Just realized that this might not be normal..is it?
My son poo's green, it varies in shades but is mostly pear green color.
He is 4 months old, drinks Prosobe and get rice cereal in his nighttime bottle.
Is the green stool normal?
Green poo means there's a lot of iron in it...typical of babies on formula, since it's filled with all the iron they need! No need to worry!
it may be the iron.
What is the cause of green poop?
(Question submitted by ap, CrAzYMiC98 and several others)
I have consulted
with a doctor, a physiologist and a microbiologist on this question, and
the following summarizes their answers:
Healthy people
can have green poop if they eat a diet rich in leafy green vegetables,
or if they consume large quantities of food coloring (in ice cream, cake
frosting etc.).
Green poop can
also be caused by excess iron in the diet, from dietary supplements, for
example. If the body does not absorb all the iron consumed, the iron may
stain the poop green, the color of iron (II) salts. Ordinarily, the green
color may be masked by the normal brown poop color, but if digestion is
thrown off by illness so that bilirubin is less concentrated in the intestine,
the green color may become apparent. This can happen when a person is afflicted
with diarrhea.
Green poop in
sick babies may come from iron in baby formula not being properly absorbed,
or by green pigments in bile salts (again, green from iron).
oh okay, thank you. I saw somewhere that it meant his digestive tract is not working right...so ..of course once again I started freaking out!
Quoting TheJerseyGirl:
Green poo means there's a lot of iron in it...typical of babies on formula, since it's filled with all the iron they need! No need to worry!
What about the sentence that says "green stool in sick babies"...my son is not sick. Do you still think its the iron he is getting? I mean he has never had a brown stool.
Quoting retsillacam:
it may be the iron.
What is the cause of green poop?
(Question submitted by ap, CrAzYMiC98 and several others)
I have consulted with a doctor, a physiologist and a microbiologist on this question, and the following summarizes their answers:
Healthy people can have green poop if they eat a diet rich in leafy green vegetables, or if they consume large quantities of food coloring (in ice cream, cake frosting etc.).
Green poop can also be caused by excess iron in the diet, from dietary supplements, for example. If the body does not absorb all the iron consumed, the iron may stain the poop green, the color of iron (II) salts. Ordinarily, the green color may be masked by the normal brown poop color, but if digestion is thrown off by illness so that bilirubin is less concentrated in the intestine, the green color may become apparent. This can happen when a person is afflicted with diarrhea.
Green poop in sick babies may come from iron in baby formula not being properly absorbed, or by green pigments in bile salts (again, green from iron).
I think that means that if their stools aren't normally green, but green when their sick it's because their not absorbing all the iron. My kids were FF and they had lots of green stools.
Quoting NANA21:
What about the sentence that says "green stool in sick babies"...my son is not sick. Do you still think its the iron he is getting? I mean he has never had a brown stool.
Quoting retsillacam:
it may be the iron.
What is the cause of green poop?
(Question submitted by ap, CrAzYMiC98 and several others)
I have consulted with a doctor, a physiologist and a microbiologist on this question, and the following summarizes their answers:
Healthy people can have green poop if they eat a diet rich in leafy green vegetables, or if they consume large quantities of food coloring (in ice cream, cake frosting etc.).
Green poop can also be caused by excess iron in the diet, from dietary supplements, for example. If the body does not absorb all the iron consumed, the iron may stain the poop green, the color of iron (II) salts. Ordinarily, the green color may be masked by the normal brown poop color, but if digestion is thrown off by illness so that bilirubin is less concentrated in the intestine, the green color may become apparent. This can happen when a person is afflicted with diarrhea.
Green poop in sick babies may come from iron in baby formula not being properly absorbed, or by green pigments in bile salts (again, green from iron).
Green is a perfectly normal color, especially for a formula fed baby. Unless its mucousy, its fine. The only colors to be concerned with are black (indicates blood in the stool) or white throughout, or dark stool that looks like jelly or coffee grounds.
Thank you ladies!!! Y'all are so very nice and helpful! HUGS
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- NANA21
on Nov. 27, 2009 at 8:48 AM