Mucus and greenish-poop

jess9802

DS's last bowel movement was the normal orangish-yellow color, but there was a fair amount of mucus in it. I've noticed this a few times before. Yesterday, one of his bowel movements had what looked like spinach in it, though it was overall mostly orange-yellow.

What are the odds these symptoms are caused by overactive letdown or foremilk/hindmilk imbalance vs. dairy sensitivity? I think I can deal with the former, but the thought of eliminating dairy from my diet makes me want to cry. I am a picky eater and worry about my ability to get adequate nutrition if I eliminate a major food group like dairy. 

Other info: If I don't nurse leaning back, DS will often choke and sputter. He nurses quickly - I am lucky to get 10 minutes out of him per side (I let him unlatch and then offer the other side, which sometimes he'll take, and sometimes he won't). He was 7lbs 14.5 oz at his 2 week check up and was 10 pounds 1 oz at his six week check up, so he appears to be gaining well. DS eats about every 2-3 hours during the day, and has a long 4-6 hour stretch at night, though the past couple of days he's nursed maybe 5-10 minutes total and eaten about every hour to 90 minutes for an afternoon, before going into his long evening sleep and then resuming the 2-3 hour schedule.

Thoughts? Advice? 

jess!ca

You could keep a food log and see if the issues happen when you eat dairy.  (Although if you eat it a lot, you might not be able to tell...)  I was also really worried about going dairy free for DD, since I am already gluten free due to Celiac of my own.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but I miss cheese!  However ,all that being said, I think given the other issues you describe, you might want to take some steps to deal with the letdown issues (ie. Kellymom tips) and see if that helps first.  GL!

jess9802

I definitely think I have an oversupply. DS did not nurse well and was not gaining enough weight the first two weeks of his life, so in order to get my milk in and put some weight on him I was nursing at least 15 min per side, then pumping w/a hospital grade pump for 20 minutes, every 2-3 hours. I have consistently pumped more than he has eaten, and as he has gotten better at nursing (and begun refusing a top-off from the bottle) I've been able to drop most of the pumping sessions. The leaking and engorgement has gotten a bit better in the last week.

But...I'm going back to work next week and just started the minipill, so I've been more afraid of a drop in supply than an oversupply. I don't have much of a freezer stash (maybe 60 oz), and I know I will be pumping before leaving for work in the morning.... This morning, for example, I nursed him at about 5:30, and he nursed for about 10 minutes on the right side and then 5 minutes on the left side. At 6:15 or so, I pumped and got a total of five ounces in 10 minutes. We were out and about over the lunch hour and I took a bottle of expressed milk with us; he ate three ounces. I pumped when we got home and got five ounces in five minutes. I have multiple letdowns during a short pumping session, and I saw today for the first time what happens when I pull the shields away in the middle of a letdown - the milk just sprays out for several seconds.

Nicolewinsbingo

My son has had green poop on and off since he was born.  I believe it is linked to oversupply and not getting enough hind milk sometimes.  Once, it was GREEN green for over a week and I started to worry, but then it went back to yellow.  I asked two different pedis about it and one said it was a sign of a temporarily irritated digestive tract but just to keep an eye on it, and the other, (DS's normal pedi) said not to worry about it at all.  She is a very low key doc, but she literally thought the green poop was no big deal at all.  Since it has gone back to yellow and now is yellow 90% of the time I'm not worried about it.

If your LO is having other symptoms, like eczema, bloody stools, lots of puking, etc. then I would call the pedi and/or consider trying to eliminate dairy to see if that's the problem.  But if your LO had like one or two green diapers, it is not a big deal.