Warning: this post is going to be graphic. I can’t write a post about Luke’s digestive issues without going into details about his stools. I figured if I’m going to talk about his stools, I might as well include pictures (which I’ve taken to show his doctors). I know when I was googling “blood in baby stool” I wanted to come across some pictures. I hope these will help others who are searching, wondering if what they are seeing in their baby’s diapers is normal.
You’ve been warned. If you’re squeamish about this kind of thing, feel free to stop reading and come back on Wednesday when I’ll be posting a new dinner recipe for a meatless burger.
If you’re still reading, you must be interested in what’s been going on with my little man. He’s been diagnosed with MSPI, which stands for Milk Soy Protein Intolerance. This means that his immature digestive system has trouble breaking down the proteins in milk and soy. It does not mean he is lactose intolerant or that he is necessarily allergic to anything (although he may be, it’s too early to tell).
We’ve been lucky in that many babies with MSPI cry all the time or are extremely fussy. Luke’s never been that way. The main way we knew there was a problem was through his irregular stools. Normal breastfed baby stools are mostly yellow, sometimes seedy, with a watery or creamy consistency. Luke’s dirty diapers have always been slimy and full of mucus.
Green stools is another indicator. (Occasional green diapers can be normal, but early on his were consistently green. I don’t have any pictures of his early green stools.)
Occasionally they are specked with blood, both black and red.
He was also extremely congested early on in his life, a sign of a dairy sensitivity.
Another symptom is erratic sleep patterns. Luke can easily go from an angel sleeper to a nightmare with no rhyme or reason. Over time I’ve noticed a correlation with blood in his stool and his most mucus-y diapers to his worst sleep. Whatever is going on in there to cause the irregular stools must not feel great and therefore causes sleep disruptions.
The only way to “treat” MSPI is to eliminate the culprits from my diet (since I’m breast feeding). At 8 weeks I eliminated all dairy. It takes at least a month (probably more) for all dairy to be out of your system, so it was a waiting game. The only improvement I saw was his congestion cleared up, but his stools remained the same.
At 12 weeks there was still a lot of mucus in his diapers and also visible blood, so the next step was to eliminate soy. After this his diapers turned from mostly green to mostly yellow and his projectile spitting up stopped (I didn’t know if that was related or not and still can’t be sure). The mucus and blood were still present in his stools.
This is when his pediatrician referred us to gastroenterologist. By the time we got in, Luke was 19 weeks and I’d been off of dairy for 11 weeks. The doctor still thought, however, that dairy was in my system and causing the problems. He said I could have unknowingly eaten hidden dairy. This is true, but highly unlikely given my diet. I don’t eat a lot of processed foods, which is where hidden dairy lurks. He advised me to either switch to a hypoallergenic formula or wait and hope Luke outgrows the intolerance by 9 months.
I took Luke back to his pediatrician and she said it’d be worthwhile to cut out more foods that could be causing him problems. I then cut out wheat, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. After two weeks his diapers were still full of mucus, but I hadn’t seen any visible blood in that time. I decided to start adding back in foods to see what the reaction would be. I added back in eggs first, and there was no change.
A week later, I added back in peanuts and tree nuts. I’m not sure why I did these at the same time; I should have done one at a time. Within days, I saw visible blood again. I can’t be sure if they were the cause, but I decided to cut them out again. I put in a call to the pediatrician and she advised me that although it could be the peanuts or nuts, wheat also takes at least a month to get out of your system, so the wheat could still be the cause.
After 6 weeks of eliminating wheat, Luke’s stools finally started to look normal. They were consistently yellow, more creamy, and without visible blood.
We had two weeks of normal-looking stools. This was the good news. The bad news was it took me eating a diet free of dairy, soy, wheat, tree nuts (except coconut), and peanuts to get there.
After 2 solid weeks of good diapers, we decided to start solids (a few weeks earlier than we planned at 5.5 months old) Details about that are a whole different post, but I will give an overview as it relates to his digestive issues. We started with yellow squash. The first two days there was no mucus or blood in his stool–they stayed the same. On the third day there was still no mucus, but there was a small amount of blood. It seems the solid food, even the very small amount, was difficult for his digestive tract to handle.
The next day I accidentally used almond-coconut milk in my oatmeal. I’d been using coconut milk and for some reason just grabbed the wrong box. Later that day, I was so hungry (snacking is the most difficult on this restrictive diet) and figured I’d already had almonds that day so I might as well go all-out and I had a banana bread Larabar, which has almonds. Later that night, his stools were back to mucus-y. I couldn’t believe how quickly they changed his stool consistency. That was on Wednesday and his stools have been full of mucus ever since. I guess it will be a while before I can have almonds. 🙁 I am just waiting for them to work their way out of my system (should be less than a week) in hopes that his diapers go back to normal.
We’ve decided to hold back on any more solids until his next doctor’s appointment this week. We’ll see what she advises. I can tell that the road to feeding Luke is going to be filled with twists and turns and will most likely not be easy any time soon.
I breastfed Meghan until she was 2 and assumed that I’d do the same with Luke. At this point I am just taking it one month at a time. I love breastfeeding and think it’s hands down the best nutrition you can provide for your child, but eating such a restrictive diet has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
At this point I am just praying that Luke with outgrow his food sensitivities and be able to eat a normal, non-restrictive diet one day. Breast feeding a baby with MSPI is a crazy journey, but I’m grateful I’ve been able to continue to provide Luke with the nourishment of breast milk despite the challenges.
Curious about how this journey continued with Luke? Here’s an update at how things are going with breastfeeding with MSPI at 15 months!
Thank you so much I’ve been searching for answers for weeks! I’ve been off dairy for a month now, only hidden sources of soy and still my son is having mucous and some bloody streaks some days. I will cut the soy now. Couple questions:
did you cut soybean oil too? I know that’s hidden in many things too
What do you think the best plan looking back on your journey – is cut all allergens as you did and work backwards reintroducing once you’ve reached good poops again?
Or cut one at a time (if so how long do I wait after each one before cutting the next)?
Thanks so much!
I started out cutting just dairy and soy and then ended up cutting the rest at once. I did avoid soybean oil as well, which meant mostly unprocessed foods.
Is the last diaper pic the normal stool?
That’s what my son’s diapers look like, but with some mucus, never any blood. I have cut out dairy and gluten, less spit ups but still mucus in his stool
Did your pediatrician ever recommend you switch to an amino-acid based formula? I’ve been dairy/soy free for 3.5 weeks and my 2mo still has bloody diapers, stuffy nose, and a very mild rash. He’s happy and growing, just has concerning diapers. His doctor told me to stop breastfeeding and switch to Neocate 3 days ago and I’ve been an emotional wreck ever since. I do NOT want to give up breastfeeding, plus he gags and won’t drink the formula at all. I’m willing to eliminate more foods from my diet, but doctor doesn’t seem to think it could be that. She just thinks my dairy/soy free diet hasn’t worked so he needs formula. Any thoughts?? We’ve been referred to an allergist but haven’t been yet. And I’m hoping to get in to see a breastfeeding medicine/pediatrician for a second opinion.
Actually, my pediatrician encouraged me to keep breastfeeding. She said most babies don’t easily take the special formula (sounds like that’s exactly what has happened with your baby) and there’s no guarantee that the baby won’t be sensitive to that as well. It sounds to me like you need to eliminate more foods from your diet if you see 0 improvements over 3.5 weeks. But that’s just my opinion and I’m not a doctor. I do know it takes a while for the foods to get out of your system and baby’s system so it’s never an immediate fix. Good luck, mama! I know how trying it is.
if You truly want to co tongue no matter what I would try eliminating all known allergens, wheat soy dairy treenuts shellfish eggs there’s two more I can’t think of off the top of my head, for a while until he has normal stools and then slowly add things in. Both my boys have had issues and it affects their growth unfortunately, my first grew out of it sometime around 9 months. It’s no walk in the park but doable if you really want to breastfeed.
Hi
I have my 4 month old daughter recently having mucus stool with minute blood speckles in it ( Similar to 1st & 3rd picture). She feeds well and is normal. Its been 5-6 days since shes having this kind of mucus and blood in her stool . we have taken her to the pediatrician and did all the tests – blood , stool and abdomen ultrasound. everything comes back normal. But still we have the same problem. Our dr has asked to stop all dairy , wheat & soy products and said if its persistent we have to do an endoscopy – which i am worried for my LO
Did Luke had any endoscopy done or how was MSPI detected. We also have our baby on Iron supplement as there was drop in her blood count. Shes 100% breastfed from Day 1.
Any reply would be of great help and your experiences. thanks in advance.
No, we didn’t do an endoscopy. He was diagnosed based on improvement in his stools when I removed a number of proteins, including milk and soy, from his diet.
Hey you post is very informative and helpful . My son might have the same issue. I wanted to ask you how long did it take for you to see no blood in poop after stopping to eat the milk soy and other irritants ?
Hi Priyanka,
I saw you post my son is 4 months old and just started having these symptoms. Did you find out anything about your daughter any information helps thank you!
My children are older 24-almost 28!I breast fed him and he wasn’t good about eating! It always looked to me that the breast mild was irritating him,so problems during oldest child in first 2 months! Those slimy stools,crying baby,pulling legs up!I worked in a PICU at the time and the GI nurse happened to be there one day I was telling what the baby did and she said it sounded like he has MSPI, so we talked and I put him on Alimentum formula and he evenly got better. Next baby I breast fed exclusively for 4 months, she did ok but at 4 months she refused to eat! Would not take anything.Called my Dr and said let’s change to pregestimil. She was eating in a week! My 3rd baby was bad from day 2! In the hospital she would scream and pull her legs up! Her stools after meconium were green and slimy! We changed her to pregestimil at 2 weeks! From then until 6 months she had roto virus 3 times, ear infection. She had runny diarrhea stools all day long and diaper rash was always bad, bleeding bottom, and I changed her every time she pooped!! She was miserable all the time! Even on pregestimil! At 6 months check up she had not gained weight. She has an official GI consult and she then had a upper and lower scopes done. Her villa were blunted,when isn’t good!!We then changed her to Neocate. She was on this for 4 months exclusively. After that I had to slowly add in soy formula every week! I was not told to change my diet,maybe they didn’t know at the time. I was told it was my milk and soy protein that was the problem! My kids didn’t out grow it as children! They always had diarrhea with dairy!! I am confused tho as to why my 3rd baby did not get better on pregestimil and was so sick for the 6 months? I seriously don’t think my kids would have gotten better if I had continued to nurse but eliminated things in my diet! I would have done anything if I had been told to!! I was so heart breaking to not breast feed!!
How long did you have to do this?
Thanks for your post as I have a 5 months old who has had digestive issues since day 1. I am two months into no diary, eggs and soy but no improvement in the mucousy poos, sleep is also erratic and I know for sure almonds affect him as his eczema flares up so I al also off tree nuts. I have only in then last 2 days supplementing with hydrolyzed formula which is breaking my heart cause I absolutely want to continue breastfeeding but with the constant mucous I feel I am doing more harm than good.
Can you pls show me what Luke’s poo was when you eliminated wheat? I might have to go all out to do that as that might be the missing link.
Thank you so much
I just realized that my baby stool has mucus and blood in it and your writing help me to find that reason.
I have a question to all these Mamas out there dealing with MSPI as I am with my breastfed daughter… has anyone looked into triclosan (antibacterial soaps, hand sanitizer etc) and increased risk of allergy?