What Are Baby's Stools Supposed to Look Like and How Often Should Baby Wet?

It is normal for the stools of the breastfed baby to be mostly liquid, with small curds that resemble cottage cheese (some say it resembles runny egg yolks). It has very little odor. Usually the baby will have a bowel movement each time he/she nurses. It may or may not sound "explosive". These liquid stools are not diarrhea. Diarrhea in the breastfed baby is rare. A baby who has diarrhea would have stools that are very frequent, usually green and full of mucus (and/or specks of blood), and almost always foul smelling.

A breastfed baby should have six to eight wet diapers a day until around six weeks of age; and five to six wet diapers a day thereafter; and two or more good-sized bowel movements every day for the first 6-8 weeks.

At around the age of six weeks, the stooling pattern of a breastfed baby may change. It is not uncommon for the breastfed baby to skip days between bowel movements. Some babies skip every other day, some go every two or three days, some once every 5 - 7 days, and some babies hold out for up to 11 or 12 days at a time - then have quite a FULL diaper when they DO go!

There is absolutely no reason to intervene and try methods commonly used to "induce" a bowel movement (such as prune or other types of juices, water, glycerin suppositories, or using rectal stimulation). If artificial stimulation is done too often, the baby's system can become dependant upon this stimulation to "go", and no longer is able to have a normal bowel movement on their own.

In most cases, as long as baby is not acting ill (lethargic, crying in pain, etc.), the tummy is soft, not rigid or distended, skipping days between stools is not cause for alarm, however, mother should not hesitate to ask her health care provider to check her baby to be sure there is no physical problem.

The breastfed baby's stools may change in color, and baby may even have an occasional green stool.Consistently green stools, however, may indicate a problem, such as imbalance in foremilk/hindmilk, or sensitivity to something in mom's diet, such as dairy. Green stools do not always indicate a problem.

Foremilk and hindmilk are not different types of milk–they are only terms that refer to whether we』re looking at milk at the start or end of a feeding. The term foremilk refers to the milk at the beginning of a feeding; hindmilk refers to milk at the end of a feeding, which has a higher fat content than the milk at the beginning of that particular feeding. There is no sharp distinction between foremilk and hindmilk–the change is very gradual. Research from Peter Hartmann’s group tells us that fat content of the milk is primarily determined by the emptiness of the breast — the less milk in the breast, the higher the fat content.

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