Newborn breast milk watery stool

Most newborns will choose to eat their mother's breast milk after birth. Some babies will have breast milk diarrhea. After eating their mother's breast milk, the baby's stool will become very watery. In severe cases, it may cause diarrhea. This will make many mothers anxious, and they will change their children to milk powder. So what is the matter with the watery stool of newborns fed with breast milk?

What does watery stool look like for babies?

The water content in the baby's stool increases and becomes soup-like, with the water separated from the stool, and the frequency and amount of bowel movements increase. This is watery stool in infants and young children.

Why does my baby have watery stools?

1. Physiological loose stools

Since the intestinal function of normal newborns is not yet fully developed, there are obvious differences in the stool characteristics of babies with different feeding methods. For example, breast milk is easily absorbed by newborns who are breastfed, so breastfed babies generally have more bowel movements and may experience false diarrhea. The baby may have up to 7-8 bowel movements a day, or even 10-12 times. The stools are usually thin. If the baby is in good spirits, eats well, and has normal weight gain, there is no need to worry.

2. Pathological factors

(1) Non-infectious factors

Improper feeding: Parents feed their newborn babies milk powder that is too concentrated, inappropriate, sugar is added to the milk powder, the milk is too cold, or starchy foods such as rice paste are added too early, which can easily lead to food accumulation in the baby and cause diarrhea.

Allergy to milk powder: 2-7 out of 100 babies are allergic to milk powder protein. Newborn babies with hereditary allergies are more likely to develop allergic symptoms to milk powder protein.

(2) Viral or bacterial infection

Cold: When babies have a cold, they often have diarrhea symptoms. Therefore, as long as the cold is cured fundamentally, the diarrhea will naturally heal.

Viral or bacterial infection: Newborns have poor immune function, especially intestinal immunity. When the intestine is infected, they are unable to weaken and neutralize the virulence of bacteria. It can be divided into intestinal infection and extraintestinal infection. Intestinal infections mainly occur in newborns who are bottle-fed or mixed-fed, because the disease enters the body through the mouth due to unclean feeding utensils.

The above is an introduction to what watery stools look like for babies. In short, if babies under 6 months old are breastfed, they need to continue breastfeeding; if they are not breastfed, they can continue to be fed with milk or dairy products that the baby consumes daily. Babies with mild symptoms can appropriately reduce the amount of milk they suck. I hope this article can help you.