got a question about infant poop

[DammitJanet]

Yes, now we have talked about everything...lol.

Anyway, Cory just called me to tell me Mickey is extremely fussy tonight and he was concerned and wanted my opinion but then his phone went dead so oh well. He did have time to tell me he would handle things.

What has me concerned is that yesterday she was here for about 4 hours or so and she was pretty cranky the whole time then too and she had 3 bm's during that time and all of them looked the same. They were the color of bright yellow mustard but had a little bit of what looked like mucus in what would be a more dark mustard color. No red color.

They have her on regular newborn enfamil so its a milk based formula which has me concerned. Everyone in my family has lactose issues. Cory had poop problems as a newborn and his looked like this and he couldnt keep anything in his tummy. The minute it went in, it came out the other end and it burned his butt. Her butt looked a bit red to me yesterday but she is very dark skinned. How red she is and how red it shows on dark skin is going to be something else.

I just dont remember any of my other baby's having this yellow color this far out...she is one month. Just Cory. Plus the having so many bm's in that many hours seems to be telling. Or I may just be reading something into her being Cory's child. I do know I dont know why a Dr wouldnt put a child on a soy based formula to start with when he is told that the childs father has such a history. That astounds me. Its not like a soy based formula is bad for them.

 

[Liahona]

easy child 3 is breastfed so this might not apply. His is still bright yellow. What would concern me more is the mucus and fussiness and redness. Has Cory brought up the lactose issues with the dr?

Also easy child 3 goes days with just one bm a day and then all of a sudden there is a bm every diaper change for a few hours.

 

[shellyd67]

Sounds similiar to a problem my easy child had as an infant. She had serious reflux and could not tolerate milk based formula. She had terrible rashes and had to have prescription rash cream.

She also had an anal fissure which caused mucus in her stool.

As far as the color, I am not sure. Is the baby spitting up alot ? That would be a tell tale sign that milk based formula couldn't be tolerated. A call to the pediatrician or a visit may be the best bet.

 

[DammitJanet]

Baby isnt spitting up much at all which I know isnt normal for having a reaction but then neither did Cory, his blasted out the other end. She also isnt gaining weight. Tony just told me they met him at the store tonight and told him she has only gained one pound since birth. That isnt normal.

And yeah...I know they told the peddoc at the hospital about Cory and his lactose issues but they still put her on the regular formula. Kills me. heck, the new pediatricians office she goes to should know her family, they were her daddy and her uncles peddocs!

 

[Hound dog]

I thought Mandy was nursing Mickey?? If so, then the type of poo you're seeing is normal. If not.......well, depends on the baby. Might be the formula isn't agreeing with the baby's digestive system, not allergy per se....... Oliver was having issues with both gas (tons) and the same type poo long after Nichole gave up nursing him because she couldn't keep up with his demand. She tried a different brand formula and so far, he's fine. Gas stopped being an issue and poo turned more normal. Irked her because the one he couldn't seem to tolerate was the sam's club brand, which of course is cheaper. She didn't even have to switch to soy.....just brand was enough.

 

[pepperidge]

My son had terrible allergy to milk protein. His butt was as red as could be for the first week of his life.. Then he changed to soy formula, there ended up being mucus and blood (maybe from doctor examination, I didn't see blood) so he ended up getting changed to corn formula (nutramigen). I will seriously think about switching to soy with the family history.

 

[keista]

Sounds like the poo son had at age 2-3. Dr couldn't figure it out except maybe he was lactose intolerant. Switched to Lactose free milk, it still continued but not as bad. 2 years later I figured out it was his apple juice.

Anyway. Assuming all she's getting is breast milk or formula, I'd say it's a milk allergy. Not necessarily a lifetime one, but definitely for now. Try one can of soy. if it clears up, then you will know.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Whether its milk allergy/intollerance or not... it doesn't hurt to rule that out. To me, though, it could take more than just "one" can... maybe 2 or three, because it can take time for the gut to settle down.

 

[KTMom91]

Miss KT couldn't tolerate the formula with added iron. Soy went right through her, she was starving all the time. Once my OB told me to try the low iron formula, all was well.

 

[donna723]

My kids both had that as infants. My daughter was switched to soy formula when she was about a month old and did really well on it. My son did a tiny bit better on soy formula than he did on milk based formulas but still had a lot of problems. We spent his first six months switching from one thing to another, even tried goats milk (OMG! NOT recommended!) and nothing worked for him. I tried them all! Finally I filled his bottle up with regular milk, right out of the refrigerator ... warmed it up a little and gave it to him! And he loved it! He drank it right down, it stayed down, and his tummy troubles went away and never came back! Of course you can't do that with a very young baby, but if I were them, I sure would be trying a soy based formula for a while and see if it helps.

 

[pepperidge]

my experience with my son was that it took a few days before the diaper rash from hell ended. he has largely outgrown his allergy to milk protein by the time he was in grade school but before that if you even touched his skin with a milk product it would turn red.

 

[Marguerite]

I was concerned about lactose problems in easy child so had her on soy milk once weaned off the breast. I've since been told that soy is also a problem, a lot of babies can develop sensitivity or allergy to soy protein. We didn't have that problem with easy child, but I would not use soy now for that reason.

It could be lactose problems, but it could also be that she has a bit of a cold and the mucus from the cold is filling her tummy and causing problems. I saw this too. Especially nasty in babies that are solely breast-fed, because the mucus from the cold has the same effect as suddenly putting the baby on solids.

Darker skinned babies do look different in the poop. I remember when easy child was in child care. She was very pale-skinned but two other babies the same age were very different in appearance. One was Greek, the other was from Uganda and very, very dark-skinned (hair like liquorice cotton candy!). At first glance, poop on the Ugandan baby looked mustard-coloured while on my baby, it looked browner. But when both babies were being changed at the same time, we could see the poop was exactly the same colour.

Marg

 

[DammitJanet]

Oddly, Cory's milk allergies have been outgrown but Jamies havent. Jamie is so highly intolerant that if he drinks milk or eats ice cream that he actually will bleed down there. I used to give him the lactaid milk products and soy milk but he is in his 20s and I cant control him anymore. He has had 2 scopes up that end as a young adult and he had an endoscopy when he was ten. Thats how we found out he was so highly allergic.

Back when Cory was a baby, I didnt have access to stuff like Nutramigen or other fancy formulas like today. Maybe they were out there but the only stuff I could get was what WIC would provide and I was told they only provided 3 types: Similac, enfamil and Prosoybe. All my boys were on the Soy one because Billy started out on it so they didnt want to chance the other two. Well Jamie did well on it but Cory did awful so they attempted to switch him to Similac and then Enfamil and both those were worse. Then they just said they didnt know what to do. All this was through the WIC office because thats where you get formula. Docs all say follow WIC. So in the end, by the time Cory was 2 months old and wasnt gaining weight and was so miserable he couldnt keep food in and we couldnt keep diapers on him because the poop would burn his butt because it was so acidic, we just started feeding him food and giving him watered down juice, pedialyte, watered down tea in his bottles. We put liquid vitamins in the bottles so he got those. It was pitiful.

 

[Steely]

Can you get her to breast feed? Then she could control what exactly it is that the baby is getting as nourishment?

 

[Mamaof5]

Is the baby showing signs of something called sandifer's syndrome (stretched the head backward, swallowing excessively which could indicate silent reflux, stretching out to elongate the torso which eases pain of reflux). Baby may need omperizole medications (DO NOT LET THEM USE DOMPERIDOME - it's for motility issues or rather lack there of and liquid zantac can make infant reflux worse). My little guy has GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease).

 

[Mattsmom277]

I think the lack of weight gain is a big flag especially with the poop issues.

I too think they should try something else. With your family history soy might work better. I remember with my easy child that she did horrible on high iron formula and all was well after we stopped that and used non enriched formula. The pediatric had said of that didn't work the next step would be to try soy. Perhaps they should take the baby for a check up. I would hate a spiteful person to portray the parenting skills as reason for low weight gain. Might be good for a check up for all of those reasons.

 

[hearts and roses]

I think the lack of weight gain is a big flag especially with the poop issues.

I too think they should try something else. With your family history soy might work better. I remember with my easy child that she did horrible on high iron formula and all was well after we stopped that and used non enriched formula. The pediatric had said of that didn't work the next step would be to try soy. Perhaps they should take the baby for a check up. I would hate a spiteful person to portray the parenting skills as reason for low weight gain. Might be good for a check up for all of those reasons.

I agree - the weight issued combined with the poop issue os what worries me most. It really could be anything and unrelated to the entire formula thing.

Have they started her on any cereals by a chance? If so, depending on what the cereal is, she may be celiac - that would prevent her from gaining weight.

Have they given her any fruits? She may be sensitive to the natural sugars, that could cause her to feel fuller which make her drink less of the nutritious formula and that may be a cause for the lack of weight gain as well as the frequent pooping.

They should cut back on any newly introduced foods (cereals/fruits) and stick with the formula if it wasn't giving them any problems until now. If there haven't been any other foods introduced, then they should probably try a soy based, low iron formula. I thought Mom was going to breast feed? What happened there?

 

[DDD]

It sounds like this is a new problem for Mickey. If its sudden onset then I would assume it may be a sign of a bug as opposed to an allergy. My suggestion is that they write down when this happens, differences is stool consistency, any signs of cramping or spitting up and then make an appointment. to have her checked. The weight issue would be my primary concern. Hugs. DDD PS: Also note any change in sleep or hunger patterns.

 

[DammitJanet]

No foods introduced yet as she is only a month. Mom was never going to breastfeed because she plans on going to school and/or returning to work part-time plus she smokes and didnt want to pass that on in breast milk.

She does seem to lean back when she eats now that you mention it and swallow a lot. But I am not around her much. The day before yesterday was one of the first days I was around her for that many hours at one time.

I think I am going to buy them a can or two of the soy formula to see if that helps. Also she has the bottles made for colic. She should use those only. There is also some really good diaper rash cream that I liked better than desitin when Keyana was a baby so I will get that for them.

 

[Mamaof5]

No foods introduced yet as she is only a month. Mom was never going to breastfeed because she plans on going to school and/or returning to work part-time plus she smokes and didnt want to pass that on in breast milk.

She does seem to lean back when she eats now that you mention it and swallow a lot. But I am not around her much. The day before yesterday was one of the first days I was around her for that many hours at one time.

I think I am going to buy them a can or two of the soy formula to see if that helps. Also she has the bottles made for colic. She should use those only. There is also some really good diaper rash cream that I liked better than desitin when Keyana was a baby so I will get that for them.

The leaning back and swallowing a lot is a BIG HUGE RED FLAG. She needs more than just a formula change, she needs medications. Omperizole is the better medication for children (a PPI not an H2 Blocke - example of Omperizole is prevacid). The pooping is a big flag for GERD too. My little man did all of those things and still has episodes of GERD when certain foods are not avoided (we try to avoid fatty foods, heavy dairy, acidic foods, etc).

I'd suggest a doctor appointment to bring up these issues and GERD, ask for a gastro specialist to get down to the root of the problem. Please tell them if they do this to avoid motility drugs, it's an archaic solution to GERD. Domperidome is a motility drug, it's used for something called DGE.