The Definitive Guide To Baby Poop

“Why is my baby’s poop green?”

“How many times should babies poop a day?”

“Does my baby have diarrhea?”

As pediatricians, we get these kinds of questions from new parents all the time. And it’s no surprise, really. In the first few months of infancy, the main things parents and pediatricians alike are focused on are feeding, pooping, and sleeping, so it’s only natural that we’d spend a lot of time talking to moms and dads about all things related to poop—especially color, consistency, and frequency.

With that in mind, these are the five things I want new parents to know about their baby’s bowel movements:

Parents often have questions about the color of their baby’s poop, but for the most part, that’s not something we’re terribly concerned with. An infant’s stool can be brown, but in breastfed babies it’s usually more of a mustard-yellow color.

Green poop is also common in babies who are fed breast milk. But contrary to what many parents think, it’s not because mom ate a lot of spinach or some other green food. Instead, it’s merely due to the way a baby’s digestive system breaks down the nutrients in breast milk.

Once a baby starts eating solid foods, that’s when poop color often changes depending on the color of the food the baby is eating. So, if a baby has peas or green beans, the stool might seem a little greener in color. If carrots or sweet potatoes are on the menu, then the baby’s stools might be fluorescent orange. Beets can add a reddish cast to a baby’s poop, which can be worrisome because it can be mistaken for blood (more on that below).

In the toddler years, we sometimes see kids with very strange-colored stools because of the dyes in the foods they eat. For instance, kids’ yogurt often comes in very bright colors, and these dyes can show up in the stool. (The same goes for ice pops.)

An infant who is exclusively fed breast milk will typically have mustard-colored stools that are very watery and seedy looking. Some parents mistake that for diarrhea, but it’s totally normal. Formula-fed babies, on the other hand, tend to have stools that look more pasty. I tell parents it’s kind of like the consistency of peanut butter or soft serve ice cream. (And yes, we pediatricians do compare stool to food all the time.)

If a baby has an upper respiratory infection, you might see some mucus in their poop, because they’re swallowing a lot of post-nasal drip. And once a baby starts teething, their stools can be loose and almost frothy-looking because they’re swallowing a lot of saliva.

The texture of baby poop also changes once a baby starts solids, becoming firmer. (It also gets a lot smellier, unfortunately!) You can sometimes see fibers or other bits of undigested food, which is also normal.

Breastfed newborns are serious poopers, with the number of bowel movements ranging anywhere from five to 12 times a day. Formula-fed babies usually have fewer bowel movements per day—sometimes only once or twice a day, and sometimes even less frequently than that.

Lots of parents think that if baby isn’t having at least one bowel movement every day, something is wrong—but that’s not the case. Some babies will skip a day, even in the newborn stage, and as long as their stools are otherwise normal, the babies are perfectly fine.

Keep in mind that just because your first and second babies had multiple poopy diapers every day, that doesn’t mean your third child will follow the same pattern. Every baby is different; they don’t all stick to the same rules.

The main warning sign we ask new parents to keep an eye out for is blood in a baby’s stool. Streaks of blood usually mean that the baby is having trouble digesting formula due to a milk protein allergy or some other issue, or that there’s something in the mother’s breast milk that’s irritating their digestive tract.

We also want to know if an infant’s stools are white or very light-colored. This can indicate a possible problem with the liver or biliary tract, which needs to be checked out with testing.

Often enough, parents aren’t sure if there’s blood in their baby’s poop or something else that just looks like blood. When in doubt, bring in the diaper so we can check it out. (Trust me, we won’t be grossed out—we’ve seen it all.)

When we have access to the specimen we can conduct what’s known as a guaiac test, which detects blood in the stool—and we get the results right away. It’s always reassuring when we can tell worried parents that what they think is blood is actually just red food dye or those beets they tried out with baby.

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