Bowel movements in infants
- In breast fed babies, must have stool and urine in first day of life.
- 1st stool: meconium, thick dark green or
black. Filled intestines before birth, must be eliminated before normal
digestion can occur
- day 3: 3-4 wet diapers, 1-2 stools per day, no longer meconium,
beginning to appear mustard yellow, mushy
- at end of 1st week: 6 wet diapers per day (pale, yellow urine), yellow
stool with each feed
- later in 1st month of life, may stool 3x/day
- after the 1st month, may go several days without a stool.
By 3-6 weeks of age, some breastfed babies have only one BM/week (breastmilk
leaves very little solid waste). Formula fed babies should have one BM/day
- Breastfed babies: light mustard stools,
seedy, soft, even runny (until starts to eat solid foods)
- Formula fed: tan or yellow stools, firmer
than breast fed, but no firmer than peanut butter
- Once eating solid foods, hard stools may indicate eating too many
constipating foods before system can handle them (cereal or cow's milk (not
recommended before 1 year))
- Green stools indicate that digestion has slowed down i.e. large amt of
cereal that day or foods requiring more effort to digest. Supplemental iron
can color stools dark brown.
- Signs of diarrhea: sudden increase in frequency (ie to more than 1 BM per
feeding) and high liquid content. Mother's diet can cause diarrhea in baby
Constipation