What should I look for in my baby’s diaper? On the day of birth your infant should have at least 1 wet and 1 dirty diaper (called Meconium).  These dirty diapers will continue for another 2-3 days until the bowel movements change again when the mature breast milk comes in or the baby’s bowels adjust to the milk based formula, depending on feeding method.Please be sure to track or chart wet and dirty diapers for your pediatrician and IBCLC.

‍Day 1 of Life:

• 1 wet
• 1 dirty (dark tarry and/or black sticky meconium)

Day 2 of Life:

• 1-3 wet
• 1-2 (dark tarry and/or black sticky meconium)

Day 3 of Life:

• 2-3 wet
• 1-4 poops (dark brown to lighter browns pasty,“transitional stool”, greenish-brown in color, less sticky, more soft and loose in consistency). This is a good indictor if the infant is getting enough breastmilk .

Day 4-5 of Life:

• 4+ wet (Urine diapers should NOW continue increasing with each passing day until the baby is having 4-7 wet diapers a day).
• 4-10 poops small to medium size
• transitional poop

Days 6-8 of Life:

• 4-7 wet
• 4- 10 med to large size poops , yellow and/or seedy, loose
  
  

After the first week of life, the poop will change to mostly yellow, seedy and loose liquid stools.
At any point during the first few months of life, your baby’s bowel movements can change as a result of the breast milk they are receiving.

• When a baby has greenish stools, it is possible that the baby is not getting enough fat content in the breast milk.
• This can happen when some nutrients are missing from the mother’s diet. For example, mothers who are on a restricted diet such as not eating or drinking enough dairy fats can often find their milk very low in fat content. The breast milk may appear thin and watery.
• In addition to the quality and appearance of the milk, the calorie count and nutritional evaluation of the milk may need to be considered. Speak with your lactation consultant about this type of testing.
  
  

In some circumstances, babies may have small amounts of blood or mucous in their bowel movements.

• This is often associated with a baby’s sensitivity to cow’s milk proteins or their inability to properly digest these proteins. Cow’s milk proteins are the most worrisome, however, there are other food groups that can cause the baby to present with blood or changes in their bowel movements.

If you notice any blood in the baby’s diaper, please schedule an appointment with the pediatrician so they can evaluate for possible allergy or other medical concerns.  Your baby’s bowel movements are an indicator of their well-being. It is important to give your physician and lactation consultant a history of the most recent feeding patterns, wet and dirty diaper count and color and consistency of the bowel movements. Monitoring your baby’s bowel movements is important, but not something to become overly concerned about unless you notice other significant changes at the same time. If you see changes in the baby’s poopy diapers and also see signs of excessive fussiness, excessive spitting up or other new behaviors that are causing disruption in sleep cycles, it might be time to have baby evaluated by a physician.

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