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!
Hi,
I’ve been having the same sort of problems with my 40 days old son…Just a couple of questions…
-Are potatoes and rice allowed in the diet when wheat is the culprit?I mean I am a bit confused about wheat and gluten and all that…I am doing an elimination diet right now to find what bothers him.
-The slimy poop will be there until his system clears out?Than you in advance for any answers, I feel at a loss tight now….
Yes, potatoes and rice are allowed as they are not wheat products and don’t contain any gluten (the protein found in wheat and some other grains). Yes, it will take a while for the foods to clear his system and therefore the slimy stools stay around a while even after the foods have been eliminated.
I’m so glad I found your blog! We started having the same issue before we left the hospital when my son was born! As his stool transitioned it had mucus and was a little bloody. He was transferred to a children’s hospital 50 miles away and put through several rounds of antibiotics, tests, IVs, 2 days in the NICU and 2 days in an intermediate nursery. Finally, after draining his stomach and starving him for 2 days they let him have breast milk again and he did fine and had normal diapers. His vitals were fine and they discharged him with no clue as to what had caused it other than it MAY have been an infection. Now we are two weeks home and his stools have mucus in them again and they are green. I’m taking him to our regular pediatrician today to see what he has to say (the hospital were my son was born only allows one group of pediatricians on call and ours is not that pediatrician). He’s not acting fussy, he likes to nurse a lot but other than that there really isn’t anything wrong with him.
I’m so frustrated after being in a hospital that deals exclusively with children that they were not able to come up with any answers as to what causes this. Not to mention racking up quite a bill for what we don’t even know. Anyway, I’m going to start by cutting out all dairy, which I don’t normally consume on a regular basis because I have a sensitivity to the proteins in it myself (cheese and yogurt and milk in small doses don’t bother me).
I hope this is what it is, I am so afraid of my poor baby having to go back to the hospital.
Thank you for posting this, graphic pics and all. I feel much better knowing this is a possibility instead of another “possible infection”.
Good luck, Mama! It is a tough road to go down, but it’s good that you are aware that something isn’t right and doing what you can to fix it. 🙂
Hi :)!
Thanks for writing about your son and how you discovered what he reacted to.
My son is 5 months and reacts to a lot. The things we know of is dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts and rye. I cut dairy and eggs months ago, the rest I stopped eating three weeks ago. Now we have days where the diapers are fine and they don’t come as often, then there is a day or two with mucus and blood again. This makes me unsure, maybe he is reacting to something else. Did this happen to your sons diapers, or did they suddenly get better and stay that way?
Hanne in Norway
I’ll join the long list of people thanking you for writing this blog. My 2nd daughter is 8 months old now, but I started noticing issues (green mucous stool) at about 3.5 months. I eliminated dairy for 4 weeks (and started using almond milk as a substitute), and also bumped up my nut consumption for protein (almonds, pistachios, pecans…I’m allergic to peanuts so already stay away from them). Anyway, after a 4 weeks of dairy free and no improvement, I remembered your blogs about MSPI so did a full elimination diet (I’ve been reading your blog for recipes for a year or so). Turns out she’s intolerant to milk, soy and nut proteins. I’m so thankful that I had you as a “resource” and should also say that my family doctor has been very supportive throughout. I’m hoping it clears up soon, but in the meantime, I’m glad I can keep her healthy! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad this post was helpful for you.
Thanks so much for this article – my 6 week old daughter’s symptoms seem very much like Luke and after trying to treat for lactose overload 2 weeks ago her pediatrician diagnosed MSPI and I cut out all dairy and then soy. The dairy made a big difference, with blood in nappies reducing hugely (still tiny amounts present) and the mucous reducing as well. It’s got to a manageable point and her lovely pediatrician thinks that maybe maintain this diet while EBFing. However, I was so heartened to find your article and see that by trial and error you can find a diet that leads to elimination of the symptoms more or less. I was really interested where you said dairy takes a month to eliminate from mother’s system and the different lengths of time – do you know where I can find a table of the different lengths of time? Your follow up blogs are also great and I’m so glad to hear that you managed to keep feeding til now, it makes me feel so much more hopeful about being able to keep up the elimination diet! With best wishes from Melbourne, Australia, Lizzie and baby Rosa!
Thank you for taking time to post this (and the pictures are very helpful). We’re going through something similar and the lack of information makes the situation even more terrifying. Again, thank you so much.
You’re welcome. I hope your little one gets some relief soon.
Maryea,
I wanted to tell you how much I love and appreciate your site, it has been a life saver this year! I found it by googling poop pictures as I couldn’t figure out why my than 3 months old daughter was still having mucusy stools despite cutting out milk and eggs. Luke’s poop was a perfect match and his story was ours! I cut out soy and mucus was gone! So thank you so so much! I love healthy foods already and your delicious recipes made this past year so much more bearable! 🙂 My daughter is turning one in a week and I am searching for a simple cup cake recipe. So far she can eat sweet potatoes,
pears, quinoa flakes and flour, rice flour. I would use egg replacer and thought I could use the sweet potato for “frosting”. Do you have any simple batter recipes? Thank you so much again!
Hi Natasha! Thank you! I am sorry that this is a late reply. I’ve had family in town for Thanksgiving so haven’t been keeping up with comments here. If it isn’t too late here is a cupcake idea for your daughter’s birthday: https://happyhealthymama.com/2011/01/healthy-carrot-cupcakes-with-maple-cream-cheese-frosting.html
If you replace the eggs and experiment with the flours, it should be great. And use a different frosting. I’m sorry I don’t have a GF and dairy-free recipe on hand, but maybe the one I have you will work with some tweaking. Happy birthday to your little one! 🙂
My daughters poops look just like the top pics minus the blood. Wonder if she is MSPI?
Could be! The only way to really figure it out is to eliminate foods and watch and wait. It’s a frustrating process.
This thread is the answer to my prayers! We went through this with my daughter 3 years ago, and the allergist told us to switch to formula. I refused given that my daughter was growing fine, and the pediatrician agreed that we should just watch to make sure the bleeding didn’t increase. The blood/mucus went away when we started solid foods at 6months.
Recently my daughter has been diagnosed with nut and peanut allergies, including a trip to the ER with a swelling face… Glad we kept breastfeeding until she was 20 weeks though…
I now have a 3 month old son with identical problems. I cut out dairy out of paranoia at 2 weeks, and saw the first blood 2 weeks later :(. I found this thread 3 weeks ago and have been on a total elimination diet since. I’m hoping if I keep away from foods he’s sensitive to while breastfeeding he won’t developed the same allergies as his sister.
Thank you thank you thank you for your blog entry (including photos), I’m not alone!!!
I’m glad this was helpful for you!
I’m glad this was helpful for you! Good luck!
I to am grateful for finding your blog. My 7 week old has been having the same stool issues. It started a few weeks ago, I called his pediatrician and he said to cut out my dairy. I have been dairy free for a little over 2 weeks. Except today, made my older kids pizza for lunch and not thinking grabbed a slice. I realized my mistake right at the last bite. 🙁 How soon do you think the dairy would be noticed in his stool. I am asking cause he had speks of red about 3 hours later. I am wondering if it’s the dairy that caused this or something else. Thanks Liz
I am actually not sure how quickly it would show up, but with my son it seemed to happen quickly. I only know from personal experience, though, not actual medical knowledge. 🙂 Sorry you are dealing with this!
I am experiencing something very similar with my 15 week old. I didn’t realize it took so long for the dairy to get out of their system. My son hasn’t been fussy either so I hadn’t really considered it a problem until recently when he lost 1 ounce in 3 weeks. How did your son do with his growth? Did he have trouble gaining weight? Thanks for sharing!!!
Actually as an infant he gained weight great. Between 15-20 months he gained less than a pound. I’m not sure if it was related to food issues or not, but we did trial dairy during that time period. It’s so hard to know for sure what the food intolerances are causing!
Tarah,
My daughter has MSPI and egg intolerance, we also dealt with weight gain issues from 4 months on. I had to dream feed her to make sure she gained anything at all. She is almost one and still wakes up to eat at night most nights, she is gaining very slowly. I am sure my restrictive diet may have some part in it as my boys had 5-9 lbs on her at that age. Or she may just take after me, she is also very active, I’ll never know. She is growing like weed though, so I am not too worried. 🙂
Just wondering… Did u have problems introducing solids?
I had to go very slow. His digestive system took a while to be able to handle them. But overall it wasn’t too bad.
Thankyou so much! My daughter is 14 weeks old and has had green mucussy explosive poos for a couple if months now and today for the first time I found blood in them just like these photos. Just left the hospital and are waiting for test results but I believe this is what we are dealing with. I’m intolerant myself to dairy and wheat so I mostly don’t eat these anyways but I do have soy and lac free milk occasionally. Looks like I’m going to have to eliminate more from my diet and be a little stricter with it. Eek! Thankyou so much for your encouraging blog!!! I’m sure Ill have more questions to come.
You’re welcome! And good luck to you and your little one!
Thank you for sharing your story (AND the pictures!)
We are having a horrible time right now trying to figure out what’s going on with our. Early 5 month old. He’s been having green stools off and on for months. Over the last 1.5 weeks we’ve been getting blood. He’s not a great sleeper but he is a happy baby.
Every doctor we see seems to think its something different. We even went for a meckels test to rule our an intestinal abnormality but they couldn’t start an IV cause he veins are too small. I don’t want to out him through that again!
I’m just SO frustrated. We just had about 48 hours of yellow seedy stools and great sleep. All of a sudden were back to green with blood and bad sleeping. I know I had some dairy yesterday aswell as peanut butter.
I’m so tempted to just go out and buy some formula in hopes that it will correct the problem. I dont know if i could cut out a million things 🙁 But I love breastfeeding and would miss it so much.
It is so hard and frustrating. You have to do what’s best for both you and your baby, so whatever you decide don’t feel bad about it. Do keep in mind, however, that often babies with sensitive digestive systems don’t tolerate formula well, either, even the special formula. So it’s not like you are guaranteed a new baby tomorrow if you start formula. Again, I’m not telling you this to pressure you or make you feel bad if you decide to stop breastfeeding, I just want you to have all the facts. I have heard from several moms who tried several formulas and none of them worked. Then of course there are those who take to formula right away. You just never know! Good luck with your journey–I know how lonely it can feel.
I am so glad that I have found some company in this issue. my 7 month old experienced the same symptoms. At 5 months, I eliminated dairy, she continued to have blood in stool. Then I eliminated soy. She seemed to get better, but not 100%. I am now trying to figure out what else to do. I am thinking either wheat or nuts or both?
Also, my Pediatric GI, had said that I didn’t have to eliminate soybean oil or soy lecithin because they didn’t have a protein in it. Did you eliminate those? Just curious.
Thanks for any help. I feel awful that my baby has had blood in her poop for 4 months now.
I eliminated soy lecithin and most soybean oil, just to be sure, although I’d heard the same thing. I did eat soybean oil on occasion (at Chipotle because they cook their food in it) but in general I try to avoid it anyway. I didn’t ever notice a difference when I had Chipotle though.
Can I ask about how Luke gained weight during the time you had issues with his poop? My son is almost 1 month old and is gaining weight like a rock star but, he poops once every other day (only breastfed) and it is slimed and a tawny yellow almost orangey brown, similar to some of your pictures. He sleeps well. He isn’t fussy, per se, however he is visibly distressed between poops. Grunting, hard tummy, etc. I thought it was a gas issue so I have been giving him mylicon drops and it helps him burp and pass the gas, but not the poop issue. At his two week check up the doctor didn’t seem concerned, but this can’t be normal. My first didn’t have this issue.
Luke was very much the same. He gained weight very well. Actually he was always in the 95-99th percentile for weight and height. He was also very mellow during his awake times, but didn’t sleep well until about 6 months. His gas was horrible, especially the first couple of months. We also used gas drops that helped some. From your description the color of your son’s stools seems fine, but I’m not sure about the texture. If there is obvious mucous, you might have a problem. It’s so frustrating that this is such a gray issue! I’m sorry I can’t help more.
Maryea ,
Like everyone has said, thanks for posting these! I’m not afraid of “tmi” so I loved it!
My problem is, I’m still unsure of my daughters poops are considered mucousy.
She’s 4 weeks old and since about 2 weeks she’s had green in her stools. No other symptoms really at that point (maybe started to fuss more) . She seemed pretty content most of the time. Then, last weekend, she had more green poops and then some completely green ones that she had trouble passing. This one had a few strings of snot-like green mucous. Like one you pictured. Some have been sort of spinach like.
Since then she’s been way more fussy than usual. Crying most of the time she’s awake. She doesn’t sleep nearly as good. Getting up several times in the night instead of just 2 or 3.
I decided to go on Dr. Sears elimination diet and get rid of the nasty nine. ( http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/feeding-infants-toddlers/food-allergies/tracking-hidden-food-allergies-3-steps). Since then she’s barely had any green in her poop.
I’m hoping it’s because of the elimination, I haven’t changed anything else.
So my main question is, how to know if they are mucousy? They are now mustard colored almost completely but seem stringy? Like little blobs of goo in there. What should the seedy pieces look like?
Sorry for the long post. I could go on and on. I get frustrated that doctors say green poop is OK. Just seems wrong to me.
Thanks!
I think occasional green poop is okay (my daughter had that), but consistent green poop is a problem. It’s so hard to say if they are moucousy. I still have issues figuring out if Luke’s diapers are “normal” or not (he’s 21 months now). How long have you been on the elimination diet? I would guess that there is still some irritation in her system so you are still probably seeing some mucous here and there, but it could clear up as everything clears your and her system. Just my guess!
Over half of them contained green and some of them were completely green with strings if mucous like your photo.
I’ve been on the elimination diet a week now.
I’ll wait until another week or two before I add anything back. Will start with nuts, then peanuts, then wheat and dairy last. Since they are hardest to get out of blood stream. Her doctor said same about clearing up slowly when we went in today for thrush treatment.
Yes, it will definitely take more time to completely clear up if it’s only been a week. Good luck! I know how difficult such a limiting diet is.
Hi
What a great article to find! The pictures were so helpful. My baby has the same filled diapers and symptoms with the sleeping and congestion. As soon as I read your blog I cut out everything you suggested could be the culprits for your son. The only problem now is I’m starving, lol. We do have a peds ap’t Friday just by chance so I will talk to them about it as well, but do you have any recommendations as to what you could eat after all the foods you knocked out? I’d love to have some more ideas.
Thanks and keep blogging!
Thanks, Vera! I’m glad the pictures were helpful to you and I hope you’re seeing an improvement in your son! Here’s a post I did showing what I ate in a day when I was on this diet. I hope it helps some. Good luck to you! https://happyhealthymama.com/2012/10/what-this-breastfeeding-mama-eats-in-a-day.html
I have a 2m old that I think might have a food allergy. He suffers from reflux and eczema. He is exclusively breastfed. The dr told me to bring in any diapers that have blood or mucas in them. This is my first baby and I have only changed formula fed babies. I have no idea what’s normal. The first picture you posted is exactly what my son’s poop looks like. Is that a picture of abnormal poop? I can’t seem to find any pictures of what normal poop is supposed to look like.
Hi! Which first solid foods was Luke able to tolerate? After a couple months of blood, my Tate had normal diapers for a couple of weeks (our pediatrician recommended we try an infant probiotic from Klaire labs which is allergen free which seemed to help). I’m not sure if it was carrots which I just introduced back into my diet, or that we gave Tate a couple of spoonfuls of homemade applesauce, the blood came back. I’m so nervous to try something new!!