Green poo? Need nursing advice!

[Deleted User]

My baby is 6 days old, and he's had some pretty weird poops today. Yesterday and the day before, he had the normal "peanut butter" poo color and consistency, but today it has been variable. The last diaper changed his poop was green, and looked kind of like basil pesto. DH googled what this could possibly mean, and found that maybe LO isn't getting a proper balance of foremilk and hindmilk while nursing. Among all my other breastfeeding issues with the latch and nipple pain, I'm starting to get worried. At our pedi appointment on Monday, the doc said baby is gaining weight at an impressive rate, so I'm producing enough milk for him. He also doesn't fuss between feedings and soils plenty of diapers each day.

I guess I'm looking for advice on how to get a good balance of the foremilk and hindmilk for LO? A standard nursing session goes like this: Put him on my breast (let's say left), let him nurse until he's full, burp him or change his diaper to wake him up, then switch him over to the right breast. He nurses at this breast but never for as long as the first, because he usually falls asleep. I can get around 10 minutes on breast number 2 after LO feeds for around 20 minutes on breast number 1. The following nursing session, I start him on the right breast (number 2), because LO didn't feed as long on it as he did on the left. My LC said this was correct to ensure both breasts are nursed an equal amount of time.

Our last nursing session I alternated the breast since his previous session he nursed on them pretty equally. He drained the first breast and got the "drunken sailor" look which he honestly doesn't often get. So should I just be alternating breasts regardless of whether he nursed less on one? I'm worried I'm really screwing up royally with this whole breastfeeding thing.

windwithfingers

This happened to me too. We had green poops for a day then they went back to normal. Our pediatrician said newborn poo varies in color for seemingly no reason, and you only have to worry if it keeps happening, like @Cantisa‌ said.

[Deleted User]

@theresat858 Shoot, I really didn't know. I've been doing the same side to start feedings for days now. How frustrating! I hope I didn't screw up my supply somehow, but my breasts do feel smaller today than they have the last two days (maybe that's just the engorgement going down?)

So just to be clear...if I nurse on one side for 20 minutes and the other side for say, only 7, I would still want to alternate the next time and start him on the 20 minute breast?

[Deleted User]

theresat858 said:

@theresat858 Shoot, I really didn't know. I've been doing the same side to start feedings for days now. How frustrating! I hope I didn't screw up my supply somehow, but my breasts do feel smaller today than they have the last two days (maybe that's just the engorgement going down?)

So just to be clear...if I nurse on one side for 20 minutes and the other side for say, only 7, I would still want to alternate the next time and start him on the 20 minute breast?

No. Always start on the opposite boob. So say baby nurses 20 min on right, and 5 on left. Start the next feeding on the left. Baby nurses 20 min on left, then 20 min on right....start next feeding on the right. Baby nurses 20 min on right, nothing on left. Start next feeding on the left. But as long as you switch some, it shouldn't really matter. You only have to worry about a supply drop if one boob goes 4-6 hours without being used. Technically, you only need one boob to feed one baby...but most of us prefer not to be lopsided

Thank you so much! I really needed it broken down for me like this. I don't know why I thought alternating breasts was based off the second breast in the feeding, not the first. This is just not coming very easily to me! But it's good to know it doesn't really matter that much as long as I'm switching it up for the most part.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance!

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NavyFlyer

So my LO had green poops for a few days and got really gassy. LC told me too much foremilk can cause gas and green poops, so she had me block feed for a few days until my supply adjusted. I fed off one boob exclusively for 4 hours, then switched. It worked! Once the yellow poops were back, I went back to regular feeding.