condition of green feces, you may switch from formula to soy-based, which generally shows great improvement in a week or two. Or else, if this doesn’t work for your baby, please consult your doctor to get a sample of a hypoallergenic formula. 

Green feces may signify that your baby may have consumed too much or too little lactose (natural sugar found in milk) lately. This condition occurs when they’re being fed too often, but don’t get the rich milk at the end of the feeding. In a nutshell, either overfeeding or underfeeding can result in green feces showing up in their diapers. In this case, mom should make sure that the baby finishes feeding from one breast before providing them the other. If the conditions or symptoms persist over 24 hours, please consult your doctor to find out the source of problem. In most cases, it might be due to medication, food sensitivity or your feeding routine. Apart from this, green feces may also be an indicator telling you that your baby has a stomach bug.  

In the first bowel movement, your baby needs to eliminate meconium that has been accumulated during nine months in the womb. It’s usual to see babies to start to pass meconium within 12 hours of their birth. You should concern if your baby didn’t pass meconium during the first 24 hours as it’s an indication of an intestinal obstruction. If your baby is in distress (the baby may experience hypoxia [decreased oxygen], which may increase the baby’s intestinal activity, causing relaxation of the anal sphincter [the muscular valve that controls the passage of feces out of the anus]; this relaxation will then move maconium into the amniotic fluid that surrounds the baby), they may have their first bowel movement in utero (while still in the uterus). Passing meconium into the amniotic fluid (the fluid in which the baby floats inside the amniotic sac) is abnormal since it leads to a consequence known as meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS).  

Note:  Meconium aspiration or MAS can occur before, during, or after delivery when a newborn inhales (or aspirates) a mixture of meconium (dark green streaks or stains) and amniotic fluid or meconium-stained amniotic fluid. MAS is often seen to relate with fetal stress, in which it can be caused by problems in the mom’s womb (such as infections, or difficulty during the delivery procedure). MAS can affect the baby’s breathing via numerous ways, which include airway blockage due to a meconium plug, infection, inactivation of surfactant (a natural substance that assists the lungs expand properly) by the meconium, and chemical irritation to the lung tissue.

The baby inhales meconium into the lungs when they gasp while still in the womb or during the initial gasping (happens when the babies have a problem due to the infection or compression of the umbilical cord that causes them to have difficulty obtaining adequate amount of oxygen in the womb) after the delivery. The inhaled meconium can pose health risk to the baby either partially or completely block their airways, making them difficult to breathe (such as rapid breathing [tachypnea], labored (difficulty) breathing, or suspension of breathing [apnea]). Worst still, severe MAS can cause reactive airway disease, a condition when the lungs become more sensitive and may lead to an asthmatic condition. Babies with severe MAS are also at higher risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia or a collapsed lung called pneumothorax and the chronic lung disease may also lead them to abnormalities and hearing loss. In most cases, they’re very rare incidences of MAS that may be fatal. The severity of MAS depends very much on the volume of meconium being inhaled (the more meconium a baby inhales, the more severe the condition) by the baby and other underlying consequences (such as infections within the uterus or post maturity [a condition when a baby is overdue, or more than 40 weeks' gestational age]). Hence, it’s particularly important for a pregnant mom to take note that they should acknowledge the doctor if meconium is present in the amniotic fluid when her water breaks, or if the fluid appeared streaks or dark green stains. By taking this precautionary step, they can help prevent MAS from happening.

Even though MAS may sound frightening for parents to face during the delivery of their child, most of its cases are not severe and can be treated. When this happens, baby will be sent to a neonatal intensive care unit (NIUC) or a special care nursery.

Consistently Green Feces 

As I mentioned earlier, green feces don’t cause any potential problem towards your baby, and even the doctor will define the feces as “normal”. However, occasional green feces are unusual in the breast-fed baby. Similarly, consistently green feces are not normal for the breast-fed baby. This condition may also cause by breast-fed mom’s diet, in which the intake of green vegetables or something with green food coloring may be in excess. Well, since baby’s feces can have a wide range of textures and colors, it’s always helpful to learn which is normal and which is not.

Green, Frothy Feces

Green and frothy feces are possible indicators of the imbalance of Hindmilk/ Foremilk or a breast milk imbalance. Simply put, the first milk that comes out from a breast-fed mom (foremilk) is lower in fat and thinner. Later, when the breast-fed mom has nursed a bit, their breast will produce fattier and richer milk called hindmilk. Make sure that you don’t switch breasts too sudden in order to allow more time for your baby to get adequate amount of the hindmilk.

Since foremilk is low in calorie but high in lactose milk, it can cause loose feces, gas and colic. Baby who is being breast-fed with too much of the thin foremilk and not enough of the richer hindmilk or too much hindmilk and less foremilk will generally have problems with tummy ache and green feces. If you observe a succession of watery green feces, it could mean that your baby may be consuming more foremilk than hindmilk.

When this condition happens to your baby, it’s often seen to be accompanying with a forceful letdown. In the early weeks, if your baby is observed to letdown the feces too forceful, it’s always advisable to allow milk to leak into a cloth diaper during letdown, before latching baby back on. Your baby will get more of high-calorie hindmilk and produce more yellowish feces, if you finish nursing on the first breast before switching to the other breast. Feeding 2 to 3 times off the same side of the breast may also show you improvement, or else, you’ve to get a registered lactation consultant to help you finding a nursing pattern that can assist you to solve this problem. Caution should be noted if you use the same side feeding as it can decrease breast milk supply accordingly.

Green, Mucous Feces

This condition indicates mal-absorption in the intestines, and very often, it’s due to the presence of virus in the feces. This is a sign that your baby has an illness. Intestinal virus, bacterial infection like Shigella, milk-protein allergy, rotavirus or a simple cold can often result in green, mucous feces. In the case that your baby has green, mucous feces, you should watch for how many days this condition persists and with what consistency it’s occurring. Normally, with the presence of the virus, the condition will run its course over several days and later begin to improve. Besides the virus, teething is also identified as another cause of intestinal mal-absorption. The large production of saliva during teething can also irritate while interfering the proper absorption in your baby’s intestines. This explains that why you see lots of drooling when your baby teethes. The profuse saliva of a teething baby, or in other words, large amount of saliva is swallowed by your baby during teething can irritate the intestines and thus resulting in runny, acidic feces, tummy upset, besides causing rashes in the diaper area.

“Greener” Feces than Usual

This type of feces is an obvious evidence cause of a virus, stress, anxiety, a bowel infection, or food intolerance. It’s more likely a condition of “diarrhea” in breast-fed baby, which is always accompanied by frequent loose or watery feces. The baby’s green bowel movements may also be a direct result of a medical condition, indicating that your baby is gassy, has diarrhea, is vomiting, or is fussy. These symptoms simply mean that your baby is infected by rotavirus (one of the most common causes of diarrhea, and severe infection [rotavirus gastroenteritis] is the leading cause of severe, dehydrating diarrhea in infants and young children), or intolerance to something he/ she’s eating. For baby who is breastfeeding, the greenery feces with additional symptoms mentioned above might be an indication of food tolerance to what their mom is eating or drinking. That means they’ve sensitivity to something in the mom’s diet, such as cow’s milk products.

Additionally, greenery bowel movement may typically mean that food is moving via your baby’s intestine too quickly for certain reasons. This condition occurs when your baby has diarrhea or has high fiber in their diet, but in certain cases, it might just mean to be normal.

Dark or Greenish Colored Feces 

This is a common condition of babies or children who have jaundice (a yellow coloring of the skin and eyes which is a result of an immature liver function). This condition normally goes away once your baby or child is off of the bilirubin lights (Bilirubin is a yellow pigment that is usually formed in the body during the normal recycling of old red blood cells, while bilirubin lights refer to a type of phototherapy used to treat newborn jaundice which is performed on babies who’ve increases levels of bilirubin in the blood).

Yellow, Green or Mustard Colored Feces

A range of yellow, mustard to yellow/green colored feces causes you no worry as it’s pretty normal among the baby or the child to have feces grouped under this category. It’s very common that babies or children have greenish or yellowish feces. As long as they feel happy, healthy or are doing well with their daily activities without the presence of any other symptoms (such as vomiting, stomachache, tummy ache, nausea), there’s nothing for parents to worry about.

Red Streaked Feces

These red streaks may come from bleeding or if the baby is constipated as straining that causes rectal fissures or anal fissures (tiny “cuts” around the circumference of the anus) in the rectum or lower intestine, or if you’re breastfeeding, the cracked nipples may bleed into the breast milk. Neither of these consequences cause you concern. This is a common reaction to their mom’s diets. Often, the condition improved when their mom stopped consuming all the dairy products, while limiting their intake to a small quantity of cheese or milk. Nevertheless, if you see consistency black or a red jelly like substance or “currant jelly” (refers to increasing or persistent blood in the feces or feces mixed with blood and mucus) appearing in your baby’s feces, you should consult your pediatrician or doctor immediately because this shows you a possible sign of a chronic problem. It might be an apparent evidence of a problem of intestinal blockage or bleeding. You should also call your doctor if your baby is suffering pain or if your baby has persistent bleeding that does not go off for several days.

Bright Red Colored Feces 

This is a sign of active bleeding somewhere around the intestine. If there’s bright red blood in the feces, there’s usually an indication of some blood clogging or flowing very close to the anus. This is a common consequence due to a tear (anal fissure) in the rectum, which can either be resulted from a recent bout of diarrhea or constipation, and can also result from a parent’s being too aggressive with a rectal thermometer. Bright red colored feces, on the other hand, may also be caused by beets, food colorings and certain medicines. Therefore, bright red colored feces can often be explained by something your child or baby drank or ate (such as tomatoes or fruit punch). It’s always wiser to get your baby or child checked with a doctor or a paediatrician to diagnose whether blood is present in their feces.  Bloody feces

Bloody Feces

Note that bloody feces here can sometime look black and tarry, and red as well. If the blood comes further up the gastrointestinal tract, the color of the feces may be darker (such as dark maroon, dark brown or dark black). When you come across blood in your baby’s/ child’s feces this condition may be alarming.  The condition can be explained as a cause of bleeding in rectum or lower intestine, and among the breast-fed babies, the cause may be due to dairy intake of the mom. Small streaks of blood (small cuts or tears around the baby’s anus (or an anal fissure [tear]) due to straining; or may be due to that the baby has had a really bad diaper rash that has resulted in skin breakdown, which may also end up with tiny amount of blood in their diaper) in the feces generally don’t cause something serious. Sometimes, when newborn’s anus gets irritated, you may see a single thread of red blood in the feces, this condition generally causes no concern, but it’s better to bring them to the doctor to ease your worry.

Bloody/ mucous feces have been identified to cause by dairy sensitivity among the babies or children (blood in your baby’s/ child’s feces can be a sign of an allergy to cow’s milk formula or soy), in which the situation normally improves with the absence intake of dairy products. Besides food sensitivity, bloody feces may be caused by certain kinds of infectious diarrhea. Salmonella and C.Difficile that grow in the gut can cause injury to the mucosa and bloody feces if the bacterial balance has been disrupted. Various forms of intussusceptions, colitis or other intestinal disorders may become possible causes of bloody feces. Due to an intestinal infection, blood found in the feces may also be caused by a temporary case of lactose intolerance. If your baby or child has dark-red jelly (or dark raspberry jelly) looking feces or are streaked mixed with red mucous, you should call your doctor right away.

Hard, Ball-shaped (or Pellet-like), Dry and Small Feces

When your baby or child has hard, dry, ball-shaped and small feces accompanied by pain, it shows you a sign of constipation or may also relate to food allergy. Often, they’ll have hard time to push the feces out at the right time as the feces tend to sit in their rectums. Since the feces are quite dry and lack of water, they’ll have hard time to push them out, and some may just end up sitting there for hours without they’re being blown out on their own. Breast-fed baby usually has an easier time to poop as compared to formula fed baby. That means formula fed baby generally will get constipated more often than breast-fed baby, and their feces can sometimes be as hard as those older child or adult.

In any case, the baby has to learn the sensation of when it’s a right time to go pooping. When your baby is suffering from constipation, you’ll observe that their face will turn brick-red or might grunt for having difficulty to pass them out. In certain time, when your baby’s feces appeared in a normal texture, it’s more likely that you baby is learning to get accustomed to the sensation of passing feces. In a case that your baby has these feces accompanied by fever, vomiting, or what appears to be pain particularly a stomachache or a tummy ache, you’re advised to have them checked with your doctor immediately.

Black Feces

The iron supplementation is always reflected as black feces during your baby’s/ child’s bowel movement. Both iron fortified infant foods/ formula and iron supplement may always cause your baby/ child to have dark or black colored feces. Often, black feces during constipation are more likely to be caused by Iron drops. Black or dark colored feces, on the other hand, can also be caused by intestinal bleeding, and this condition is often accompanied by constipation. If your breast-fed baby is healthy, iron supplementation is not seen to be importance. Cut back the iron supplementation or switch to a low-iron formula so that this problem can be alleviated, but before doing this, please seek advice from your doctor. 

Tarry Black Feces 

Black feces can be seen as a sign of bleeding from the stomach or small intestine, in which they’d usually cause the feces to be tarry and foul smelling (or melena). If the feces are tarry black or dark brownish-black, there may be blood in the digestive tract that has turned dark black while travelling down the intestines. When your baby has black tarry-looking feces, make sure that you consult your doctor or paediatrician immediately.

Yellow/Greenish/Brown Grainy or Seedy Feces

These feces don’t require any dietary change or supplementation of a breast-fed baby. They simply refer to the transition between meconium and regular breast-fed feces. Parents will see these feces showing up in their baby’s diaper and this particularly happens when mom’s milk is coming in on the second, third or fourth day of life. Within these periods, there may be three, ten or even twenty feces daily. However, in certain occasion, baby may even skip a day in the first week of life and this explains why they don’t have bowel movements at all. Even though this condition is not something serious, parents are encouraged to consult doctor to further discuss on their child’s bowel pattern.

Pale Chalky White (Chalk-colored) or Pale Clay Colored Feces

This is a rare condition that occurs among the babies and young children. Its occurrence might be a sign of a liver problem. That means babies or young children might have no bile in their livers to digest the food. During this time, these abnormal feces should get an immediate medical attention.

Consistently Oily or Greasy Feces

These feces indicate that your baby or child has a problem with nutrient absorption. This can be serious, so please contact your doctor for further advice.

Green or Black, Sticky and Tar-like Feces

This is your baby first bowel movement (BM) or called meconium. Meconium is typically passed in the womb during early pregnancy and again in the first couple of days after delivery. The newborn baby will have consistent green, black, greenish-black or dark green, thick, sticky and tar-like feces for the first couple of days before this condition goes off. Parents shouldn’t worry about these feces as they reflect whatever inside the bowels of a newborn upon birth. In other words, they’re the “by-product” of building an entire human being for nearly 9 months. This greenish-black and sticky substance, which is made up of mucus, cells from the bowel wall, shed skin cells (which baby shed and then swallow while they were in the womb), bile, secretions and amniotic fluid, has built up in your baby’s intestine during your pregnancy. That means during your pregnancy, your baby’s digestive system begins to function by swallowing amniotic acid while they were in the womb.

Meconium may be difficult for mom to wipe off that tiny bottom, but its existence is a good sign indicating that your baby’s bowels are working properly and normally. Once feeding is established, meconium will pass out after a day or two, and you’ll see a change to brown-green, loose and grainy feces, before becoming yellowish, in which the change in color and texture is regarded as normal.

Once meconium is eliminated from your baby’s body, you should expect the color of your baby’s feces change to brown-green, loose and grainy in texture to increasingly yellow with the consistency of peanut butter.

Breast-fed or Formula-fed (or Bottle-fed) Baby’s Feces – What to Expect and What’s Not

When your baby is bottle-fed or formula-fed, their feces will be green, gray, gray green, yellow, yellowish-brown, yellowish-tan, more tan or brown in color and thicker. The color of the feces depends very much on the type of formula. As the formula cannot be as completely digested as breast milk, the remnants of the formula are left in the feces with pretty pungent smell (sometimes the smell is more like the smell from the adult’s feces) or more offensive odor. The feces generally have a consistency of soft paste, and the waste is always looking greenish, bulkier and firmer (thick pudding) than the feces of a breast-fed baby. Most of the formula-fed babies pass mustardy “seedy” yellow or brownish-tan colored feces for each feeding. As formula can slow down the baby’s digestive system, which has always made parents mistaken for constipation. Their feces are darker in color and less frequent than breast-fed babies.

Formula-fed baby should at least poop once a day to avoid getting constipation. Furthermore, if the feces stay too long in their bowels, they’ll become harder and thus causing the feces very hard to pass out. If you think your baby has this problem, please find time to talk to your doctor.

If you notice that your child has an allergy signs to formula such as skin rashes, vomiting, poor weight gain or diarrhea, please let your doctor know that your baby experiences any of these symptoms. If your baby has an allergy to formula, you may have to switch to a hypoallergenic formula.

The feces of breast-fed baby look very different from those formula-fed babies. Their feces have a consistency of soft or runny, being yellowish (the feces may look like thin ‘Kadi’ or yogurt chickpea flour soup), golden orange, yellow mustard to orange with some white flecks resembles seeds, loose (pea-soup to toothpaste consistency), unformed, mustard-like in thickness and the size of the feces should be at least the size of a US quarter. The feces have a bit sweet smell, just like apricot or mild odor but not offensive odor, highly variable in consistency, and sometimes they just look like curdy scrambled eggs. They should poop at least 3-4 times every 24 hours.

The feces of breast-fed babies are often runny, have curds or little seed-like specks nearly all time, and they change color with viruses, or sometimes they may have small amount of blood which prompt you for a medical’s assistance.

Breast milk tends to be absorbed more completely as compared to formula milk, and hence, there is often very little residue to come out and sometimes your baby may not poop for days. It’s normal that breast-fed babies pass feces after each feeding.

As your “first milk” or colostrum acts as a laxative, it assists to push meconium out of the baby’s system more easily. The quicker you put your baby to the breast, the sooner the colostrum gets into their system, and the sooner the meconium can be cleared off from their bowel.

After three days, after the colostrum phase, or within 24-48 hours, your milk becomes established and more plentiful; your baby’s feces finally switch from yellow-green to yellow, or from dark black to greenish-black to brown, etc. before they change to the classic color of yellow (sometimes look like milk-feces). The more you nurse your baby, the fastest the color of your baby’s feces changes, and the quicker your milk changes from colostrum to mature milk. You’ll observe your baby’s feces slowly change to a bright, mustard or yellow color accompanying with sweet, mild or non-offensive smell. The feces have a characteristic of textured, loose, less sticky and easy to wipe off, and sometimes they may look like curdled or grainy. The frequency of these feces can vary from every feed once per week.

As meconium formation may cause jaundice, it’s particularly important for you to breastfeed at least 10 – 12 times within 24 hours to clear it out from your baby’s system. If your baby has meconium feces more than 3 days, you should consult your doctor immediately. If your baby tends to sleep a lot, you should finger-feed them with colostrum to have their digestive tract working properly.     

If you plan to switch your child from breast milk to bottle milk, please do it slowly. This is because your baby’s digestive system needs time to adapt to the change. The gradual switch is important as it’ll help avoid constipation, reduce the risk of painful, and swollen breasts for moms. Once your baby is accustomed to the formula milk, they’ll have a completely different pooping routine.

A Review On Your Baby’s or Child’s Feces

Regardless of the feeding pattern (breast-fed or formula-fed), your baby’s feces will be black and tarry for the first two to three days. This is the first feces called meconium that the baby has been accumulating nine months in the womb. Later, their bowel movement will be transited to a dark brown color. However, the color of the feces will take on a different color which depends very much on whether they’re breastfeeding or formula-feeding and whether solid foods have been introduced. A breast-fed baby will normally have runny yellow feces, while a formula-fed baby will have pasty, mustard-colored feces. As a result, the color of your baby’s feces can be varied from day-to-day basis, ranging from yellow to green, which is regarded as normal. When they get older, the frequency of their bowel movement changes accordingly. They may have up to 10 times of bowel movements during their first year of life or as a newborn, but an older baby will have much fewer bowel movements depending on what they’ve been eaten and drunk.

When you start introducing solid food into your baby’s diet, at about 4 to 6 months, you’ll observe a significant color change of feces in their diaper. That means the feces may pick up green, brown, orange, or yellow color from foods and the texture of the feces will depend very much on the amount of fiber that is present in the diet. The introduction of new foods not only can change the content of your baby’s feces, but also it can sometimes lead to a diaper rash. Furthermore, switching diet either to formula or new foods can undeniably change the amount of feces being excreted and how often your baby will poop.

When you feed your 4-month-old baby or your child with green foods such as beans, spinach, and pureed peas, the feces will be green, and when you feed them with orange foods such as squash and carrots, the content of their next diaper will be orange, bright orange to yellow. That means once on solids, what goes in their body will give a change to the feces. When they’re fed with a variety of foods, their feces will later become darker, thicker and smelly.

From 9 months to 1 year old, your child will gradually progress to more textured foods and a variety of complex table foods; you shouldn’t be surprise to find that baked beans, peas, corns or raisins pass straight through their feces. This is because your child doesn’t always chew the food well, and thus it’s not unusual to find pieces of undigested food appearing in their feces. This condition normally improves when their digestive tract develops maturely as it’s populated by normal and new bacteria to cope with these textured foods more efficiently. From a year and above, your child’s feces begin to take on the familiar “classic” form and rather more consistent brown color of adult’s or an older child’s feces. It’s rarely a case that color changes signify a digestive problem.

As parents, you shouldn’t be alarmed when you observe green, yellow, orange or brown feces of your child or baby. Similarly, it’s completely normal to have a regular change in their feces color and consistency, that is to say, from soft and mustard-yellow to yellow with green specks, and later back again the following day.

When you introduce solid foods, for example, rice cereal and foods (such as applesauce, bananas), your baby’s feces tend to firm up. This is because the undigested parts (particularly fiber) continue moving down the intestines at a leisurely pace, the water has more time enough to be absorbed and thus what poops out may be quite firm. You may observe the changes in odor, color or texture of their feces. This is due to that when the feces move thorough the intestines, they’ll pick up various digestive bile, juices, bacteria and other chemical substances, which define the characteristic odor and color of the feces.

Excessive amounts of rice cereal, applesauce, cheese and bananas are typical culprits for less frequent feces (or constipation). This is due to that these foods can slow down the digestive process, and thus causing constipation. To solve this problem, I may recommend you to switch to oatmeal cereal or barley, or you may add foods such as green vegetables, prunes (even diluted prune juice in a cup will do) or pears to move foods down through the system. Before making this dietary changes, however, please seek for your doctor’s or paediatrician’s advice first.

Usually color changes simply means that there is less or more of the green/brown/orange/yellow pigments being picked when the feces move along the way before eliminating via anus. This condition generally poses no potential risk for your baby, but unfortunately, they may sometimes end up with constipation. To soften the feces, you’re advised to balance your baby’s diet by introducing foods such as apricots, peas, prunes, pears, plums and peaches. When you notice mucous, loose or watery feces for several diaper changes, severe diarrhea with blood in it, or dark red jelly-looking feces accompanying with abdominal pain, please consult your doctor right away.

Note: If your baby has a family record of allergies (either from their parents, siblings or any family members with food allergies), please consult your doctor on the issue when to introduce allergenic foods and which types of foods are suitable for them.

How Often Should Your Child’s / Baby’s Pass Feces?

There’s no preset rule saying that the frequency for how often your child should pass feces. After the meconium (the sticky, thick and greenish-black colored substance but they don’t stain and is formed in the baby’s bowel prior to birth) is passed, babies tend to pass many small feces each day. Since meconium is sticky, parents may find it difficult to wipe off the baby’s bottom. On the first and second days of life, breast-fed baby will typically have one to two bowel movements of meconium a day. On the third day of life, you’ll observe greenish-yellow or greenish-brown colored feces, which are the transitional bowel movements of the meconium feces. Unlike meconium, these feces are not sticky but they’ve a softer texture. Your breast-fed baby will have at least two of these transitional feces a day. On the fourth day of life, you’ll notice that your baby’s feces turn to a mustard yellow color. These feces are runny and have a seedy texture. Around the fourth and six days of life, you can expect at least three bowel movements a day. These types of feces are those you’ll see in a breast-fed baby for up to six weeks of life.

In the very beginning week, your baby may pass feces during or after each feed and this routine will always work out on their own routine, meaning that they’ll poop at almost a similar time in a day. Nevertheless, this routine can change at intervals, particularly when they’re not feeling well, when you introduce solid foods, or during the time they’re being fed fewer times.

In the early months, the frequency for your baby to pass feces depends very much on whether they’re formula-fed or breast-fed. It should be noted that babies those are breastfeeding (not yet on solids) generally vary greatly. Some may pass feces few times a day but others may only pass feces once every three days. Others may poop once a day and even taper off to once a week or more after a few weeks of age. It’s completely normal for a breast-fed 2-week-old baby to pass feces three to ten times in a day.

By the age of one month, your baby generally poops fewer, regardless of whether they’re breast-fed or formula-fed. Breast-fed babies will poop 2- 4 times a day, while formula-fed baby may poop 2 times a day or as infrequently from once every 3-4 days.  Sometimes, breast-fed babies can have bowel movements more than 4 times in a day and they may even poop once every three days. But, what’s important for you to concern for in this case, is that whether their feces pass easily and that they’re soft. Formula-fed babies should pass feces once a day so that they don’t get constipated. Nevertheless, formula-fed newborn baby will pass little larger and smellier feces. In a case that your formula-fed baby doesn’t poop every 5 days or more or your breast-fed baby doesn’t poop every 3 or more days, please do not hesitate to seek for an immediate medical assistance.

Among the breast-fed babies, a decrease in the number of times in bowel movement is always noticeable when they’re around 4 weeks of age. This is because your baby’s digestive system is mature enough to cope with certain textured foods and thus lesser feces are being eliminated. Even though formula-fed baby does have their digestive system matured at the similar rate as breast-fed baby, there may not be any noticeable change in the number of their bowel movement.

Don’t worry if your baby has explosive bowel movements or “projectile poopy” (which mean they poop every 5 minutes), or no poop for days (should less than 4 days) .The golden rule here is that your baby’s acting normally and doesn’t feel sick, and they poop at the right number of times. Well, some of them may poop while they’re being nursing or when they’re in their sleep.

Warning Signs: What to Look for in Your Child’s/ Baby’s Feces

Diarrhea

Diarrhea reflects symptoms like runny/ watery feces, an increase in volume and frequency of bowel movement, and they can even spurt explosively out of your baby’s bottom. Therefore, the sign of diarrhea is always characterized by sudden, frequent, runny green feces overflowing the diaper, watery and looser feces and increased frequency of bowel movement. Diarrhea can be a significant symptom of a milk allergy or infection, so you’re advised to consult your doctor particularly when you suspect your baby or child has diarrhea.

Formula-fed babies are more likely to suffer from diarrhea than breast-fed babies, as breast milk helps to inhibit the micro-organism that causes diarrhea. Nevertheless, in certain cases, diarrhea is not caused by formula milk, so please don’t blame it as the culprit. It might be caused by teething, too much fruit or juice, an infection (such as gastroenteritis), sensitivity or allergy to food, or any medications your baby is on. Another explanation for the cause of diarrhea is that food moves down the intestine too rapidly, and the water has not enough time to be absorbed, and hence giving quite loose feces. If you are breastfeeding your baby, the feces of your child tends to become runny, liquid or watery. This is because breast milk contains a small amount of Methyldopa which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, constipation or gas. Next time, when you see runny feces showing up in a breast-fed baby’s diaper, please don’t treat it as a sign of diarrhea.

Very often, there’s nothing to worry about diarrhea as it may due to a sudden change of bowel movements that become watery and frequent. Many cases of diarrhea are caused by stomach bug or food intolerance. If your baby has just started a new food, make sure that you consult your doctor to discuss the diarrhea and the appropriate diet pattern. Another thing to be noted is that your baby should take enough fluids to prevent dehydration. When they get diarrhea, you should make sure that their bottom is kept as clean and dry as possible in order to prevent diaper rash. If you’re not sure what to do, it’s always wiser to consult your doctor.

As I mentioned earlier, diarrhea isn’t something severe to cause great alarm unless it’s followed by other symptoms such as lethargic, fever, bloody feces (some infectious diarrhea such as Salmonella and C. Difficile may cause bloody feces), vomiting, nausea, weight loss, baby is acting sick and discomfort. If this happens to your child, please bring them to your doctor right away. If you’re in doubt, make sure that you speak to your doctor. Bear in mind that diarrhea should always be cleared up without treatment within 24 hours, or else, you should get your baby or child checked to identify the causes of diarrhea.

Warning Color of Feces

After the meconium has passed within 2-3 days, and before introducing solid foods, your baby’s feces shouldn’t be red or black. As mentioned earlier, black or red feces may indicate blood. In this case, take them to the doctor for further diagnosis.

Constipation

Constipation happens if your child has difficulty passing their feces (because the feces are too hard to push out) with their face turning bright red or red, hasn’t had a bowel movement in 3 days, or if their feces are hard, dry, small and pellet. These symptoms may also be accompanied by tummy ache, abdominal pain, tummy tight, irritability, and sometimes due to anal fissures (tiny cracks in the skin) some streaked of blood can be observed in their feces. Formula-fed baby tends to suffer constipation as compared to breast-fed baby. This is because breast milk contains the right amount of nutrients, a natural balance of fat and protein which promotes soft feces. In summary, formula-fed babies may show you a little trickier set of changes involving diarrhea and constipation than breast-fed babies, and thus this is one of the strong reasons why breastfeeding should be encouraged.

Since the primary cause for constipation is diet, it’s always better for you to watch out what your child has been eaten or drunk. If your child gets constipated, you’re advised to increase their fluid intake as well as the amount of fiber in their diet if they’re on solids. If your baby or child is eating food grains such as rice (more likely to cause constipation), try to skip grains for a while until their condition improves by introducing them pureed prune, pears, plums, peas, apricots which tend to speed and loosen their feces. You may also give them about 4 ounces of prune, apple or papaya juice a day to help soften their feces and to get their waste moving faster from the digestive system. Always take your baby to the doctor if they get constipated and particularly if you notice blood in their feces.

Constipation becomes prevalent among the children since they’ve fluctuating appetites. Too much milk, which is more than 32 ounces in a day, can also result in constipation. Therefore, parents should always take note that excess consumption of foods or drinks are not good for their children, but can cause illnesses.

It’s easy to identify your child or baby if they’re constipated. Normally, many of them will cry, grunt, push or strain while passing feces as the hard feces can cause them feeling discomfort. Crying while straining is a normal consequence of constipation, since they feel pain from trying to pass those extremely hard damn feces. When you notice that your baby or child is straining, try holding their knees gently against their chests to help them squat, which is a natural pooping position to help relieve their pain and discomfort feeling.

Please consult your doctor before attempting any of these methods below. The reason is that some diseases/ underlying diseases may mimic constipation, so please don’t treat it on your own without your doctor’s assistance and approval. If your doctor agrees that your child’s is constipated, here are some options to help relieve your child’s/ baby’s constipation:

For a child up to 4 months, constipation is always because of not getting enough fluid. If your child is in formula, make sure that the formula is mixed with enough water in accordance to the manufacturer’s instructions. If the problem is not caused by the formula, then you should encourage your child taking more fluids to avoid dehydration, this may also mean that you nurse them more or provide them more formula than usual. You can also give them a few ounces of plain water, Pedialyte (a rehydration solution) or you can add Karo syrup (a sugary substance) to formula or breast milk. Sugary substances seem to be helpful as they draw water into the gut, soften the feces and are gentle on your baby’s stomach.

For constipated babies (5 to 11 months), those who have started consuming solid foods, it’s always a wiser choice to increase the fiber in their diet to stimulate peristalsis (moving) of their intestines. This can be done by adding more vegetables or fruits at each feeding. You may also add 2-4 ouches of apple juice or diluted prune juice to help soften their feces. The juice helps to increase the water content of feces via osmosis by drawing water into the bowel. If the juice works well with your child, you may need to continue offering them an ounce or two of juice once or twice daily to keep their bowel movement regular and normal. If this doesn’t work, please bring them to the doctor right away to seek for further assistance.

If you bring them to the doctor, he or she may recommend your child with over-the-counter infant glycerin suppositories. To use it, start by using half of a suppository by inserting it into your child’s rectum. This seems to work better since it can increase water content in the feces via a process called osmosis.

For constipated babies (age 1 and up), your doctor will always prescribe laxatives, feces softeners to ease their constipation. If you doubt that their constipation is caused by too much consumption on milk, then you should restrict the milk intake to 24-32 ounces a day.

Put a glob of lubricant on a rectal thermometer or Q-Tip to help stimulate your child’s bowel movement. Next, insert the tip a quarter to half inch into their rectum, give a little twist, and pull back out. If you did it correctly and appropriately, your child’s bowel movement should get stimulated within a minute or two.

You should limit your child’s intake on sweetened foods (including undiluted fruit juice), but offer them yogurt (must contain live cultures or lactobacillus) to help ward off their constipation.

Other Warning Signs to Watch Out for

If your baby has the condition as listed below, please have them checked with your doctor immediately:

• Persistent hunger cues, including the behaviors of rooting or hands to mouth, excessive pacifier use, extremely drowsy or lethargic, or excessive fussiness
• Lose weight after the fifth day of life
• Underweight for 2 weeks or more
• Feces not in yellow color after the seventh day of life
• Any day with merely one bowel movement or any day with no bowel movement (up until 5- 6 weeks of age)
• Yellow feces have reverted to consistently green feces

Final Remark:

Parents shouldn’t worry about the color of their baby’s or child’s bowel movement as they’re simply par for the course and are rarely a sign of a gastrointestinal (such as food tolerance or the infection of virus in the stomach) or digestive problem, if they show you no other symptoms or abnormal consequences. As long as the abnormal color of the feces that you observed is not hard, dry or runny, no blood is observed, and they aren’t constipated then they should be fine and need no medical attention. If your child’s feces are hard, then there’s not enough fiber in their diet; and if they’re too runny, there’s too much fiber in their diet. Nevertheless, if parents see green, orange, or yellow colored feces or any abnormal/ sudden change in their bowel movement that is accompanied by vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, significant bleeding in the feces or extremely dark colored dry feces, persistence diarrhea, and/or what seems to be pain (particularly an ache in a tummy), you should by any attempts have them checked with your doctor or pediatrician immediately.

Again, if you observe that your baby’s feces have a soft texture; this is normal for them and requires no attention. Nevertheless, if their feces are hard, dry, pellet-ball shapes, and the presence of significant streaks of blood, please bring them to the doctor immediately.  

If you’re concerned or unsure of a change in their bowel movement or you worry about their abnormal/ unhealthy colored feces, please don’t hesitate to seek for a medical assistance.

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