# I can't get rid of the green poop



## blue_eyed_babe (Aug 14, 2009)

Hi,

My 11 week old baby has never had issues with his poop - always the yellow seedy ones - now for the last week and a half it has turned green and can't seem to get it to change back.

I have tried nursing him for 30+min on one side and only switching when he stops on that side and I am sure there couldn't be anything left.

Any suggestions???


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

You could try block feeding. I think www.kellymom.com has some info.

good luck!

-Angela


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## JudiAU (Jun 29, 2008)

Doyou take an iron supp? It was the source of periodic green poop in my DS


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## veedeepee (Oct 3, 2008)

We went through a green poop phase around 5-6 weeks (even with block feeding). My family dr. said that the poop just transitions sometimes...and the color isn't too much to be concerned about. The green poop just went away after a couple of weeks (went from always green to the occasional green one, and then just stopped).


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## MindfulBirth (Mar 3, 2005)

I just finished taking the CLC exam, so I've got hot, new information for you: There is no such thing as foremilk/hindmilk. Those words are only being used as a TIME reference now. Apparently breastmilk has been found to not be any more creamy or fatty at the end of a feeding than it would be at the beginning. It may be more so for one feeding, but not for the next, and for the third, the level may stay the same throughout the feeding. So trying to get your baby to suck one breast dry and get more hind milk is not going to solve the problem.

They are now saying that the reason behind the green poo is that baby may have a virus.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MindfulBirth* 
I just finished taking the CLC exam, so I've got hot, new information for you: There is no such thing as foremilk/hindmilk. Those words are only being used as a TIME reference now. Apparently breastmilk has been found to not be any more creamy or fatty at the end of a feeding than it would be at the beginning. It may be more so for one feeding, but not for the next, and for the third, the level may stay the same throughout the feeding. So trying to get your baby to suck one breast dry and get more hind milk is not going to solve the problem.

They are now saying that the reason behind the green poo is that baby may have a virus.

hmmm... I don't buy it.

the green poo correlates too well for babies with moms with overabundant supply. And dd never showed any signs of a virus. And I could make her poo turn green by switch nursing.

AND many pumping moms are quite familiar with the changes in milk throughout a pumping session.

-Angela


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## MelW (Jan 13, 2005)

I'm with Angela- if I express before a feed the first milk looks skim, if I express after a feed I get cream.

Green poop that is mucousy and/or smelly is often a sign of allergy or intolerance. The most common culprit is dairy.


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## vbactivist (Oct 4, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MindfulBirth* 
I just finished taking the CLC exam, so I've got hot, new information for you: There is no such thing as foremilk/hindmilk. Those words are only being used as a TIME reference now. Apparently breastmilk has been found to not be any more creamy or fatty at the end of a feeding than it would be at the beginning. It may be more so for one feeding, but not for the next, and for the third, the level may stay the same throughout the feeding. So trying to get your baby to suck one breast dry and get more hind milk is not going to solve the problem.

They are now saying that the reason behind the green poo is that baby may have a virus.


do you have a link for any of this? I have never heard/read this before, and I'm interested to know more. I just emailed my LLL coleader (who is an IBCLC with 20 + years experience) and she would like more info as well, ebcasue she hasn't heard this either yet. Thansk


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MindfulBirth* 
I just finished taking the CLC exam, so I've got hot, new information for you: There is no such thing as foremilk/hindmilk. Those words are only being used as a TIME reference now. Apparently breastmilk has been found to not be any more creamy or fatty at the end of a feeding than it would be at the beginning. It may be more so for one feeding, but not for the next, and for the third, the level may stay the same throughout the feeding. So trying to get your baby to suck one breast dry and get more hind milk is not going to solve the problem.

They are now saying that the reason behind the green poo is that baby may have a virus.

Well, I can *see* the difference in my milk (just read the thread, I can see I'm not the only one, I mean it's obvious, and when I pump, the "empty boob" bottle is yellow whereas the "too-full boob" bottle is white), and block feeding always worked for me.

However, in the OP's situation, with it starting much later, the question of oversupply is open, because it seems unlikely her supply would suddenly be out of balance.

I would first look at fattening up your milk: after all, your milk could be less fatty if you aren't getting enough leafy greens. You could stir spinach in your scrambled eggs, put blueberries in your oatmeal, etc.

You could have a food intolerance, but I will just speak from my experience, that I'm at most 3/4 European and my baby had green poop and it was NOT milk. I lost a lot of weight doing elimination to get rid of the green poops and got down to the bottom of the weight chart before I gave up.

So to reiterate, I would do the following, in order of the effort it will take to implement it:

-Add leafy greens (spinach, lettuce, chard) to your diet, and more whole milkfats and whole grains like oats. This can't hurt unless you are lactose intolerant, in which case, obviously stick to more greens and oats and the like.
-Block-feed for one hour on each side, increasing to two hours if you don't see a difference after 48 hours.
-Elimination diet: cow dairy (you can try goat's milk), chocolate, caffeine...

Good luck. I had a lot of green poops with my first and I agonized over it so I know where you're coming from. However I do want to say that even though it took forever to solve, she grew well nonetheless and is quite healthy.


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## MindfulBirth (Mar 3, 2005)

This is directly from my CLC coursebook (put together by Health Children Project, Copyright 2010)

Foremilk and Hindmilk
* It turns out that the concept of "fore" and "hind" milk is a lot more complex than was originally described.
* The mlk at the beginning of a feed is called foremilk, the milk from the end of a feed is called hind milk.
* But as it turns out, foremilk does not mean "low fat" (although it may be relatively lower in fat). Hind mlk is not always dramatically higher in fat.
* Sometimes foremilk and hindmilk have equal amounts of fat.

Fat Content of Milk:
*Varies throughout the day
*When lactose and volume are high, fat is low and vice versa.
**The fat content of suckled milk increases steeply with the increased rate of milk removal*
*However, the amount of fat consumed by the baby is relatively constant over the course of a day.
*There is no truth to the argument that to obtain the most nutritious milk for the infant the mother should encourage her baby to consume more hind milk.

The study link is not written in my book, but this course book was put together (and taught by) Karin Cadwell. You can also contact them at 508 888 8044 or [email protected]


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## vbactivist (Oct 4, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MindfulBirth* 
This is directly from my CLC coursebook (put together by Health Children Project, Copyright 2010)

Foremilk and Hindmilk
* It turns out that the concept of "fore" and "hind" milk is a lot more complex than was originally described.
* The mlk at the beginning of a feed is called foremilk, the milk from the end of a feed is called hind milk.
* But as it turns out, foremilk does not mean "low fat" (although it may be relatively lower in fat). Hind mlk is not always dramatically higher in fat.
* Sometimes foremilk and hindmilk have equal amounts of fat.

Fat Content of Milk:
*Varies throughout the day
*When lactose and volume are high, fat is low and vice versa.
**The fat content of suckled milk increases steeply with the increased rate of milk removal*
*However, the amount of fat consumed by the baby is relatively constant over the course of a day.
*There is no truth to the argument that to obtain the most nutritious milk for the infant the mother should encourage her baby to consume more hind milk.

The study link is not written in my book, but this course book was put together (and taught by) Karin Cadwell. You can also contact them at 508 888 8044 or [email protected]


this is very helpful. Thanks so much for copying all that.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MindfulBirth* 
This is directly from my CLC coursebook (put together by Health Children Project, Copyright 2010)

Foremilk and Hindmilk
* It turns out that the concept of "fore" and "hind" milk is a lot more complex than was originally described.
* The mlk at the beginning of a feed is called foremilk, the milk from the end of a feed is called hind milk.
* But as it turns out, foremilk does not mean "low fat" (although it may be relatively lower in fat). Hind mlk is not always dramatically higher in fat.
* Sometimes foremilk and hindmilk have equal amounts of fat.

Fat Content of Milk:
*Varies throughout the day
*When lactose and volume are high, fat is low and vice versa.
**The fat content of suckled milk increases steeply with the increased rate of milk removal*
*However, the amount of fat consumed by the baby is relatively constant over the course of a day.
*There is no truth to the argument that to obtain the most nutritious milk for the infant the mother should encourage her baby to consume more hind milk.

The study link is not written in my book, but this course book was put together (and taught by) Karin Cadwell. You can also contact them at 508 888 8044 or [email protected]


Okay. That doesn't negate what we've been calling a fore/hindmilk imbalance that can be remedied with block feeding. I never encourage aiming for "more nutritious hindmilk" BUT green poop could be caused by a high volume issue and remedied by block feeding to reduce volume.

-Angela


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## blue_eyed_babe (Aug 14, 2009)

Okay - So I am going to try doing two feedings in a row from the same side to reduce supply!! (it seems that no matter how long I nurse on one side there is always lots less and I have done upwards of 45-55 min of pure nursing) I am also going to try adding more greens and grains to my diet (I had not heard of this before and am glad of something to try other than eliminating dairy right from the start) diary is a big part of my diet and I don't see how after 10 weeks he would suddenly develop a sensitivity or intolerence!!

Thank you all!!


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

BEB, please note that I am talking about oats in particular when it comes to grains- soaked, baked, and boiled oats are the best. I do not think that wheat, for example (though I personally am a big wheat eater), does anything special for your milk.

My doctor said that around 10-12 weeks is when they get USED to mom's diet so I also think that it's unlikely that dairy is the culprit.

Oh, and although I don't think that green poop is ALWAYS caused by a virus, I do know that having the sniffles can cause green poops, in which case, extra greens aren't going to hurt.

(Finally, broccoli can make baby gassy, so be sure to have leafy greens vs. just any green veggie, if you are going that route.)

"*There is no truth to the argument that to obtain the most nutritious milk for the infant the mother should encourage her baby to consume more hind milk."

Unless she has huge oversupply and the baby is really needing fat. Neither may have too little vitamins or protein, but I really do think that some moms in rare cases, do do better to give baby the fatty milk at the end. When you have oversupply, it's extremely tempting to let baby sip off the tips rather than nurse a whole breastful and leave the other one painfully engorged. This is an extreme situation and I'd expect it's not the focus of their general advice.


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## blue_eyed_babe (Aug 14, 2009)

Hey - so I tried block feeding for 3 days, and I also increased my fruit & grain intake - I now have a daily afternoon snack of yogurt mixed with blueberries, 1/3 cup of honey, granola and almond cereal...and chocolate chips...- within a day or two of doing all this, the poop is yellow again!!

Thank you so much for the advice everyone!


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

So glad you are doing better, and blueberries are ALWAYS good! Mmmm!


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