Blood in poop and Food elimination

[@llli*ilikefood]

My son is 8 weeks old and is having problems with blood in his poop. When I started breastfeeding him i always fed from one side each feeding. He had yellow seedy poop and did not have gas issues or strained while going. His pediatrician suggested that i feed from both breasts so i started doing that and thats when his poop started to change to green.

2/15/17 First time seeing blood in diaper with dark green spinach color poop. Pediatricians told me to go dairy free. I do this immediately and the redness on his cheeks go away and his clear baby soft skin is back.

3/1/17 Dr tested poop and theres still a streak of blood. She said I can either cut soy now or wait until she checks his poop again in 2 weeks. I decide to cut soy but yesterday i realized it can be listed under different names so i didn't truly cut out all soy

3/4/17 Blood in diaper with same green poop.

3/7/17 Blood in diaper (had beef for first time the night before). Decide to cut out beef.

I decide to go back to breastfeeding on one side so that he gets the hind milk and his poop goes back to seedy yellow and he no longer strains and cries when he has to go.

3/12/17 Blood in diaper (had oyster sauce night before- soy was not listed but i read most contains soy). Poop is yellow but not as seedy, its more liquid.

3/18/17 Blood in diaper

3/12/17 to today: very fussy and cries a lot, fussy when feeding. This is not like him at all, he is a happy baby who only cries when hungry. last few days he also strains when pooping. He does not want to be put down at all during the day either, he will cry even if he's been sleeping in my arms for an hour and i put him down he will wake up within 5 minutes.

Does all this seem to be a dairy and soy issue? I am unsure because of the recent time change and i also read that 6-8 weeks are peak for crying.

[@llli*maddieb]

How has baby's weight gain been and overall health (up until the 12?) I am wondering why doctor told you to start nursing both sides.

What are your thoughts about your milk production? Do you have any indication that you make more than enough?

About how many times in 24 hours does baby nurse?

Blood in poop in an otherwise healthy, normally gaining baby is probably nothing to worry about. It could be a few different things, and allergy could be one of them, but there are other things as well. You cut out dairy, and it sounds like that made a visible improvement. If you want to test if dairy was really a problem you would add back dairy, as in, drink a nice big glass of milk or eat a bowl of icecream and see what happens. But don't do that yet, because you are still trying to figure out if there is another allergen.

If you can cut out soy effectively, that would be the way to test if soy is an issue. If things improve, it MAY be soy. (Or it may be a coincidence) If nothing improves off soy, then that indicates soy is not a problem.

Behavior as far as not wanting to be put down, nursing very frequently etc. sounds entirely normal. As far as 6-8 weeks being the peak of crying, maybe some study found that was true in some sample of babies. It may even be true of most babies. That does not mean this is what happens with all babies.

[@llli*mommal]

with the PP.

If you can provide a weight history, that would be very helpful to us.

Also, if you can describe what you are seeing in terms of blood, that would be useful to know. Are we talking about large blobs of red, jellylike blood, or small streaks/specks of blood?

[@llli*ilikefood]

He was born 1/21 weighing 6lb 4oz. And at his one month visit on 3/1 he was 9lb 14 oz. I have not weighed him since then. The doctor said he is gaining weight well. He had a little jaundice but no light therapy required, it resolved itself within a week or so. Otherwise healthy baby.

My milk came in 36 hours after delivery while I was still in the hospital and production is good. In the beginning I think I had a forceful letdown but now things have evened out. My son sometimes chokes while feeding, maybe drinking too fast? It happens when I hear him suck then swallow over and over then I know he's going to choke on the milk. I am able to pump 1-2 oz after he is done feeding so I think I have enough milk. On average he has 9-14 feedings within 24 hours. The feedings last about 20-30 min. The last two weeks he seems to be able to feed more effectively so they are becoming shorter sessions. He is able to empty the breast faster than when I pump.

The first time I saw the blood it was bright red streaks, the more recent ones were pink and jelly like.

He recently developed some bumps on his skin, feels like goosebumps and first they were on his arms and legs. Just now I felt them on his torso as well. Side effect of a food sensitivity?

[@llli*maddieb]

I cannot speak to poop look and what that means. But I would say a baby gaining 3 and a half pounds in a month indicates overproduction, as average gain would be 2 pounds a month. That kind of gain in the first month is even more interesting, because most babies loose weight the first several days and are not even back to birthweight until day 7-14. Without knowing what baby's lowest weight was and when it was, we can only speculate, but it is possible baby gained even more rapidly than indicated by the birth number compared to the one month number. Of course we do not know what has happened as far as gain over the past month, and that might be helpful to know at some point.

So if I am correct and your were/are overproducing, I suspect baby was handling the OP by nursing one side at a time, which, assuming normal gain, is a perfectly fine way to nurse and may help with controlling OP. It sounds like you are back to nursing once side at a time or in any case following baby's lead on that?

Another way to help a baby handle the issues of OP and fast letdown is to nurse frequently. Since normal or in any case, average nursing frequency at this age is 8-12 times a day, to say "more frequency" 12-14 times a day sounds about right.

Of course if your OP is particularly severe, you can take steps to reduce milk production. But in your case, you would want to avoid that until you are sure baby is continuing to gain unusually rapidly- And even then, if there is not problem for you (in terms of getting engorged, plugs, etc) it might be best to let nature take care of this. Most of the time, milk production even outs on its own over time, and in many cases, trying to reduce it by block nursing causes more problems.

One thing that can cause OP to not fix itself is if mom removes more milk from the breasts then baby needs, communicating to her body to make more milk than baby needs. You mention pumping, so I am curious how many times a day/week you are pumping, why you are pumping, and how much milk the pump typically extracts when you pump.

Also just FYI, when a mom has OP (and often even when she does not) it is entirely normal and fine for baby to not "empty" the breasts when nursing. All that matters is baby gets enough milk to gain normally when nursing with normal (high) frequency and mom is comfortable (not left overfull.) I mention this, because moms being told they must be sure baby "empties" the breast every time baby nurses is needlessly alarming for most situations and may even cause OP! Also, since the body is always making milk, the breast of a mom with normal or high milk production is never truly empty, especially during the newborn stage.

Why does OP matter? It is possible blood in stool is linked to the effects of OP and fast letdown on baby.

Here is a suggested protocol on allergies in breastfed babies you may find helpful: http://www.bfmed.org/Media/Files/Pro...ish_120211.pdf

More info on blood in stool: http://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/bloodystool/

[@llli*ilikefood]

Here is more detailed weight information
1/21 6lb 4oz
1/23 5lb 11oz
1/24 6lb
1/30 6lb 8oz
2/1 6lb 10oz
2/7 7lb 5oz
2/15 8lb 5oz
3/1 9lb 14oz

Yes I nurse on demand, it varies from every hour for just a few min to every 3-4 hours overnight for 15-20 min.

I pump when I can usually during afternoon and evening feedings who baby is less fussy. What i do is feed him on one side and pump the other side to start building a stock for when i go back to work. I guess i'm worried i won't be able to pump enough because i work in healthcare and I am not sure if i'll be able to take time to pump every few hours because my patients are scheduled every hour. I pump for the same amount of time that baby eats, not more. I tend to pump 2-3oz from the side that he didn't feed on. I don't pump on the same side baby eats from during that session anymore because i noticed my body producing more on that breast. The few times i pumped on the same breast he ate on i pumped 1-2oz.

Should i be worried that he has shortened his feeding time? Would it be related to OP?

[@llli*mommal]

Almost everything you describe sounds like overproduction, which can cause bloody poops. The stools you describe give me a little pause, though. Bright red streaks are totally typical, and generally nothing to worry about provided that the baby is otherwise gaining well and generally happy/healthy. Pink and jelly-like stools, on the other hand, make me think you should take a picture of diaper contents and text it your doctor, or perhaps even go in. I really don't want to scare you, but there is a serous medical condition called intussusception which can cause stool that looks like red jelly. In the absence of sudden-onset severe pain and vomiting, "pink and jelly-like" poop is probably just a normal variation, in which you're seeing some intestinal mucus mixed with blood. Not a big deal! But if you see blobs of bright red, jelly-like poop, it's time to head to the ER.

[@llli*ilikefood]

He has not vomited or intensely cried. Does this look like something I should worry about? That was his diaper on 3/4. If he has intussusception would there be red jelly in every diaper? IMG_7807.JPG

By the way I so so so appreciate all of this information and help!

[@llli*mommal]

Thanks for the pic! No, I would not be concerned about that small amount of bloody mucus. With intussusception, you'd see large blobs of current jelly stool and the baby would not be acting normal. The one person I know who had a baby with that condition said the baby was a mess even before they saw the bloody poop- crying, vomiting, etc. Sorry if I made you worry- it's just that the condition is so potentially serious that I couldn't in good conscience ignore the possibility! :/

[@llli*maddieb]

I agree, I know less about it that mommal but that amount of blood + healthy gaining baby does not sound concerning to me.

As far as pumping to build a stash goes, that is a common reason moms pump. There are ways to lessen the amount of OP pumping creates while still building enough of a stash. If you want, you can tell us how long before you are back to work and what your work schedule will be like and we can help you troubleshoot that.

I guess i'm worried i won't be able to pump enough because i work in healthcare and I am not sure if i'll be able to take time to pump every few hours because my patients are scheduled every hour.

There are 3 reasons a mom pumps when at work. 1) is to pump expressed milk for baby to have during subsequent separations. But the other 2 reasons are also very important, arguably more important. They are 2) maintain normal milk production and 3) prevent mom becoming uncomfortable, in pain or even ill due to issues related to engorgement and milk stasis. So if you are not going to have the times to pump and save your milk frequently enough at work, you might consider leaning hand expression as a quick way express milk and keep yourself and your milk production healthy. You might also at some point try practicing how quickly you can get your pump set up, pump, and store your milk. There are many ingenious shortcuts moms come up with when they have to.