What's wrong with my child's green poop?

A child’s health condition often does not manifest itself externally, especially in younger children, where it is more difficult to detect any physical problems. In this case, it is necessary to identify the child's excrement to see if there is any abnormality. In daily life, many parents find that their children’s poop is green. So, what’s the matter with children’s green poop? Let’s take a closer look at the reasons.

The art book "Identifying Diseases through Baby Stool" explains why children have green poop like this: bilirubin in bile is a yellow pigment that stains feces yellow. Bilirubin is oxidized to become biliverdin, which turns poop green. When the excreted feces encounter oxygen in the air in the diaper, the bilirubin is oxidized into biliverdin, making the surface of the feces green. In addition, due to the action of bifidobacteria, the intestines have become acidic, and the stool has been oxidized in the intestines, turning green and being excreted from the body. In short, the above situations are all normal and there is no need to worry about them.

2 Foods That Cause Stool to Turn Green

The color of the food that mom and baby eat can also affect the color of their stool. For example, after adding complementary foods, eating tomatoes and watermelons will excrete red poop, and eating spinach will excrete green poop. This is a normal phenomenon. When your baby poops out green poop, think about whether you have added green food to your baby.

Recommendation: If the child has not eaten foods of the corresponding color but has ruled out green stool, other causes should be considered and the child can be taken to the hospital for testing.

If the baby is fed with formula milk and drinks iron-fortified formula milk, he is more likely to have green stools. That is the color of iron that has not been fully absorbed by the baby. This greenish stool is not a big problem and is normal. You don't need to worry about it.

4Babies will have green stools when they catch a cold

If the milk the baby drinks is cold (such as frozen milk), or the baby's abdomen or feet are cold, the baby may also have watery or mushy green poop with a sour and smelly smell and a lot of foam.

Suggestion: Mothers should pay attention to whether their babies have colds or fevers. If necessary, take their babies to the doctor for stool tests to rule out bacterial infections. If the test results are normal, it may be due to indigestion or cold abdomen of the baby, and the baby needs to be kept warm.

"Practical Pediatrics" mentions that rapid intestinal motility, poorly colored stools, and green stools usually indicate diarrhea. Because when the baby is not full, the baby's gastrointestinal motility is too fast due to hunger, and the bilirubin in the intestines has not had time to be converted, so the poop does not have time to turn yellow, and can only be green. Most of these stools are green, small in quantity, and contain a lot of mucus.

Suggestion: Don’t let your baby go hungry, give your baby more milk.

6Baby jaundice causes green stools

The bilirubin concentration in babies with jaundice is very high. During the treatment period, some babies may have to drink bilirubin-excreting medicine to promote the excretion of bilirubin. Bilirubin will also be excreted with the stool. According to the first point above, when the baby poops, bilirubin will be oxidized and turn green, so the baby may have darker green stools when he has jaundice.

Recommendation: Let your baby eat more milk, defecate and urinate more to promote the discharge of jaundice. Severe cases require prompt medical attention.