Diarrhea in Breastfed Infant

Hi A. Take you son in to see his peditrican about this. An infant this young with diarrhea can be dangerous. He could become dehydrated. So his peditrican has the best advice if he don't improvement after a visit with him/she get another doctor. This sound serious!!!

My baby never had this problem but he had GI problems that we had trouble diagnosing and I saw a specialist at Rush. If you need a second opinion he was really helpful.

John Lloyd-Still, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterology

1725 W. Harrison St.
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: ###-###-####

I'm sorry your little guy is having tummy troubles so soon. I am a pediatric respiratory therapist and this sounds like possible symptoms of cystic fibrosis. Don't look it up(no use getting freaked out about something that he may not have), just as your doctor for a "sweat test" (or a blood test for CF DNA).

Good luck and let us know what happens!!
M.
Chicago single mom of boys 8 and 6!

Has anyone checked him for an impaction? Often times diarhea is a sign of constipation. If he's pushing so hard to give himself a hemrrhoid, it may be that he is constipated and the only stool that can come out is liquid around the blockage. I would see the MD again.

How on earth can you tell if a breastfed infant has diarrhea? Not being snarky at all, just I have no idea how you would tell. Normal breastfeeding poops look very runny. Is he going all the time? It very well could be oversupply if he's going a lot with really gassy poops. Are you doing only one breast at each feeding? This is the best way to make sure he's getting lots of hindmilk. Foremilk will cause runny poops and lots of gas, it has too much sugar and not enough fat.

I would eliminate fruit juice from your diet, if you are having it currently.

I just want to know what the symptoms were that made you and a doctor think it could be an allergy.

Regardless of anything, breastmilk is still the very best for him. I hope you figure out what's causing it soon.

I would talk to your specialist again or go to another one. Make sure the baby is not dehydrated from pooping so much. He may need formula/prescription, but i would get it checked out asap. Im sure he is in pain from pooping and his tummy being upset. So i would get to the dr and not stop until i found an answer. I now you dont want your baby in pain or uncomfortable. Good luck. You will find a solution, just keep looking and search the internet about dairrhea in breastfed newborns.

A great doctor who can lead you to an amazing allergy specialist: Dr. Mayer Eisenstein.
Google him, he's in Chicago area. At one of his practices (Naperville) there's a doctor named Dr Rosi. He'll connect you with a chiropractor who specializes in isolating allergies. I think her name is Dr Roshir or something like that. I have all the numbers in my phone, but it got dropped in water...that's why you'll have to dig a little bit.

My pediatrician says it's not considered diarrhea if you're breastfeeding. My son is 6 months old (only breastfed) and has always had extremely liquidy poop. He is healthy and gaining wait perfectly. You sure it's really a problem??

where you on antibiotics while you were delivering or after? I would try giving him some probiotics (acidophilus and the like). You take a maximum dose yourself and give him a dose as well. You need to find a dairy free source though so check the internet. It is wonderful that you are doing your best to give your child the best!!!! Rice can actually be an allergen so maybe try hemp milk and quinoa if are going to get drastic about it. There is a chart of foods listed in order of most allergic to less likely to be allergic to and rice is actually surprisingly higher on the list. Did you by any chance give him the Hepatitis shot at birth? I believe that one contains yeast which would explain all of this diarrhea. You may want to consider holding off and researching vaccinations as that may be a "warning" to how your child is going to react to vaccinations. I wish you all the best and think you are going above and beyond for your child! (if that is even possible!!!)

I wouldn't discount oversupply. It really can be an issue, especially when they lead you to believe you need to nurse for 10 minutes a side. That led to such an oversupply for me that it took me weeks of only offering one boob to get my supply under control. And man did she have bad diarrhea --thus how I knew there was a problem.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine and she ended up having to give prescription formula - I don't remember what the details were, but eliminating things from the mom's diet didn't work and she was (eventually) unable to breastfeed him. Thank goodness that there are other options when it is a health issue - her baby was losing weight, too.

I wish I could suggest a specialist for you, but hopefully someone else on here will also have had a similar experience and can advise. Good luck - feeding issues are so, so stressful. (If it helps, my friend's son is a healthy, perfectly normal 8yo now.)

Was he OK when on the Neocate formula? If so, you have to ask yourself what is more important -- breastfeeding or the GI health of your kiddo. I am a mama who just finished bfeeding for 1 year my newest little 1 yr old kiddo so please don't think I am pro-formula....but 18 times in 1 day! I have seen 12 and I did have a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and oversupply :) If you really want to keep it up, you might have to try eliminating the ricemilk and rice products (my daughter is on those b/c she has milk, egg, fish, and peanut allergies -- she is 2 yrs old) and doing the pro-biotics for you -- I take a dairy free one called kyo-dophilus you can get at GNC. It might not be Vegan though. It has instructions on it for infants but since your kiddo is nursing, it might be difficult to "sprinkle" some on food or juice (I used to put it in my kiddos bmilk bottles for daycare and I take it myself).

If you really want to know if it is a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance, you could double-pump - let the milk settle...make sure there is a good balance of cream on top and giving him bottles of it to see if he still reacts the same way. In the morning, I used to have an oversupply on one side that would result in 9 oz with NO CREAM and then it would start -- we all know a little baby is not drinking 9 oz at a time so that was his issue. If so, likely dietary and not imbalance.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Do you give him a liquid vitamin? That could be the problem. I am also a vegetarian who is breastfeeding. I notice that my daughter gets really gassy when I eat broccoli, lentils and salad. Maybe these things are causing diarrhea in your son. I know I've never heard of this, but maybe it's rice that is the problem. I have heard that infants can be allergic to their own mother's milk, but I don't know if that's really true or not. I can't think of anything else, right now. I really hope you can figure it out soon. Especially since you're a first time mom. Good luck!

Hi Momma,

I'm so sorry you and your little guy are having such a hard time, the poor little sweetheart. You got lots of great advice. I don't really have much more to offer other than to say that my son had a milk protein allergy, but it took us a few months to figure it out. If the Neocate works, I say give it a try. (We used Neutramagen) Breast feeding was important to me to, but I had to stop because that's what was best for my little guy. I do like what people are saying about probiotics. I wish I had started that earlier. It really helps the immune system, among other things. Good luck. You're doing a great job!

Is it possible that he's only getting foremilk and not much hind milk? one thing that friends of mine have had success with is doing "block" feeds, where you would only nurse off one side for, say, 4 hours. Then switch to the other side. This allows the fattier milk to get into his system. Aside from that I'm not sure - the rice only diet for a few days should let you know whether it's your problem or his. If it's his problem - is there anything else that passes through his lips aside from breast milk? a vitamin or anything?

ETA: I would really go on your baby's cues with this one and with most things. If it's bothering him, you should deal with it. But if he seems fine and it's just bothering *you*, you need to get over it. Sounds like at least recently, it's bothering him, so worth looking into. Good luck.

are you drinking any juice when i had my son i was drinking apple juice and it gave my son diarrhea good luck i hope that helped

My daughter had something similar to this-diarrhea, very smelly, bright green. She also grunted and pushed very hard to go and was quite gassy. I had a problem with milk imbalance (too much foremilk). We did block feedings for a few weeks and then found out that she also had silent reflux. Once we started on meds for that and got my milk balanced, she has been fine!

Maybe try block feeding while on the rice diet. Also, contact your local Le Leche League. They can help you determine if it is a milk imbalance or protein allergy. And I second the probiotics suggested by a PP. Diarrhea can flush all the good bacteria out of your system.

Dear A. W:

There is a stool type look in an infant that may look like diarrhea. It is really an imbalance of a bacterium in the intestines not allowing the stool to have a normal consistency.

This is usually caused by an antibiotic given to the child or to the mother during pregnancy.

The other causes are a food substance that can ferment in the child’s gut.

The problem can be solved by using a child probiotic called Colostrum with Probiotics:

This will normalize the bowel and make a much healthier baby.

The growth of a baby has very little to do with the intestines. The intestines are the major part of the child’s immune system.

If you can’t find the product you can locate it at: http://www.healingedge.net/store/more_child_colo.html

Good Luck

S. L.

All breast fed babies poop looks like diarrhea. And they poop with about every feeding. So, that is normal. If you have not already, I would bring a diaper to your pediatrician to have the stool tested for blood. That would indicate a milk protein intollerance. If he is reacting to something in your diet that you are eliminating, it could take a few weeks for it to get out of your/his system. What did the GI say? They should be giving you more guidance. Does your son seem like he is in distress?

I have a 6 month old who was exclusively breastfed. For the first 2 months he pooped all day long and it looked like diarrhea and he had TERRIBLE diaper rash because he pooped all day every day. It was bloody and so sad but i did not think it was abnormal. i got a prescription for diaper rash ointment and tried to keep him as dry as possible. It eventually all went away. This may be very normal. I think it is important to look into everything to make sure you he is alright but i don't want you to be frightened unneccassarily either. newborns are very sensitive! good luck.

I hate to be the one ot bring bad news but my son is on neocare and he was allergic ot rice. All I ate while I breat fed was rice and chicken and he was still sick, The lining of their tummys is too thing and the food , any food you are eating is passing htough his thin lining into his blood stream causing reactions. Please if he has mucus get him back on the neocate only. I magine what his tummy looks like if his botttom is that raw from what is coming out. the rash is the allergy coming from the poop effecting his skin on the outside, please imagin his lining on the inside it must be so inflamed and raw. Call the Gi (by the way who do you see?) and I personally suggest the Neocate, I know it is hard to stop breast feeding trust me I was so happy to be making enough milk to feed twins and I wasnt able to feed either one m they both were on the neocate and to be honest and not to scare you they still are at 5 years old. PLease get his Gi tract healthy now before this winter flu stuff comes and allthe things that newborns are exposed to, so he has a good fighting chance. email me with any questions, Ive been thought enough with my three.
I wish you the best.
J.