How can someone so small make so much poop?!😳
Who knew baby poo came in such an array of colours and consistency?
As a parent of a baby, poop can become a little obsessive due to the number of nappies you end up changing. A whole new obsession!!!!
Your baby’s poo will change as they grow and develop and as the digestive system is constantly trying to keep up with processing milk, whether it is breastmilk or formula.
So let’s look at the wonderful spectrum of baby poop, the poo rainbow you never thought you would need to know.
Newborn first poo
🖤The very first poo you will see from your baby, will arrive anywhen within the first 24hrs after birth. This first poop is blackish to dark green, resembling tar and is known as meconium. Meconium is made from your baby swallowing small amounts of their amniotic fluid that was around them during pregnancy.
It can be super sticky so prepare to get a little messy! You may find to start with, you can expect roughly 3-4 poos per day. Colostrum can even help speed along how quickly your baby passes their meconium poos.
Few days later baby poo
💛After a few days, your baby should of passed all of the meconium and you will start to see maybe more poos that appear how you would expect baby poo to look.
If your baby is being breastfed, their poop may look grainy and mustard coloured. This can be quite runny at times so prepare for leakages if that nappy isn’t on properly. The good thing to know is these poos tend not to be too smelly.
If your baby is being formula fed, you may notice darker and firmer poos and unfortunately these ones will be smellier. This is purely down to the digestive system having to make adjustments and get used to breaking down formula milk, which is a slower process. Where as breastmilk was designed for your baby’s body, so is broken down more easily. The longer the poo remains in the tummy, the smellier the poo, hence why formula fed baby’s have smelly poos.
Weaning poo
🤎 Once you begin to wean your baby, you will see some more changes to the consistency and colour of your baby’s poop. These will tend to look more like the poo we might expect, being more brown and thicker. They can also be the colour of what your baby has eaten. So don’t be too shocked if you change your baby’s nappy and it’s reddy/purple if you fed them beetroot recently.
If your baby led weaning, this may mean there will be pieces of undigested food in the poop too, which you will soon spot.
When there’s something not right with your baby’s poo
💚Sometimes you may see some not very healthy looking poos, so it’s good to know when it might be time to visit the GP if your unsure.
It’s not uncommon to have slightly green in colour baby poops, but when it’s quite slimy as well, this can mean there’s mucus present. This can just be down to your baby swallowing more dribble due to teething or even if they have a cold. This may sometimes be a sign of a tummy infection though. If it keeps reoccurring over a few days, it’s time to see your GP to make sure it doesn’t need treating.
❤️Red poo is another one to keep an eye on. Sometimes it is just down to the foods they’ve eaten, sometimes it’s just your baby is a little constipated and has strained whilst pooping and sometimes it’s just a bad case of nappy rash and a sore bottom.
Sometimes it can be sign of a possible infection or an issue with your baby digesting their food, so if concerned, go see you GP and they can offer advice.
🤍Watch out for white poos as well. Hopefully you won’t need to worry about this one, as this is rare but if your little ones poos are white and chalky, this can mean they are having issues with their liver and digestive system. This definitely needs a trip to the GP to diagnose and treat.
If your ever concerned over the contents of your little ones nappy, always contact your GP. As long as baby is healthy and happy dont stress too much.
Baby poop changes as your little one grows and not forgetting the occasional poonami! Make sure to keep spare clothes with you especially when your out and about, just in case.😉 Why is it always when your in the car or supermarket? Why does it have to be when they are wearing white!!!!!!😩
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