[cat5245]

Hi

My DD (7 weeks) is exclusively breastfed. She had 20 or more dirty nappies last Saturday. Her poos were very runny, green and frothy. She was lethargic and grizzly over the weekend. Her poos are now green but not as runny or frothy, but she has so much pain each time she poos that it is waking her up and disturbing her a lot. She cries out in pain and cannot be comforted. She is more sleepy than usual and yet is missing out on sleep due to the pain.
Has anyone had any similar experiences?
What might be causing it and what can I do to help her?

I have already eliminated gluten, dairy and high sugar fruits from my diet as well as most preservatives and additives.

Thanks for your help. I hate seeing her in pain and I miss my happy, smiling baby!

This post has been edited by cat5245: 07/12/2012, 02:27 AM

[bakesgirls]

I was told by my MCHN when DD3 had the same issue, that when poo is green and frothy the baby may be taking in too much lactose (the natural sugar found in milk), which can happen if babies feed often, taking in mainly foremilk, but don't get hindmilk to fill them up. She also said it can also be caused by overfeeding or underfeeding, or can be a sign that baby has a stomach bug.

The best thing to do though, is take your baby to a doctor or MCHN though, and discuss it with them They are better equiped to answer any concerns you may have.

Hope you can get the answers you want soon

This post has been edited by bakesgirls: 07/12/2012, 02:52 AM

[Loulla]

My baby had a sore tummy as a newborn and went through a stage of green poo. It sorted out once he learned to feed more efficiently, getting the hind milk. He didn't do that many poos though. See Dr or MACH nurse.

[Franni]

Find a GOOD lactation consultant. I had the same issues with DS as PP mentioned it was due to too much fore milk and in my case too fast letdown, in the mean time maybe feed From only one side each feed. I had to express 50ml of my right breast before feeds for a couple of weeks especially in the morning.

[poss71]

20 or more dirty nappies? Ouch.

Are you puting a barrier ointment on her bottom at each change? Just to protect her from nappy rash - this obviously won't fix the problem, but will give you one less thing to worry about.

Is she putting on a lot of weight? More than say 200g a week?

I would contact a mothercraft nurse - if you are in Melbourne or Sydney they are around, and are the best trained people to help initially. Failing that, a lactation consultant or your hospital midwife. If one of these people can look her over, they will hopefully be able to advise you. Don't avoid the GP or paed if you feel it is required.

I had a similar experience to Franni, with assistance from a mothercraft nurse I fed from one side only at a feed and timed my feeds so that my oversupply and fast letdown was reduced and DD was getting more hind milk. This made a big difference for her stomach issues.

Ultimately, we had other issues, so I switched to expressing, which mixed the milk up nicely for her!, and then combined feeding. But without those issues, I/DD would have been able to continue breastfeeding on the basis of the advice we received.

[suziej]

The good news is that it is fairly common.

I found longer feeds each side did work, so what the ladies above have said about fore/hind milk rings true. It also spaced out my feeds slightly (although there were still cluster feed sessions)

[tick]

My DD2 gets green frothy and acidic poo when I consume soy. It's in everything, so hard to avoid ..... but that's how it is for us.

Dairy also affects her but in a more mucousy, blood streaked poo kind of way.

[Lainskii]

Find a GOOD lactation consultant. I had the same issues with DS as PP mentioned it was due to too much fore milk and in my case too fast letdown, in the mean time maybe feed From only one side each feed. I had to express 50ml of my right breast before feeds for a couple of weeks especially in the morning.

I am going though the same with my nearly 7 week old. Advice above is good. Apparently around 6 weeks your milk supply is established (why it happens now) and by 12 weeks, babies are generally better at feeding so it shouldn't be an issue.
My health care nurse said limiting lactose in mums diet might make a difference during this period but not necessarily for everyone.
You know things are better when the poo becomes a mustard colour rather than green.

Good luck OP, I know how hard it is when they are so uncomfortable. I've found that a warm bath seems to settle my DS a little when he is really distressed.


This post has been edited by Lainskii: 07/12/2012, 08:05 AM

[Lolpigs]

You can also try hand expressing off some of the fore milk for bubs so he gets more hind milk until he can feed more efficiently.

All of the above advise is good.

[Dylan's Mummy]

It's usually from too much foremilk (the thinner milk that comes first) and not enough hind milk ( the richer, creamier milk that comes next), it called a hindmilk foremilk imbalance. Try feeding for longer from each side. If you can't get bub to feed for very long try putting her back on each side a second time eg left, right, left, right). If bub tends to fall asleep while feeding, as they do when they are little, try tickling the back of her neck to keep her going.

Google information about foremilk hindmilk imbalance.