A very sticky (and green) question

[onthefly]

Yeah, sounds like it's probably a forceful letdown. It'll sort itself out once she gets older, most likely. don't worry about the foremilk imbalance thing - i've read posts from Barb saying that's a bit of a myth.
no turds is good
Again, I recommend the bf forum or aba for expert advice. Sounds like you're doing pretty well to me

[Acacia]

Hi Murph,

Just thought I'd pop in and share our experience off this. I had a really forceful letdown for the first few months and quite bad oversupply, so my DD was often getting green mucousy poos as well as bad wind/colic type symptoms.

It did go away on it's own - both as DD got bigger and more able to digest large amounts of milk better, as well as my letdown and supply eventually settling down (after 4-5 months).

One thing you can try and do if you find it is happening on a given day is to keep offering the same breast at feeds for a while - this might allow your DD to take in more fattier milk that comes later in a feed - BM becomes higher in fat content as a baby gets closer to "emptying" the breast. So if you keep offering the same breast first for a while (I used to offer the same breast first for up to 3-4 hours at times) then your DD will be getting fattier milk. This fat can then help slow the passage of milk through the digestive system, allowing the lactose to be broken down more/better before it is eliminated. The more lactose that is able to be broken down the less green poos/wind she may experience.

This didn't always work for us though - sometimes when DD had a really big feed, she would digest and eliminate it quickly and still end up with green poos/bad wind even when she'd had lots of fattier milk - I was told that when babies are young, the larger the quantity of milk taken the quicker it is moved through their digestive system, fullstop.

Don't worry about the curds in her poo either - these are fairly typical at her age.

Sounds like you are doing all the things that a good to help with forceful letdown, so keep doing those as they can make a good difference too.

One thing to remember is that green poos on their own are nothing to worry about in a breastfed baby- it's not abnormal and is only a symptom of the way your baby is digesting their feed. If she's not overly windy or distressed with the green poo and has lots of good weight gains then I wouldn't worry about it too much - it will get better in time, on it's own, and may even come and go which is normal too If she is struggling with wind and is uncomfortable, then try the one-sided feeding and see how you go. Wind drops might be worth a shot too, but TBH I found that they didn't help DD with her "rear end" wind at all - only to help get her burps up, which she could do anyway when given enough time to burp.



HTH, and hope things settle a little more with your DD - they will in time

[Murph01]

Hello again,
I just found some of these later posts and wanted to thank you for your advice and update you on our situation. I have been doing the things you suggest for dealing with forceful letdown and like you said, it has eased off. On it's own,the green poo is not a worry, but I guess just a sign to adjust things, burp longer and really find that blasted wind. I've been getting the wonderful runny gorgeous mustard poos most changes now and it makes me feel like a good mummy...how funny is that? Happy dances all round for the mustard, sweet smelling curdly poo Green bad...mustard good. It always comes down to a mum feeling like she should be guilty for something hey?

Anyway, I notice at the windy times is when it happens, so I am doing all I can to counter the wind. I'm finding that helping her to move her legs and get her kicking in her activity centre really helps and she is farting like a champ and then the lovely poo comes through. Never thought in a million years poo would make you feel all warm and fuzzy I think maybe the foremilk /hindmilk is a myth too as it doesn't make much difference and I have tried it all...including one side for half the day.

Thanks again,
Murph

[TaRhLi.]

Yay Murph

Before trying Tara on the wind drops she always seemed to have green poos and since having the drops for a week her poos then changed to the mustard colour. She hasn't had any drops for weeks now and everythings still going good from that end so maybe just those few days was enough to get out what was trapped inside and I think now as she has gotten older and her system is maturing she can now deal with any wind herself.