# Stringy Green EBF Poo? Should I change my diet?



## LDSmomma (May 11, 2009)

DS has had stringy green poop for about two weeks now. It started after a weekend when I was not eating my typical diet, though I couldn't really pin down anything out of the ordinary I was eating, we just ate out more than usual, so I wasn't controlling the ingredients.

His poop also changed from once a day or even once every two or three days to several times a day. it's stayed this way for weeks now, and I'm not sure if this is just a stage, or if he's having a reaction to something I've eaten.

He's also had a rash through all of this. It started as an allergy ring around the anus, to a little redness around the diaper area. Now, it's a yeast rash. I put anti fungal cream, and the yeast and redness was finally gone this morning, but it's back this afternoon!

Can you suggest dietary changes that have helped you through something like this? I do not drink milk, though I do have some dairy in my diet, such as cheese and some other things that contain milk. At the beginning of this, I thought it could have been tomatoes I'd had a lot of.. spaghetti and pizza in one week, but this has persisted past this.


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## mom61508 (May 10, 2009)

Try the allergy threads. My LO had green poops once with mucusy type strings in it and I was told that could mean they're not getting enough hind milk. doesn't mean that's your case but just an idea.


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## LDSmomma (May 11, 2009)

Thanks! I will!


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## ktaylor (May 22, 2009)

I will be watching this thread! My 6 week old has had green poop (sometimes stringy, usually seedy/chunky) for over a week. She doesn't seem any more fussy than previously.
I think I'm ready to start trying an elimination diet...ugh. I did read somewhere that probiotics can be helpful as well --


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## javilu (Oct 20, 2007)

my son has had mucus-y green poo for three weeks now. his ped isn't concerned, but i miss the "normal" poo. i've cut out dairy for now, and also give him a "pinky" of babydophilus daily. we'll see if it helps!


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## gagin37 (May 25, 2008)

green poo can also be from too much foremilk and not enough hind milk. make sure baby drains each breast really well before switching! I have to nurse ds two or three times on each side before it's empty. For the yeast rash lots of naked time helps, as well as washing the area with a grapefruit seed extract/water solution. It's tough to get rid of! GL!


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## snowgirl (Aug 2, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *puffnstuff* 
also give him a "pinky" of babydophilus daily. we'll see if it helps!

Just make sure the babydophilus does not have casein(milk protein) in it. I almost gave ds probiotics, then read the label and it was in there.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gagin37* 
green poo can also be from too much foremilk and not enough hind milk. make sure baby drains each breast really well before switching! GL!









:


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## Taryn237 (Aug 20, 2006)

nak

Stringy can be a sign of yeast die off. Google 'candida overgrowth.'


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## Caterina (Jul 18, 2008)

Is your baby teething? Our LO's poop changes from yellowy-orangey to green, sort of foamy (sorry!) and sort of stringy when she's teething and extra drooly. She also gets red around her bum. It last for a week or two and then subsides. For what it's worth, she's been teething now for 4.5 months and still has no teeth!


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## CherryGhost (May 12, 2009)

My LO experienced this and I became OBSESSED with poo ... My midwife told me it can happen when they are sensitive to dairy that you've been drinking/eating, when they aren't getting hindmilk or when they are simply just digesting very quickly. This last reason was recently highlighted at a breastfeeding seminar my birth coach attended. In my case, I cut out the vitamins I was taking and the green poo went away ...


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gagin37* 
green poo can also be from too much foremilk and not enough hind milk. make sure baby drains each breast really well before switching! I have to nurse ds two or three times on each side before it's empty.

Yes, especially if you've already gone back to your normal diet. If you are going through at least four breast pads a day, you may need to do block feeding.


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## Cherry Alive (Mar 11, 2007)

Okay, this will sound weird, but I have to mention it, bc I never read it anywhere else and I hope to share it in the case it may help someone else...

For me, it really made a difference to play around with the nursing position.

My LO had fantastic ocre poops for the first week of her life (when we were in the hospital). Then we came home, and she kept having runny green poops. I was worried about allergies (she does have a lactose sensitivity, incidentally) so I did an elimination diet. I also tried to blockfeed. Nothing seemed to stop them.

I had been nursing a lot in bed, bc I was tired a lot (lost a lot of blood in the hospital). The hospital bed enabled me to sit up easily, but our bed has a headboard with shelves so leaning back on it is rather uncomfortable. This resulted in me often laying on my back when nursing. It was comfortable and easy for me, and the baby seemed to enjoy it, too, as she likes to nurse on her tummy.

Well, she wasn't gaining weight fast so I did many things to try to make sure she was getting as much BM as possible. I came to find out I was nursing in a position called "uphill" which may have been slowing milk flow. So I bought a chair pillow for my back and nursed more sitting up since then...

Her poops changed almost instantly! They are now the fantastic ochre yellow and more solid. She also doesn't seem to poop as much (she was originally going through 6-12 dipes a day and now does 4-6). I suppose the fat and other component in the hindmilk may not have been reaching her when I was on my back-even though it appeared she'd empty my breasts. If/when I nurse on my back again for a length of time (like when I'm dead tired in the middle of the night), she almost always gets green poop.

She still doesn't gain weight terribly fast (.5 oz a day-her doc told us not to worry). We've figured out she's getting more than enough to eat since there's lots of output. She is just a *very* active baby who is just built "tall and lanky" as the doc puts it.









But it's really nice not to have to worry about foremilk/hindmilk balance anymore.


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

Yeah, if baby is gaining a lot AND having green poops, then that is a sign of oversupply or rather, too much foremilk. However as the OP pointed out, a slow-gaining baby with green poop probably has another problem.


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## LDSmomma (May 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EdnaMarie* 
Yeah, if baby is gaining a lot AND having green poops, then that is a sign of oversupply or rather, too much foremilk. However as the OP pointed out, a slow-gaining baby with green poop probably has another problem.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *gagin37* 
green poo can also be from too much foremilk and not enough hind milk. make sure baby drains each breast really well before switching! I have to nurse ds two or three times on each side before it's empty. For the yeast rash lots of naked time helps, as well as washing the area with a grapefruit seed extract/water solution. It's tough to get rid of! GL!

Yes! This has solved it! I started block feedings, with two on each side, with no change. Not even a change in fullness of breasts. However, ordinarily, DS only nurses on one side at each feeding, so I thought maybe two feedings on each side wasn't a big deal (sometimes I forget which side the last feeding was on, and do that, or at night I don't feel like rolling over).

At a LLL meeting, the Leader suggested that some moms need to block feed for 6 or 12 hours on each side, and that helps them. I did that starting after Sat's LLL meeting, and this morning DS had a normal orange poop, and he's only had one today, rather than the 3 or 4 foamy green stringy ones he was having before!

Saturday, the breast DS wasn't using during each 12 hour block became quite full, and at the end of 12 hours was painful, but after Sat & Sunday of this, today there hasn't been an issue of overfullness. Right now, one breast is full, and hurts a bit when I have a let down becuase it gets fuller, but not that bad really.

Now, I just wonder if this means I Need to block feed forever, or if after a bit I can go back to "normal".


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

My experience was block feeding until she really started taking solids.







It sucked. But not as much as green poop sucked! Be careful around night times, that you have him on one side for half the night and the other side was really empty before you started.


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## LDSmomma (May 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EdnaMarie* 
My experience was block feeding until she really started taking solids.







It sucked. But not as much as green poop sucked! Be careful around night times, that you have him on one side for half the night and the other side was really empty before you started.

I nurse on one side from midnight to noon, and the other from noon to midnight. How do you really know if a breast is ever empty?


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

They are never "empty"- just not storing much. At least, if you have an oversupply, that is the case. So I guess that was a poor way of saying, make sure you have nursed the other side floppy.


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## LDSmomma (May 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EdnaMarie* 
They are never "empty"- just not storing much. At least, if you have an oversupply, that is the case. So I guess that was a poor way of saying, make sure you have nursed the other side floppy.









Ha! I was going to say deflated, but I like floppy! When I switch, the other breast is definitely floppy!


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## kalamos23 (Apr 11, 2008)

DD still nurses only one side - your body will adapt and you won't get as super full on the sidehe isn't eating on - it really evend out for me around 4/5 months.


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