Care of Newborn
THE FIRST 40 DAYS Baby care may seem challenging in the first few days of motherhood, especially for a mother who does not have any previous experience.
The stool color of your baby for a few days following birth will be green-black and of a sticky consistency. These stools are called meconium. Meconium consists of what the baby swallows when in the mother’s womb.
The stool color of babies feeding on breast milk is usually light yellow and is soft and semi-liquid 1 week after birth. Babies tend to pass stool frequently as they suck a large amount of mother’s milk, and their stool will be watery.
As your baby grows up, the number of bowel movements decreases and may change between 1 - 3 per day. According to what you eat and the digestion speed of your baby, the color and consistency change, and the amount and frequency decrease.
The bowel movement of babies who are nourished with formulas has more consistency and is of a fainter color. The frequency of passing stools is also less.
The bowel movement frequency of a baby feeding with breast milk may decrease after 1 month. They may even be observed to pass stool 2 - 3 times a week. This situation is normal because there will be very little stool left to be passed out as the baby digests nearly all of the breast milk. Thus, the absence of bowel movement does not mean that the baby is constipated.
Besides being soft, it is also frequently observed to be semi-liquid. Its smell is lightly acrid: This “special smell” occurs only when the baby is breastfed. Its color is light yellow in general.
The color of the baby’s stool may also change according to nourishment levels and the food consumed by the mother. For example, spinach, parsley, and similar foods consumed by the mother may turn the baby’s stool color green by passing into her breast milk.
Diarrhea may be hard to identify as the stools of breastfed babies are very watery. If the number of bowel movements is more than normal, with a foul smell, with blood, or with fever, then the baby may have diarrhea. You should contact your physician if this is the case.
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