Categories
Genel

Why You Should Pay Attention to Your Baby’s Poop Color?

The poop color of a baby can vary from brown, green, or yellow to even black. Each color tells much about your baby’s health, thus as a parent you ought to look at details in color. Taking care and checking the color and consistency of a baby’s poop color for parents may not seem like an extremely important thing when thinking of newborn care. However, on the contrary, it is good to have insight and understand that a baby’s poop, its frequency, and color are one of the main indicators of whether the baby’s digestive system is properly developed and as well if the baby is taking enough nutrients. Experts mention that it is important to monitor the baby’s intake and poop daily and they often emphasize that much or less poop is not the key factor to see – the color of poop itself is.

How Can Poop Color Say Much About a Baby’s Health?

You’re asking, ” What does my baby’s poop color mean?” Right after your baby was born, most probably in the first hours of their life they left out their first trace that they is now with you in the real meaning of the word. They did their first poop. And as much as changing their for the first time could be an unforgettable, emotional, and interesting experience, almost in the same measure as breastfeeding.

(Or at least near to it) one additional thing makes you not forget your baby’s first poop. Your baby’s first poop will be completely black,and this is the only time you will come upon this exact color, and this is the only time when the black poop does not present a sign of a problem.

A baby’s first poop is called meconium. It’s thick, stiff and quite less in quantity, made up of dead cells and proteins accumulated during pregnancy. Some babies drop it just at once, while for some it can take 24-48 hours to completely clean, so it shouldn’t make you worry if this poop’s color appears in the first two-three days of the baby’s life.

Later it will depend on how much of the baby’s nourishment is completed to know how often poop will come but in the first few months it is commonly known that babies will poop a lot. A lot (like seven or eight times a day maybe) and you will need a bunch of diapers.

Doctors underline that frequent pooping is much better than constipation and as long as the baby has these bowel movements which will force them to produce poop often, it

İlginizi Çekebilir:  Routines Save Lives: How to Discipline a Baby

means that they are healthy.

Breastfeeding and formula milk play another huge role in this topic, because babies who are naturally fed more often and exactly according to their needs by the milk of

mothers happen to relieve themselves more easily. Mother’s milk contains nutrients and proteins which are perfectly made up for babies, thus easier to digest. It is said that

mothers produce milk depending on the needs of the baby at the time; milk sometimes gets more liquids, sometimes fuller in nutrients so which also affects the baby’s poop.

“The mother’s milk is so well balanced and the baby’s digestive processes are so good, there’s not a lot of residues,” Dr. Wible says.

Still, many formulas also satisfy the baby’s needs, babies can adjust fast to them even if they passed on it after using mom’s milk priorly.

The key to containing the success on the path of raising the baby is to feed them occasionally, without long periods. Because as long as the baby is full, they is growing and doesn’t have stomach issues such as gas or colic, their poops are adequate in color – in conclusion everyone takes as fact that baby is healthy. You should also check the tips on how to take care of a colic baby.

The Truth Behind Poop Colors

To know how various types of food affect babies’ digestive tract, we should mention again a more detailed display of a few main colors of poop seen in babies and these are:

  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Brown
  • White
  • Red
  • Black; which are considered as dangerous.

Baby’s poop, the same as nourishment, is a matter of concern for parents but it shouldn’t be even if it’s changing from time to time. Pediatricians suggest that color change, mainly in the first months, reflects nothing else but the time that takes for milk to pass through the system. So, if the color is yellow, it means that milk was absorbed fast and didn’t have time to go through a full cycle of digestion. Still, this situation is

quite normal for babies because the ways of digestion are sometimes influenced by outside factors too. In this manner, it is noticed that babies during summer can poop less often due to sweating but the color of poop still can maintain yellowish.

When digestion slows down in pace poop color can shift towards green (more like olive green) and if the baby’s motion is super slow the color of poop becomes brown.

What color should a 2-moth-old baby’s poop color be? Or even younger babies’? In the early stages, milk doesn’t affect as much color, as the consistency, thus for all newborn babies, it is more common to have more liquid discharges.

İlginizi Çekebilir:  Babies of Bilingual Parents: How Young is Good for a New Language?

When babies move towards the times they begin with solid foods, foods such as eggs or bananas may give rise to constipation; however, it is not always the case.

Vegetables and fruits rich in colors, such spinach, avocado, or types of radish could highly affect the poop’s color. While giving these foodstuffs you should keep in mind that poop color is just a reaction to them, and not get surprised or concerned if you see unusual color in front of you.

Poop Color Charts; How to Pay Attention and Differentiate the Color Change?

Going from basics, now you know about the healthy poop color and normal poop color in babies. But there is much more to this, a fan of colors which all may indicate whether something is wrong, or at least inform you of changes in your baby’s body.

Some of the conditions related to a baby’s poop colors are listed below:

Yellow-Brown Baby Poop – a poop color that comes in babies using formula milk. Pediatricians mark this color as the color that also comes accompanied by a unique smell that could remind you of yeast. Infant nutrition specialist Linda Palmer explained this color and its smell by binding it to fermentation sugars found in formula milk, which are responsible for the fermentation that produces the mentioned result. Some parents may get the feeling that the smell of poop is too strong but when consulting the doctor, they get the idea that this poop is just normal.

Watery-Green-Brown Baby Poop – is usually a clear sign of diarrhea. Diarrhea in babies comes as an aftereffect of viral infection or food intolerances in some cases and for this type of poop, it is crucial to react on time to avoid dehydration. Diarrhea is a disorder that is accepted to be an issue for babies if it repeats more than seven times in less than twenty-four hours and must be treated professionally.

Bright Green Baby Poopcomes as a result of problems in the upper tummy of the baby and is often linked to fast milk swallowing. Babies who take air between breastfeeding or drink too fast from the bottle that is not suitable for their small throats

such those with many drops, tend to have bright green poop. This type of poop for a big part is not an issue, but it is not fine if it stays longer present.

Red Baby Poop may be a sign of allergy or intestinal infection and if you come across the color red or nearly red you should take the baby to the consultancy

İlginizi Çekebilir:  What Age Do Babies Dream, or Do They Dream at All?

instantly.

Gray or White Poop as the last one on the list passes off the most dangerous issue between all colors, and that is a possible problem with the liver or complete nutrient

malabsorption.

For some parents it won’t be hard to differentiate the changes among colors of poop, hence many of you would understand that the classic color always tends to stay somewhere between dark yellow and light brown. You won’t try to see each corner of the diaper every time, because from the top and the poop’s structure you will understand is everything as it should be. Yet, the last colors from the text (red and white) could come as a shock to you and you will most probably start to panic if you see them. Don’t forget that color doesn’t in all cases mean only hard medical conditions but indeed can be a result of food intake.

When to Visit a Doctor?

Call or visit your doctor right away always in cases of diarrhea, when the poop color is

red or white or when you notice that the baby is uncomfortable during the night, and you don’t suspect anything else but a clear digestion problem.

Fast response is most important with newborn poop color, in case of diarrhea, yet all babies under the age of one cannot process food easily sometimes and constipation can produce the same exigency as diarrhea for visiting the hospital. If the baby didn’t poop for more than three or four days and the drops for relaxation could not help you should know that it’s time to go to the doctor.

How to Regulate a Baby’s Nourishment to Prevent Digestive and Poop-related Problems?

Newborns’ nourishment is directly affected by mothers breastfeeding, and using the formula by the type of formula baby is using. For mothers it’s crucial to take care of the food they take in, to keep a healthy diet for both baby and herself. And when talking

about formulas, it is good to advise yourself with a pediatrician and ask for

recommendations. Sometimes a more expensive formula, the one you always see in ads may not be the perfect fit for your baby but it’s better to know that exactly that one

would most probably be the one you got a recommendation for. Do not try to change more than two or three brands of formula in a short period, because just as it takes for a baby to adjust herself to breathing and moving outside the uterus, it takes time to get used to food too and the optimal results can never be seen quickly. The color of poop may vary from day to day, but after around 10 days your baby should get used to their bottle and the formula.

It is not much up to parents how foods or formula will work on babies because every baby is different and it’s impossible to completely regulate the baby’s poop color even if wanted.