Mucous In The Stool

When you have a new baby there are an insurmountable amount of concerns that are related to your baby. Your baby’s stool is one area of concern.

A common baby stool is light tan to dark brown and the consistency is soft, loose and seedy but, it is normal for baby to have the occasional pale yellow and dark green stool... especially if you are breast feeding. However, when your baby has green mucous or bloody mucous in their poop, it may be cause for concern.

If your baby has mucous in their stool it can be caused by several things, most of which are not huge concerns. Your baby could have mucous in their stool because of the following reasons;

• Food allergies may cause mucous in baby’s stool. Read more about food allergies in the breastfed baby.

• Foremilk / hindmilk imbalance ~ Baby is drinking too much of the high lactose foremilk while breastfeeding. Read more about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance here.

• Teething causes mucous in stool because your baby has an excess of saliva with teething, which can cause mucous in stool.

• A virus may cause frequent watery stools due to diarrhea and they may come with mucous in them. A green mucous stool is normally caused by a virus. Read more on diarrhea in baby.

• Malabsorption, which is when baby is not absorbing nutrients from breast milk or formula, also causes mucous in the stool. This is a very rare occurrence.

• Intussusception is when your baby has bloody mucous in their stool and also has severe abdominal cramps. If your baby has a bright red stool in addition to mucous you need to consult your pediatrician, this could be due to severe intestinal problems. On the flip side it could mean that your baby has a cut in the skin around the anus which is a less serious issue but, you need your pediatrician to check on your baby if there is blood in the stool or bloody mucous in the stool.

• Mucous can also cause diaper rash so it is necessary to find out what the issue is and treat it so you can avoid diaper rash.

Finding mucous in your babies stools can be scary and if you have any concerns you should check with your pediatrician. As parents we have many worries and this is one problem that is usually easy to fix and is typically pretty normal.

Our little bundle of joy can come with many issues and we need to pay attention to every small detail including their stool.

By Angela Mccall

Other pages on “breastfeeding problems” in connection with this page

- Diarrhea and green stools

- Normal stools in the breastfed infant

- Blood in baby’s stools