Baby Poop

What does a breastfed baby’s poop look like? What does a formula baby’s poop look like? The texture of your baby or infant’s poop can say a lot about their overall health and wellness.

Poop Guide

Newborn Baby Poop:

Your newborn baby’s poop will look different in the few days after birth. A lot of people say it looks like tar or motor oil. It will be a greenish-black color and it will be a very sticky consistency. This is called meconium. It is made up of amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells, and other things ingested in utero.

Breastfed Baby Poop:

Breastfed babies poop is normal if it is a mustard yellow, green or brown color. It typically looks like it is seedy and pasty or can even resemble a diarrhea texture as well. The smell is on the sweet side, not like a typical bowl-movement odor.

Formula Fed Baby Poop:

A healthy formula fed baby typically has yellow or brown poop that is a pasty consistency (kinda like peanut butter). Formula fed babies tend to poop less often and the order is stronger than breastfed babies.

Partially Digested Food in Baby Poop:

There is some food that you will find digest easier than others, this is because some food travels quicker through the intestines than others. This can cause chunks of food to appear in your baby’s poop or it can change the color.

Baby Poop By Color

Green Poop:

Babies that take an iron supplement will have poop that is more green in color. You will also notice when you start giving your baby solid food that is green, such as pureed peas, spinach, and beans, you will see their poop change to a green color.

Orange, Yellow, and Brown Poop:

These are all normal colors of poop for babies who are breast and bottle fed. Poop is this color in breast and formula fed babies because there is more or less of a pigment picked up during the digestive process.

Black Blood in Poop:

Most of the time when you see black blood in your babies poop it is because you baby has swallowed blood while breastfeeding. This can happen if you have cracked nipples. This is not harmful to baby, but it is a good idea to check with a doctor to make sure the blood is not a symptom of something more serious.

Baby Poop Warning Signs
Call your baby’s doctor right away if you see any of the following

Runny Poop:

After the first few days of life your baby’s poop will change and no longer be runny. If you see that your baby starts to have runny diarrhea with a green, yellow or brown color to it this can indicate that your baby has an infection or has an allergy. You will want to get treatment so that your baby doesn’t get dehydrated.

Hard, Pebble-Like Poop:

If your baby has poop that is hard and pebble-like this is a sign of your baby being constipated. This can happen when you start introducing solid foods. This could also be a sign of a sensitivity to milk or soy, or a sensitivity to something in your breast milk or formula.

Red Blood in Poop

Your baby’s poop can turn red if they eat or drink things that are red, such as tomatoes or fruit punch. Red blood found in normal poop can be a sign of a milk protein allergy. Red bloody diarrhea could mean your baby has a bacterial infection.

Mucus in Poop

Slimy greenish-colored poop with streaks in your baby’s poop means that mucus is present. You may see this if your baby is drooling, but mucus in your baby’s poop can be a sign of infection.

White Chalky Poop:

White or grey chalky poop can be a warning sign that your baby isn’t properly digesting food. This is a sign that indicates a lack of bile from the liver to digest food.

Note From Your Doula

You will notice a lot of changes in your baby’s poop as they grow and their diet changes. However, if you see changes that don’t align with diet change make sure you call your baby’s doctor immediately.

Learn more about things your baby will do and how life with be with baby in my Life With Baby class.