Baby diarrhea turns from yellow to green

Every change in the baby after birth is watched by the mother. Because many new mothers do not understand the baby's growth and development very well, sometimes their judgment of the baby's physical condition is not very accurate. From birth to adulthood, every day is very difficult for babies, and mothers worry about their babies growing up healthily. Some babies have diarrhea and the color changes from yellow to green, which scares their mothers and they don’t know what disease the baby has. Let’s learn about it below.

1. Abnormal stool has the following characteristics:

If your baby's stool frequency suddenly increases or becomes thinner without changing the amount or type of food, this should be considered abnormal. Abnormal stool characteristics mainly include the following:

Green stool: If the baby has watery or mushy green stool with a sour smell and a lot of foam, it often indicates that the baby has indigestion, gastrointestinal disorders and other diseases.

Egg-drop-like stool: Rotavirus diarrhea is the most common diarrhea in infants and young children in autumn and winter. It is mainly transmitted through fecal-oral transmission and often occurs in infants and young children aged 6-24 months. A typical characteristic of the stool of babies suffering from rotavirus enteritis is yellow watery or egg-drop-shaped stool with a small amount of mucus and no fishy smell.

White or grayish white stool: When the bile duct is blocked and bile excretion is impaired, the stool will appear white or grayish white "clay-like stool" because it does not contain fecobilinogen.

Blood in the stool: It generally indicates the possibility of gastrointestinal bleeding. Depending on the location of the bleeding, blood in the stool will also appear in different shades of color. For example, when bleeding occurs in the upper gastrointestinal tract (including the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine), it often manifests as vomiting blood and "tarry stools."

Tofu-like stool: It is mostly caused by Candida albicans and is more common in infants under 2 years old, especially weak and malnourished children, or children who have been using broad-spectrum antibiotics or corticosteroids for a long time. It is often accompanied by thrush, increased frequency of bowel movements, yellow loose stools, more foam, and mucus, which sometimes have a tofu-like appearance.

2. Does a baby’s diarrhea mean he is sick?

Newly born babies always have loose stools, and many new mothers often panic: Is it because I ate something unclean that my baby has diarrhea after drinking breast milk? Or is it because the baby didn’t wear enough clothes and his stomach caught a cold? I went to the hospital for a check-up right away, but the doctor said no treatment was needed as it was physiological diarrhea and I just needed to take good care of my butt.

The mother was confused again: Physiological diarrhea? What is this new term? Is it different from ordinary diarrhea?

The so-called physiological diarrhea refers to the situation that some babies have increased frequency of bowel movements and the duration is longer after birth or after a short period of time. It is common in breastfed babies and mostly occurs within 6 months. This is because the baby's digestive system is not yet perfect. If a certain nutrient contained in breast milk exceeds the baby's needs, the baby lacks sufficient digestive ability and will cause diarrhea.

Physiological diarrhea is very common among infants and young children. It is neither caused by gastrointestinal infection nor indigestion, so there is no need for medication.