green is the color of my frustration OR so long moo!

Warning: ample talk of poo will be broached in this blog.

So, here I am...mother of a 5 1/2 week old.

Totally inexperienced to say the least.

Lelia has been SUPER fussy the last few days. Just sleeping peacefully...then....WHAM...screaming at the top of her tiny little lungs.

Colic?

I thought so...and there may be a bit of that going on, but the uncontrollable crying is followed by something else.

Green poo.

At first I wasn't alarmed because green poo is quite normal for newborns (or so I've read in my newborn guide and thus have chosen to believe). The number of poopy diapers hasn't changed but the color and sometimes consistency sure has. Slightly green I can deal with.

But then came the slime.

Yep, now her poo is green AND slimy. Ewww!

So, I've been tearing through my nursing books and online for hours frantically looking up everything that Google came up with on a search for 'green mucusy stool in a newborn'. Seems all my resources AND the online publications state it might be:

A) a virus. Treatment is to let it pass its course as long as the number of wet diapers doesn't decrease and there is no accompanying fever. Consensus: could be option A. Will watch for more signs/symptoms.

B) a food intolerance. Most likely milk...the milk that I drink...my precious lattes. Hmmm. Babies with food intolerances are usually also pretty gassy and uncomfortable. (Sounds an awful lot like you-know-who). Treatment is for me to stop partaking of dairy. No milk= no lattes or ice cream. And the more difficult part...no cheese. (I am a cheese whore!) I guess yoghurt is OK because of the cultures (according to my research) but as far as I'm concerned...it's all or nothing! Consensus: seems very highly likely that option B is the culprit of baby girl's discomfort.

C) foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. Meaning baby isn't getting enough of the fatty hindmilk that comes at the end of a feeding and too much of the lean foremilk at the beginning. Treatment is to feed baby until BOTH boobs are fully drained, thus ensuring that baby has gotten the good fatty milk. Babies with this issue usually have 'frothy green stools'. Consensus: No frothy green stools here. Probably not answer C.

So, since I'm a nurse and generally try to self-diagnose and work out a health issue by scouring every medical source I can before finally consulting an actual MD/PA/NP, and because I don't want to be THAT mother and freak out about nothing, this is my plan...

Lelia does not have a fever. She still has an adequate number of wet diapers per day. Her poo is not frothy and green, it's just slimy and green. She does exhibit symptoms of an upset belly most notably kicking of the feet and red-faced screaming followed by a forceful trumpeting fart and/or a burp. I think answer B is most likey the problem.

Thus, I will say goodbye to my dairy friends...milk, cheese, ice cream and even yoghurt.

Hopefully we'll meet again.

Operation ANTI-MOO will swing into effect immediately.

And if baby girl's belly doesn't improve even slightly with the elimination of milk products in my diet or she worsens in any way over the weekend (i.e. develops a fever, decreased number of wet diapers, blood in her green slimy poo) we'll make our first trip to the ED.

If things are still crazy on Monday, I'll call the pediatrician and seek her advice.

Thus begins my first official 'worry act' of Motherhood.