Bet you never thought you’d become someone that’s obsessed with poop, did ya?? Well, as a parent, this is just one of those things that we worry about and pay A LOT of attention to!
“Why’s my baby’s poop this colour?”
“My baby hasn’t pooped in days, is that normal?”
“My baby’s poop is really runny, is that diarrhea? How do I tell – it’s always liquid-like?”
These are just some of the questions I know swirl around in your head when you’re doing yet another diaper change. I know because I’ve been there!
And, while obsessing over baby’s bowel movements may not be the most fun thing to do, keeping track and knowing what’s normal for your baby is very important – so let’s go over everything you need to know about your baby’s poop!
WHAT DOES YOUR BABY’S DIAPER HABITS TELL US ABOUT THEIR HEALTH?
Since babies aren’t yet able to tell us how they’re feeling, we have to use certain indicators to collect information about their health and wellness – one of these is poop. We can use things such as the color of your baby’s poop, the frequency, and the texture, to determine many different things.
Including…
- Illness – sometimes your baby’s poop can be the first, or only, indicator of an illness, such as a gastrointestinal bug.
- Nutrition – certain colors can indicate issues with nutrient absorption, plus we can use the colors to tell us whether they’re taking in breast milk or formula, and later on, if solid food is being swallowed.
- Hydration – sometimes constipation can be a sign that more fluids are needed.
- Allergies or intolerances – there are certain signs to look out for that could indicate that your baby has an allergy or an intolerance to something they ate, and some of those signs show up in their diaper!
Knowing what is considered normal for your baby, based on what they’re consuming, is important so that you can determine when their poop is out of the ordinary, and then determine whether that change is to be expected, or warrants a call to baby’s doctor.
WHAT AFFECTS THE TYPE OF POOP MY BABY HAS?
There are a lot of different factors that could affect your baby’s poop, namely age, diet, and illness. So it’s normal to expect that your baby’s poop is going to continue to change as they grow. Newborn poop is going to look drastically different from a 6 month old baby’s poop, which will look different from your baby’s poop at 1 year old, in large because as their diet changes, their poop changes. And diet typically changes with age – you’ll notice changes between breastfed poop, formula fed poop, and poop when babies start solids.
Let’s review some major changes that happen.
Newborn poop
Newborns have black, sticky, tar like poops that happen in the first 24 hours following birth. Newborn’s poop is called meconium, and is basically a build up of ingested mucus, amniotic fluid, and other material from the womb. However, if they last longer than a few days, or go away and come back, you need to take your baby to their doctor ASAP. Black poops are not considered normal after the initial days following birth.
1-5 Days after birth
Typically, you’ll notice the meconium will change into what is referred to as “transitional poops”. These are a mixture of meconium and breastfed poop, or formula fed poop, that are expected once your baby begins to digest their breast milk or formula feeds.
These will continue to decrease in meconium, and change to what we expect breastfed or formula fed poops to look like, after a few days. We would expect babies to have 2 poops on day 2, and 3 poops on days 3-5. The color will change from black, to green, to brown, and after a few more days, will change to adjust to whatever poops are characteristic of their main diet – either breast milk or formula.
Breastfed baby's poop
If your baby is being exclusively breastfed, after those first meconium poops, they’ll have poops that are clearly identifiable as breastfed baby poop.
- Color: Yellow – often bright or pale mustard colored. Sometimes it can be bright green and frothy if babies are nursing for only short periods of time on each breast, and getting more foremilk than hindmilk.
- Texture – Loose. They’ll be on the runnier side, but not like what would be considered diarrhea either. May contain seed-like or lumpy pieces – you’ll most likely notice tiny white spots or clumps within the yellow poop. This is normal.
- Frequency: Exclusively breastfed babies can go days without pooping, or they could poop with every single nursing session – both are considered normal.
Formula fed baby's poop
If you’re feeding your baby formula, their poops are going to look different than that of a baby exclusively drinking breast milk. This is because formula is digested differently than breast milk is, and it has different properties. So, if you’re exclusively formula feeding, your baby’s poops will take on the following characteristics listed below. It’s important to note that it may take 1-2 weeks after introducing formula exclusively for your baby’s diapers to change.
- Color: Yellow-brown, green-tan, or brown. With formula there’s a bit more of a range as far as the color of poops, but any of these colors are considered normal.
- Texture: Thick and firm – typically it has a consistency similar to toothpaste, which is thicker than the poop of a breastfed baby.
- Frequency: Formula fed babies don’t typically poop after all their milk feeds (as is common for some breastfed babies) because formula takes longer to process through the digestive tract. However, they should be going at least once per day, maybe even every other day. Anything less than that could be a sign that they’re constipated. I’ll explain more about the other signs in a little bit, but this would warrant a call to their doctor.
Combination fed baby's poop
Some babies are given both breast milk and formula throughout the day, which is referred to as combination feeding. In these cases, your baby’s poop could vary and be seen as anything between the two types described above.
Baby poop after starting solids
Once you begin feeding your baby solid food, typically around the 6 month mark and once they’ve shown all the signs of readiness, your baby’s poop will change due to their new diet. After all, what goes in, must come out!
However, I want to note that this doesn’t mean that your baby’s poop will begin to look like adult poop – their poop will continue to have certain characteristics that make it very clearly baby poop.
Here are the main things to look for when poop is normal…
- Texture: If your baby was exclusively breastfed, you’re probably familiar with the more loose stools they were used to having (note: not diarrhea, but loose for sure). Once your baby is eating solid food, you’ll see a pretty significant change in stool texture – namely, they’ll get way firmer. This might not be as obvious if your baby was exclusively formula fed before, but generally we want the texture of their poop to be like the texture of a cooked sweet potato – sort of pasty.
You might also notice bits of undigested food in your baby’s diaper after starting solid foods. Is this a concern? No, it’s actually completely normal!
See, your baby’s digestive tract is much shorter than an adult’s, and therefore there isn’t always enough time for their body to break down all of the food that they’re eating. This is especially true for foods higher in fibre, such as corn, carrots, blueberries, etc. It also can happen if your baby isn’t chewing their food a lot before swallowing, which is to be expected when they’re first starting out with solid foods. But hey, it’s a great indicator that they’ve actually ingested some food!
- Frequency: Once you go from an all liquid diet to introducing solids, you’re usually going to see the frequency of bowel movements go down. This is because solids bulk the stool up, there is usually less fluid being taken in, and sometimes it can take a while for a baby’s digestive system to adjust.
- Smell: Solid food produces a stronger odor. Babies on a milk only diet usually have milder smelling bowel movements, especially when they consume breast milk only.
- Color: Before starting solids, your baby’s poop color was likely fairly consistent. A mustard colour if they were exclusively breastfed, a brownish or yellow-brown color if they were formula fed, and somewhere in between if they were…well…somewhere in between those two. Once your baby eats solid food, you’ll notice a broader variation in baby poop color, it may even take on the color of the latest colored food they ate!
Normal poop color changes after serving baby food and other new foods
Brown – this is kind of the standard color, and happens naturally when they begin eating solids.
Dark green – common when starting solids that are green in color, like spinach or peas. This can also happen if your baby is taking iron supplements, or eating a lot of iron rich foods (as is recommended for babies).
Blue – this sounds concerning but is a result of eating foods of this color. One main culprit for producing this color of baby poop is blueberries!
Orange – again, this could be from eating foods of this color. Remember that baby’s digestive tracts are shorter, with less time to digest the food in its entirety, so it is easier to tell what they ate by looking at their poops. In babies that haven’t started solids, this can also happen because the poop absorbs pigments from the digestive tract, which is also considered normal.
Red – you may notice a deep red color if they ate something of that color recently, for example beets (I will say, from experience, it can look like a deep red, almost maroon color!)
WHAT TYPE OF POOP DO WE NOT WANT TO SEE?
DIARRHEA
Diarrhea can happen when your baby is sick with a virus, bacteria, or perhaps taking antibiotics.
The key change in stools you’ll see is in the consistency – watery, loose and possibly mucousy – and the frequency – 3 or more of these watery, loose stools in a row.
I know your baby’s poop is naturally liquidy if they’re exclusively breastfed, and so it may seem difficult to distinguish diarrhea from their normal. But that’s why we need to observe their normal, because I’m telling you, you’ll know diarrhea!
I’ve changed a diaper that was best described as colored water, it pooled in their diaper and the diaper couldn’t even soak all of it up fast enough, so when I opened it, there was a literal puddle (not a pleasant image I know!). It may not be that drastic, but a watery poop explosion up your baby’s back, is another good sign.
Basically, my point is that you’ll know, you’ll open the diaper and say: “Uh-oh, that’s not normal!”, and if you find yourself doing this, don’t second guess, your instinct is probably right!
If your baby is experiencing diarrhea, it’s not necessarily an emergency, but your main goal is going to be to keep them hydrated! You need to ensure that they’re drinking enough formula or breast milk. If they’re older and eating solids, try to serve foods with a high water content, such as watermelon or cucumbers, along with encouraging them to drink water from an open cup with meals.
If your baby is also experiencing fever, irritability, or appears to be in pain, seek medical attention right away. Babies can dehydrate much faster than adults do, and it’s best to get them seen at the onset of these symptoms.
Also watch for other signs of dehydration, particularly if the diarrhea is ongoing and lasts for several days. The other signs you need to look for are:
- Decreased tears or crying without tears
- Lack of saliva
- Sunken eyes
- Sunken fontanel (soft spot on your baby’s head)
- Excessive fatigue
- Less playful than usual
Finally, if diarrhea is recurring, it can also be a sign of a food allergy (most likely cow’s milk allergy or lactose intolerance), so be sure to speak with your doctor if you suspect that.
CONSTIPATION
Constipation is not simply a reduction in the amount of dirty diapers. The more important factors to look at to see if your baby is constipated is if they have…
- Extremely hard and difficult to pass poop
- Poop that appears pebble-like and is in small pellets or marbles
- Poop that is a thicker consistency than toothpaste (specifically for younger infants)
- Pain when pooping
Note: a red face while pooping is not a sign of constipation in young infants. They simply haven’t learned how to activate the correct muscles to push their poop out, most babies have this happen and as they get closer to 1 year old, many parents notice this doesn’t happen as often, if at all.
A baby constipated could be due to dehydration because they aren’t taking in enough fluids, or it could be because they aren’t getting in enough of the right types of fiber, or they have an imbalance in their gut bacteria. You can learn more about my strategies for managing constipation here. And if you’re unsure about what types of food to serve your baby in order to ensure they’re getting what they need, and how to safely introduce solids and finger foods – my Baby Led Feeding course is for you!
WHEN TO SEEK HELP
Here’s the thing, poop is going to vary with each baby, and you are going to notice changes in consistency, frequency, and color fairly frequently, especially as their diet changes with introducing solids. The key to remember is that their poop should be soft, your baby should be gaining weight and eating well, but frequency will vary with each child.
However, there are certain times when I want you to seek help from your pediatrician right away. If you notice…
Red or black poop
Generally, we don’t want to see red in your baby’s diaper as this indicates bleeding of some sort, somewhere along the digestive tract. Bright red blood in the diaper typically indicates some bleeding somewhere closer to the end of the tract. It could be an infection, an anal fissure from excessive pushing due to constipation, a milk allergy, or sometimes flecks of red appear in a breastfed baby’s diaper if their mom has cracked, bleeding nipples. And once a baby begins solids, it may happen from ingesting certain red-colored foods.
However, we really want to err on the side of caution with red poop. So if you cannot say with 100% certainty that your baby’s poop has a red tinge due to eating a lot of beets, it’s best to call their doctor and discuss it. They may have you wait to see if the next poop is the same color, or they may want to check it out right away.
Dark red and black poops indicate a very serious problem – specifically internal bleeding, as this is digested blood. So, if the poop is at all borderline, as in you’re having a difficult time deciding if it’s the color of beets or a dark red/black color, it’s absolutely best to get your baby checked out, just in case.
White or gray poop
These colors can happen, and they may have a chalky texture as well. White indicates that there is an issue with your baby’s liver, and basically there isn’t enough bile being produced to properly digest food. It needs to be addressed immediately.
Gray could also indicate an issue with the liver in that food isn’t being digested properly, or it could also mean that your baby’s body isn’t absorbing the nutrients in their food. Again, it needs to be addressed right away.
Mucus
Although some mucus can be normal, consistently having mucusy poop can also be a sign of an allergy or an infection. So again, if you’re unsure of the cause, it’s best to speak with your baby’s doctor.
Dramatic changes after introducing solids
If you notice any drastic changes after introducing solids to your baby, either with regards to consistency, frequency, pain, etc. speak with your baby’s pediatrician. This can indicate a possible food allergy and should be addressed before offering that food again.
Runny or liquid poops at 1 year old
If your baby’s poops continue to be runny and liquid-like leading up to their first birthday (not diarrhea), be sure to discuss this with your baby’s pediatrician. By this age, their diet should consist of mainly solid foods, and therefore, their poops will reflect that and should have a thicker consistency than when they were on a liquid diet of breast milk or formula.
I know that was a lot of info about poop, so I hope you were able to stick with me, because this is really an important topic. Taking notice of your baby’s normal, when it comes to so many things, is crucial in being able to recognize and react when something happens that’s outside of their normal. Poop is no exception.
If you’re feeling stressed about all the information you need to process and retain regarding starting solids with your baby, I have a solution! My Baby Led Feeding course is the most comprehensive online course on feeding out there, and provides you with step-by-step guidance into this new world of serving solids and finger foods to your baby. Plus, you have access to it for a lifetime! Check back in whenever you need a question answered or a refresher on a specific topic, and never feel like you need to search the depths of the internet to find a trusted answer.
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