The Stuff No One Talks About

Poop.  Yep.  I am going to blog about poop.  Specifically baby poop.  Exclusively breastfed baby poop and the extremely wide range of what is considered normal.

If you are squeamish…just stop here.

Our first child was fairly textbook.  She pooped several times a day.  Our second and third were much the same way, with poops 2-5 times every day.

Then….we had our 4th.  First off, he was the first we had who had his first merconium poop while inside me.  In fact, the nurses informed me it was a gargantuan amount.  They pumped 8 cc’s from his tiny belly.  Evidently, it was massive and nurses kept talking about it.  In fact, nurses who had not even been there came into the room to talk about it.  He never pooped again while we are in the hospital.  As we were being discharged, I asked how many days could he go without pooping.  The doctor told me to call in on Monday (this was Friday) if he had not pooped.  Well, Sunday he finally pooped and it was the perfectly typical mustardy, seedy breastmilk poop.  And then….we waited.  10 days later I had him in for check up and asked about his lack of poop.  I was honestly not concerned because he was passing gas, his belly was still soft and he never seemed to be in any pain.  The doctor said that breastmilk is like the perfect food and is so “clean burning” that exclusively breastfed babies can go 2 weeks without pooping because they just use it all.

The day after the appointment, our son did poop.  About 10 days later he pooped again.  Today was day 10 and he pooped again.  And these are different than the other kids poop was.  His is more of a very deep yellow or orange color…and the smell.  It smells SO disgusting.  I cannot even describe it, but trust me, it is gross.  And the poops are massive.  Think blowout diapers times 5.

All this served as a great reminder that parents are ALWAYS learning and all kids are different.

Do you have any poopy stories?? Please share in the comments below!

Oh and as a side note….for breastfed babies did you know the poop is considered normal in a rainbow of colors including green, yellow and orange.