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!
Hello from Poland, thank you so much for this article and for the pictures! I’d like to ask if you have eliminated only wheat or also all gluten grains? Was Luke gaining weight normally?
I eliminated all gluten. Luke did gain weight normally. He was 9 pounds 11 ounces at birth and was 16 pounds by 3 months.
My son is going through this exact thing . Did you continue to breastfeed? I have so much frozen milk and I’m not sure if I need to stop or can keep going even if he has a sensitivity to think or intolerance.
I did continue breastfeeding for 3 years! 🙂
Was MSPI something to worry about? Could it be deadly or cause serious health problem?
It isn’t typically deadly, except in extreme cases where failure to thrive may result. Besides discomfort and pain untreated MSPI can cause for the baby, it may also weaken the immune system since the lining of the gut is damaged.
Hi! I’m going through this with my 6 week old. 2 weeks ago I started seeing bits of blood in his diapers and immediately stopped dairy and soy that same day. The blood has mostly disappeared but his stools still seem a bit mucousy. How long did you see bits of blood in your son’s diapers for? My little one has no signs of discomfort, I just hate seeing any blood at all. I’ve taken him to the pediatrician and followed up several times. They don’t seem too concerned as they are fairly certain it’s a dairy related allergen.
It was a few months before they disappeared completely. Good luck!
I would like to thank you for this post. I have the same problem with my son. I am breastfeeding but I do not know what to feed. My doctor does not allow me to eat chicken fish meat dried fruits seafood only vegetables and fruits can eat. I will thank you if ju show me a menu .
My baby is 3 months, I don’t think only those food cause the problem it’s based on kid my baby sensitive to oats, chicken and so on… I’m still working on it…
yes it takes a lot of trial and error!
Very similar to my.son. he is now 4 months Old and sisn day one suffers with painful gas and passing stool. We saw Dr. He thinks CMPA but I am.off.it sins weak3. I am off soya and gluten too and will add a eggs now but Dr think it’s the milk protein and soya only :/ if that’s the case why no improvement and now he has blood in his stool too. Sometimes I think perhaps he hase some kind of inflammatory bowel problems and that’s what he need to be treated for. Iike auto immune disorder etc.
Hi! We are going through the exact same thing. My son is 5.5 months old and my diet is now free of dairy, soy, wheat, and peanuts for the past 8 weeks. Every single diaper still contains mucous and we still have blood weekly. GP said to start solids but wondering if we should wait since we aren’t at baseline stools and won’t know if something is causing a reaction? I really don’t want to switch to formula but that seems to be the easy solution by the doctors…
We took my son to an Allergist due to blood and mucous in all his diapers. After nearly a month of being dairy and soy free, there was no change so I took out the top 8 allergens. We had some improvement, but still not free and clear. He was diagnosed with FPIES. Based on that I took out rice, oats, and corn from my diet as well, among other things I’ve noticed that might cause a reaction and his diapers cleared up. Now I just slowly add foods back into my diet and hope it doesn’t cause a reaction. I’ve successfully added eggs, rice, and gluten free oats back in. It’s a slow process. My baby is 9m now and we waited until he was a little older to give him solids, like when he was having good diapers. So far so good.
Just curious- what other things did you take out? Ive been top 6 allergen free for almost a month due to MSPI and my son still has mucus diapers, although they are predominantly yellow these days and smell a lot less foul. We recently had some blood come back so I’m wondering what other things could trigger this…
We also stay away from cruciferous veggies, beans, & onions bc they cause terrible painful gas.
I took out, to start, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (except coconut), gluten, fish, shellfish. Then I took out oatmeal (and added eggs back in so I could have something to eat for breakfast), potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rice, beans, Chickpeas/lentils, green beans, chocolate, and I’m sure something else.
I can now eat chocolate (though I try to limit it…all dairy free of course), eggs, rice, and Gluten free oatmeal (haven’t tried any gluten yet), and popcorn, but we feel like corn chips have caused a reaction so I’m hesitant to say corn is completely safe even though popcorn is.
The top triggers for FPIES are milk/soy, oats, rice, and corn, but it can really be any food, which makes it tricky to pin it down. And man you have to label read like crazy! I’m going to try to add potato back in next, and we’ll hope for the best!
Thank you so much for the information & for the reply!!! I hope your potato trial goes well 🙂
Thank you so much for your post! We brought MSPI up with our dr and cut out milk soy eggs successfully getting rid of her bloody stools from learning about it on your page! My question for you is about vaccines. She’s 14 months now and we still haven’t done her one year old vaccines because we are unsure and apprehensive with the worry about the effect they might have on her MSPI. Have you done vaccines with your little one? If so, did you have any issues with them? Thank you for any advice or tips you might have in advance!
Hi! I did the regular vaccine schedule and didn’t have any issues. I understand your concern and hesitancy though!
Sorry for the typos Hi…. this a sounds very much like my daughter. I’m wondering about the last image… is that showing baby reaction to the food or after elimination? Thanks
Hi…. this a sounds ver much like my daughter. Um wondering about the lady image… is that showing baby reaction to the food or after elimination? Thanks
Same thing happened with my LO at 4 months old, I thought my breastfeeding was going well until I saw specks of blood in her stool similar to the ones in the pics. I switched her to Similac and the bloody poops immediately stopped. The elimination diet was too hard for me and the she was thriving on formula so we stuck with that. No more bloody poops ever since and now she’s 2, no dairy allergy, eats anything and everything and today just pooped a giant turd on the toilet (she had one anal fissure though from constipation but the blood is at the entrance of her butt visible after wiping and fresh/bright red, not like the ones before that are merged with the poop and stringy).
I’m glad that you found a solution that worked for both you and baby! <3
What kind of Similac? Is it the aluminum or pro sensitive?
This has been very helpful Thankyou! I suspect my daughter may have mspi. Like your son she isn’t unsettled and doesn’t cry lots, but she has very mucousy stools and has had the black stringy blood too. She is also very congested, and has recently started refusing feeds (formula fed). I have switched her to a formula specifically for babies with allergies and her congestion has improved, but poos still mucousy with blood. Hoping to see a paediatrician this week! Do you know how long after switching formulas we should start to see an improvement?
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.
Hi I’m following your blog whenever I get questions, it’s very useful for us. My baby girl is 7 months old and not given any solids yet, I tried in-between but didn’t work out well, when did Luke’s started to tolerate solids and what are all the foods you tried for him and worked out well. pls give suggestion? Thank You…
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 there,
I was just reading all comments and our situation with my son is very similar.
We have been off dairy/soy/wheat/tree nuts/eggs/oatmeal/avocados/banana.
Pediatrician suggested right away special formula.
My heart breaks to stop breastfeeding. It’s has been 4,5 weeks for us. I find that carrot has been reactive.
Before switching to formula,
I bought probiotics and the stool color has improved right away.
Did you stop breastfeeding? Did your baby got better ?
Thank you for your respond as I know how busy life is with LO.
❤️
Hey, success story here. We were told to switch to special formula, but I got a second opinion and removed a lot of foods from my diet. Slowly over the past several months we’ve been able to add a lot back in. My baby turns one this week and he’s still breastfeeding! He’s hardly had any bloody diapers since I started my elimination diet. The last time was when I had sweet potato, but regular potatoes have been fine. We think he’s finally growing out of it! Still being cautious, though.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for your respond. Website wouldn’t allow me to answer to your last msg.
Happy Birthday to your LO!! You are a fantastic mom for doing all this job!
Thank you! Your msg gives me hope. I might ask few more question : how long did it take until the stool improved after eliminating the foods? And what foods were you able to eat ? And which eliminated?
My pediatrician said my sons grows has stopped due to this. So I’m trying my best to fix this issue for him now.
So thankful for this post!!! And for your help!
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!!
Hi Genalee,
I know it’s been a long time, but do you remember how long it took for your little one to improve after switching to the Allimentum? My 1 month old has had the same issues since she was a week old, I am certain it is MSPI and switched her from sensitive formula to allimentum last week. (I breastfed for the first 3 days, but suddenly stopped producing breast milk and had to change to formula which is when I started seeing problems) Before the allimentum it was awful. She was in visible pain most of the time, barely sleeping unless she was skin to skin with me, pulling her legs up, screaming in pain, mucousy stools, lots and lots of gas and nothing seemed to help. After the first couple of bottles of allimentum I saw a visible difference. The first two days were great she was a whole new baby! And then the symptoms returned but not nearly as bad. Now she has good days and bad days but still nowhere near as bad as before. Her stools are still mucousy and she still has lots of gas but she only has visible pain from it once in awhile. I am just curious if I made the right choice in switching to allimentum. Could it be the symptoms of mspi still lingering and they will eventually disappear? Or do I need to try another route? I’m beside myself and don’t know what to do to help her and it kills me.
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?