Poop

Thankfully, when your child is just a baby she doesn’t think poop is funny yet. You can look at her poop, read about it, compare it with the last one, babble at her about how proud you are for it and even go into a long, detailed discussion about it with your spouse. This will change drastically within a few short years. Once this occurs, any mention of poop will likely result in a wholly separate type of accident brought on by hysterics and even though they are older, you are still the one doing the laundry.

So, some information regarding the early days of poop. When babies are born it is important for them to pass their first bowel movements called meconium, within the first days. Meconium is black, tarry, sticky and comprised of the waste products from baby’s time in the womb. The laxative component of colostrum, the first “milk” a mother produces, helps baby to pass it. A breastfed baby’s stools will turn yellowish and seedy after several days. Many people compare it to pea soup or chunky peanut butter. If you notice a lot of mucous or the color is significantly green, pay attention to how long you are nursing on each breast. Too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk can cause this. Think of foremilk as your baby’s hydration and hindmilk as her food. Hindmilk is what she needs to pack on those pounds and turn into your little butterball. Keeping baby on the same breast for roughly ten minutes will help her get both stages of milk.

All babies are different and thus their frequency of passing stool eventually varies. Initially, most infants will go at each feeding. As she ages, she may have a bowel movement once a day and many breastfed babies go once a week. For the duration of exclusive breastfeeding, your baby’s bowel movements will be soft and yellowish.

Like everything else, poop is something that bears talking about. It is an important way to know that your baby is getting enough to eat and is healthy. Once you start the potty training phase, discussions should focus on the privacy of poop. Though it will likely make no difference in the eventual guffaws surrounding the subject, you can at least get a head start on excusing yourself from the discussion. Tow the line that “Poop is funny to your friends, but not to me.” Then you can go and laugh hysterically in the privacy of your closet.

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