Ok so bubba is almost 4 months and for a while has been having pretty horrendous nappies. He's fully bf, but the nappies are very mucousy brown/yellow. He appears to have tummy/bowel cramps and has started squirming while feeding, pulling on and off. He's gaining weight well and doesn't appear to have any rashes or skin problems to indicate allergy or intolerance. I have heaps of milk, so he's definitely not going hungry.
He doesn't vomit, generally is pretty happy but wakes often from day sleeps with tummy cramps.
I'm lost! I don't know whether to try and elimination diet, give up breastfeeding (absolutely a last resort) or to take him to a paed. It's not like he's screaming in pain but he's obviously uncomfortable and the nappies sort of indicate something isn't right? Any ideas or experience?
Both my boys went through phases of mucousy poos. Seemed to coincide with lots of drool or snot being swallowed, but occasionally no logical reason. They didn't seem to have pain though. Always worth a dr visit of you're worried though
All of my boys had similar issues to this and it was from too much foremilk. They would eagerly drink and with a fast let down they filled up really quickly but didn't stay full long and had explosive poo! What worked for me, was feeding them from one side, take a little break, then offer the same side again. So they only feed from one side which takes some getting used too but they were all so much more settled once we had done this for a few days. Good luck
You could try calling the ABA helpline for some support and suggestions - at least to get an idea of whether this is within the bounds of normal.
Is anyone in the family unwell at the moment? It could be that he's a bit under the weather - sometimes the poos are the first sign.
If you suspect some sort of food sensitivity, then you could try Joy Anderson. She's an LC & dietician who specialises in this sort of thing. At any rate, a dietician can help guide you through an elmination diet, if you decide to
My son had mucousy poos at times too. It does often mean something is up, but not necessarily something very bad. It is a good idea to get some medical advice if your'e worried, though.
It is possible that there could be a food intolerance issue, however this can also be normal at this age. An elimination diet done properly takes time and effort at first, so it might not be the first thing to try. Sometimes when mums have a lot of milk, babies can get some lactose overload - here is an article on it, Lactose intolerance and the breastfed baby, do you think that fits with your situation? If so trying some of the tips in the article might make a difference.
Otherwise it could be some of the other suggestions in here - illness, teething preparation, your period, have you given him any meds for anything etc. How long have the nappies been like this? If you are interested in trying an elimination diet, then I agree totally with contacting Joy Anderson. She has a website so you can google her and she does email and Skype consultations.
It's been happening on and off since about 9 weeks but seems to be worse at the moment. For the last two days I've been expressing the foremilk off each side in the morning (counteractive I know, but I'm trying to narrow down the reason) and finally this morning seems much more settled so now I'm kind of looking forward to his next dirty nappy now to see what it's like!
I guess I'm thinking its not an allergy because he has no other symptoms and is gaining good weight (he's 90th % for height and weight) but would be happy to try elimination if need be.
That's good reasoning that everything else is going well so probably not an allergy. Also the fact that it's on and off and only started at week 9 could also indicate that. You have done well to try different things and hopefully have found something that is making a difference. If it is lactose overload, the block feeding option from the article I linked to above should also work and might be a bit easier for you to manage effort wise than expressing. But hey, if the expressing is working and you can manage it, doing things just as you are is fine too.
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