Apart from being the messy and often unglamourous part of parenthood, baby poo can provide us with valuable information about how babies' little bodies are functioning and their overall wellbeing. Who would have thought poop could be so interesting?!
Take the guesswork out of change time with our NEW Huggies® Poop Scanner, which instantly provides you with real-time, valuable feedback regarding your bubs wellbeing - based on their poop colour. As well as additional helpful information surrounding their diet & developmental milestones.
Handy tips at your fingertips, you might say!
TRY IT HERE1. Got a messy Nappy? Don’t toss it just yet!
2. Take a quick snap & upload to the Huggies® Poop Scanner
3. We’ll scan it to assess bubs wellbeing
IMPORTANT: These tips are intended to provide general guidance only based on the colour of your baby’s stool and are not intended to be relied on as medical advice. If your baby is exhibiting any other symptoms or you’re unsure of anything, please speak to your healthcare professional as soon as possible.
The good, the bad & the common
There are many stages of baby poop. You’re in for a real treat!
Getting to know newborn poop
Your baby’s poop during the first few days is a sticky, greenish-black substance called meconium. It’s made
up of amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells and other things that your baby has ingested in the womb.
After the first few days, your baby’s poop will change into a watery, mustard yellow if you’re breastfeeding
or yellow, brown or green if you’re feeding your baby formula.
Breast milk digests fast, so don’t be surprised if your baby poops after every feed. All babies poop less
frequently as they grow but frequency is not as important as consistency. Frequent stools that are more
watery than usual and green could mean diarrhea, while firm, pebble-sized stools, especially if streaked
with red or black, could mean constipation.
The effect of solids on poop
As your baby starts eating cereals and pureed foods, you’ll start to see a more direct relation between what they eat and the colour of their poop. When they start on solids, breastfed babies will usually have a thicker stool but with formula-fed babies, the stool usually softens. Pooping also becomes less frequent. You might find partly digested bits in your baby’s diaper too but these will disappear as they become better chewers and their digestive systems adapt.
The many colours of poop
There are many colours on the poop chart, some common and some not so much.
So many colours, so many questions!
The appearance of green in your baby’s nappy can mean a variety of things. Maybe bub likes their green veggies? Often green poop may be a sign of milk making it’s way too quickly through the digestive tract, yet it can also be a sign your baby is unwell or overfed. If unsure, it’s always best to contact a healthcare professional.
Yellow is a pretty normal colour in the poop rainbow. Poo can vary slightly in colour from brown to orange to yellow based on diet. Anything within this range is very common.
Unsurprisingly, orange poop’s make a relatively frequent appearance in your baby’s nappy. Diet can have a big impact on the colour of their poo. Is bub loving their carrots or sweet potatoes?
Just like when you go to the toilet, this is a very common one. Nothing to see here!
If bub is just a few days old, their first poop’s will be black in appearance. This is called meconium and it’s totally normal! But if this persists for longer than 3-5 days or baby is older than this, it could indicate a serious medical condition & is best to contact a health care professional.
You may need to take a closer look with this one. An overall red hue may be due to certain foods (like beetroot), however red poop can also tell us about more pressing issues in bubs little body and deserves to be checked by your baby’s healthcare provider as soon as possible.
To learn more, and to get a real-time read on your baby’s poop check out the NEW Huggies® Poop Scanner.
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