6 months baby passing stool after every feed

Is it normal for my baby to poo after every feed?

by Sophie Bell | Medically reviewed by Gemma Caton, Specialist health visitor | June 2021 |

It can be. Some babies will poo after every feed and some will poo every three days. It’s all normal. How much your baby poos depends on their age and how you’re feeding them.

Is it normal for my baby to poo after every breastfeed?

Yes, it is normal if you’re breastfeeding. Breastfed babies are more likely to do a poo straight after each feed than formula-fed babies.

Is it normal for baby to poo after every formula feed?

If your baby is bottle-fed with formula, they are less likely to poo after every feed. This is because formula can be harder to digest, so it takes longer to pass through your baby's system. Even so, there's no need to worry if your formula-fed baby does poo after every feed, especially in the early weeks.

Are regular poos a good sign?

Frequent poos are often a good sign that your newborn is getting plenty of milk. As your baby’s stomach fills up, the milk stimulates their digestive tract, giving them the urge to do a poo.

Will my baby always poo as regularly as their early weeks?

During the first week, your newborn baby's poos will change. Their first poo will be a greenish black and sticky poo called meconium, which is made up of what they ingested in the womb. Your baby’s poos will change once they start to digest breast milk or formula milk, commonly to a green and then a yellow colour. You can expect to see at least two poos a day for the first few weeks.

After a few weeks, you may find that your baby does fewer poos as their stomach grows and their bowel movements settle into a routine. On the other hand, they may continue to poo after every feed. All babies are different.

If you're unsure about what's normal for your baby, talk to your health visitor.

How often should I change my baby's nappy to prevent nappy rash?

Health visitor Maggie Fisher explains how to care for your baby’s bottom. More baby videos

Could my baby have diarrhoea?

As long as your baby's poos are soft and easy to pass, there's no cause for concern. However, frequent pooing can sometimes be a sign of diarrhoea. Your baby may have diarrhoea if:

their poo is very runny or watery
they are suddenly pooing more often than usual, or passing larger amounts
the poo is explosive, foul-smelling and spurts out of their bottom, or runs down their leg

Diarrhoea should clear up without treatment within about a week. In the meantime, feed them as normal, and keep a close eye on them for any other signs of illness.

When should I get medical advice?

Call 111 if your baby:

stops taking their usual breast or bottle feeds
has signs of dehydration, such as fewer wet nappies
has blood in their diarrhoea
has diarrhoea for more than seven days

Learn more

Take a look at our poo photo gallery to find out what diarrhoea looks like, and learn the main causes of diarrhoea in babies.
Are you concerned that your baby could be constipated? Learn more about constipation in babies and how to spot the signs.
Can your baby's poos change after starting solid foods? Find out how weaning may affect them.

Sophie Bell

Sophie Bell is an editor at BabyCentre. She updates and creates health content and is responsible for email newsletters.

Diarrhea (0-12 Months)

Is this your child's symptom?

Sudden increase in the number and looseness of stools
Diarrhea means 3 or more watery or very loose stools. Reason: 1 or 2 loose stools can be normal with changes in diet.

Causes of Acute Diarrhea

Virus (such as Rotavirus). An infection of the intestines from a virus is the most common cause.
Bacteria (such as Salmonella). Less common cause. Diarrhea often contains streaks of blood.
Giardia (a parasite). More likely in child care center outbreaks.
Antibiotic Diarrhea. Many antibiotics cause mild diarrhea. This is not an allergic reaction. Keep giving the antibiotic. Call your doctor if any serious symptoms occur.
Serious Causes. Most bacterial diarrhea goes away on its own. A few can cause a severe large bowel infection (such as Shigella colitis). C. difficile is a serious cause that can occur after being on strong antibiotics.
Serious Complication: Dehydration. This is the health problem where the body has lost too much fluid. (See below for more on this).

Causes of Recurrent Diarrhea

Cow's Milk Allergy. Can cause loose, slimy stools in babies. Can be blood-streaked. Starts within the first 2 months of life. Need to avoid cow's milk formulas.
Lactose Intolerance. Lactose is the sugar in milk. Many people cannot absorb lactose. The gut bacteria convert the lactose to gas. The main symptoms are a lot of gas, loose stools and stomach bloating. Onset usually at age 4 or 5. This most often runs in the family (genetic).

Diarrhea Scale

Mild: 3-5 watery stools per day
Moderate: 6-9 watery stools per day
Severe: 10 or more watery stools per day
The main risk of diarrhea is dehydration.
Loose or runny stools do not cause dehydration.
Frequent, watery stools can cause dehydration.

Dehydration: How to Know

Dehydration means that the body has lost too much fluid. This can happen with vomiting and/or diarrhea. A weight loss of more than 3&percnt; is needed. Mild diarrhea or mild vomiting does not cause this. Neither does a small decrease in fluid intake.
Dehydration is the most important complication of diarrhea. Dehydration is a reason to see your doctor right away.
These are signs of dehydration:
Decreased urine (no urine in more than 8 hours) happens early in dehydration. So does a dark yellow color. If the urine is light straw colored, your child is not dehydrated.
Dry tongue and inside of the mouth. Dry lips are not helpful.
Dry eyes with decreased or absent tears
In babies, a depressed or sunken soft spot
Slow blood refill test: Longer than 2 seconds. First, press on the thumbnail and make it pale. Then let go. Count the seconds it takes for the nail to turn pink again. Ask your doctor to teach you how to do this test.
Fussy, tired out or acting ill. If your child is alert, happy and playful, he or she is not dehydrated.

Diarrhea in Breastfed Babies: How to Tell

Diarrhea in a breastfed baby is sometimes hard to tell.
Normal breastfed stools are loose (often runny and seedy). Stools are yellow, but sometimes can be green. The green color is from bile. Runny stools can even be bordered by a water ring. These are all normal stools.
Breastfed babies often pass more than 6 stools per day. Until 2 months of age, they may pass a stool after each feeding. But, if stools suddenly increase in number and looseness, suspect diarrhea. If it lasts for 3 or more stools, the baby has diarrhea.
If the stools contain mucus, blood or smell bad, this points to diarrhea.
Other clues to diarrhea are poor eating, acting sick, or a fever.

Diarrhea in Formula-Fed Infants: How to Tell

Formula-fed babies pass 1 to 8 stools per day during the first week. Then it starts to slow down to 1 to 4 per day. This lasts until 2 months of age.
The stools are yellow in color and thick like peanut butter.
Suspect diarrhea if the stools suddenly increase in number or looseness. If it lasts for 3 or more stools, the baby has diarrhea.
If the stools contain mucus, blood, or smells bad, this points to diarrhea.
Other clues to diarrhea are poor eating, acting sick or a fever.
After 2 months of age, most babies pass 1 or 2 stools per day. They can also pass 1 every other day. They no longer appear to have mild diarrhea.

When to Call for Diarrhea (0-12 Months)

Call 911 Now

Not moving
You think your child has a life-threatening emergency

Call Doctor or Seek Care Now

Dehydration suspected. No urine in over 8 hours, dark urine, very dry mouth and no tears.
Blood in the stool
Constant stomach pain lasts more than 2 hours
Vomits 3 or more times
Age less than 1 month with 3 or more diarrhea stools in past 24 hours
Severe diarrhea. 10 or more watery stools in the last 24 hours.
Fever over 104° F (40° C)
Fever in baby less than 12 weeks old. Caution: Do NOT give your baby any fever medicine before being seen.
Weak immune system. Examples are sickle cell disease, HIV, cancer, organ transplant, taking oral steroids.
Your child looks or acts very sick
You think your child needs to be seen, and the problem is urgent

Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours

Moderate diarrhea. 6 or more watery stools in the last 24 hours.
Stomach pains that do not go away after each diarrhea stool
Fever lasts more than 3 days
Close contact with person or animal who has bacterial diarrhea
Contact with reptile (snake, lizard, turtle) in past 14 days
Travel to country at risk for diarrhea within past month
You think your child needs to be seen, but the problem is not urgent

Contact Doctor During Office Hours

Diarrhea lasts more than 2 weeks
Loose stools are a frequent problem
You have other questions or concerns

Self Care at Home

Mild diarrhea (probably caused by a virus)

Seattle Children's Urgent Care Locations

If your child’s illness or injury is life-threatening, call 911.

Bellevue
Everett
Federal Way
Seattle
Virtual Urgent Care

Care Advice for Diarrhea

What You Should Know About Diarrhea:
- Most diarrhea is caused by a virus.
- Bacterial infections as a cause of diarrhea are not common.
- Diarrhea is the body's way of getting rid of the germs.
- The main risk of diarrhea is dehydration. Dehydration means the body has lost too much fluid.
- Most children with diarrhea don't need to see their doctor.
- Here are some tips on how to keep ahead of the fluid losses.
Mild Diarrhea:
- Most kids with diarrhea can eat a normal diet.
- Drink more fluids to prevent dehydration. Formula or breastmilk are good choices for diarrhea.
- Do not use fruit juices. Reason: They can make diarrhea worse.
- Solid foods: If on solid foods, eat more starchy foods (such as cereal, crackers, rice, pasta). Reason: They are easy to digest.
Formula-Fed Babies with Frequent, Watery Diarrhea:
- Keep giving formula but feed more often. Offer as much formula as your child will take.
- Mix formula the normal way. Reason: The formula contains plenty of water and doesn't need more.
- Solid foods: If on baby foods, continue them. Cereals are best.
Breastfed Babies with Frequent, Watery Diarrhea:
- Give your baby breastmilk more often.
- Also, give extra fluid if breast milk isn't keeping up with the fluid losses. You can use formula or ORS (Pedialyte).
- Solid foods: If on baby foods, continue them. Cereals are best.
Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS), such as Pedialyte:
- ORS is a special fluid that can help your child stay hydrated. You can use Pedialyte or the store brand. It can be bought in food stores or drug stores.
- When to use: Start ORS for frequent, watery diarrhea if you think your child is getting dehydrated. That means passing less urine than normal. Increase fluids using ORS. Continue giving breastmilk, formula or regular milk.
- Amount: For babies, give 2-4 ounces (60-120 mL) of ORS after every large watery stool.
- Caution: Do not give ORS as the only fluid for more than 6 hours. Reason: Your child will need calories and cry in hunger.
Fever Medicine:
- For fevers above 102° F (39° C), give an acetaminophen product (such as Tylenol).
- Another choice is an ibuprofen product (such as Advil). Caution: avoid ibuprofen until 6 months or older.
- Note: Fevers less than 102° F (39° C) are important for fighting infections.
- For all fevers: Keep your child well hydrated. Give lots of cold fluids.
Diaper Rash - Prevention:
- Wash buttocks after each stool to prevent a bad diaper rash.
- To protect the skin, use an ointment (such as Vaseline or Desitin). Put it on the skin around the anus.
Return to Child Care:
- Your child can go back to child care after stools are back to normal.
- The fever should also be gone.
What to Expect:
- Viral diarrhea lasts 5-14 days.
- Severe diarrhea only occurs on the first 1 or 2 days. But, loose stools can last for 1 to 2 weeks.
Call Your Doctor If:
- Blood in the diarrhea
- Dehydration suspected (no urine in over 8 hours, dark urine, very dry mouth, and no tears)
- Diarrhea lasts over 2 weeks
- You think your child needs to be seen
- Your child becomes worse

And remember, contact your doctor if your child develops any of the 'Call Your Doctor' symptoms.

Disclaimer: this health information is for educational purposes only. You, the reader, assume full responsibility for how you choose to use it.

Last Reviewed: 03/09/2023

Last Revised: 12/30/2022

What to do if the child poops after every meal?

A child's stool is one of the most important indicators of the functioning of his digestive system. It perfectly reflects what the baby ate, how much food he ate and how his body reacted to it. That is why young parents need to constantly check the contents of a newborn's diaper or the discharge of an older child.

However, with such control, many mothers ask - why does the child poop after almost every meal, and is this normal? It’s worth starting with the fact that each baby is individual. How many times he defecates can depend on many factors.

There is no strict standard for this indicator. Of course, constipation or diarrhea are manifestations of indigestion, but there is no need to immediately panic. It is worth understanding the reasons for this phenomenon and consulting with a specialist.

Contents

How many times should a baby poop?
Age norms for defecation of children
Additional criteria for normal stool

How many times should a baby poop?

The first thing young parents should remember is that their child owes nothing to anyone.

The number of visits to the child's toilet depends on many factors

Moments that directly affect the number of bowel movements in a child are:

Age. The older the child, the less often it defecates;
The degree of development of the digestive system. This is especially noticeable in newborn boys and girls;
Power type. Formula-fed babies poop a little less than breast-fed babies;
Presence of concomitant pathology. A variety of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract can bring an imbalance in the normal mode of defecation from an early age of the baby.

In connection with these nuances, it is necessary to understand that if a child poops after each meal or 1 time in 2 days, then this may be normal in both cases.

The main criteria by which it is worth evaluating the physiology and "normality" of this process are:

General well-being of the baby. It is necessary to pay attention to the facial expression of the crumbs at the time of defecation, to the sounds that she makes. When instead of the usual groaning there is a loud cry, then something definitely disturbs her;
Regularity. 8-10 times after each feeding indicates good intestinal motility. However, 1 bowel movement, but every 2 days, is also an indicator of the stability of the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. The main thing is the well-being of the child;
Presence of pathological impurities. The usual feces are mushy, yellowish in color. If particles of pus, mucus, blood or undigested fragments are found in it, look for it, then you should consult a pediatrician.

Age norms for defecation of children

The older the child, the fewer trips to the toilet should be.

It must be understood that over time, the digestive tract matures more and more and begins to function like in adults. This is manifested by a decrease in the frequency of bowel movements.

To avoid confusion about how many times a baby should poop, there are conditional normative indicators of this process, depending on age.

They look like this:

1-3 months - 10-12 times a day. The child can defecate after each meal;
3-6 months - 4-7 times a day;
6-12 months - 2-3 times;
In children after 12 months, defecation occurs on average 1-2 times a day. If a child poops after every meal for a year, then you should carefully monitor his diet. Such an increase in the number of bowel movements may indicate the presence of a disease, so it is better to consult a doctor.

Additional criteria for normal stools

In addition to the number of trips to the toilet, parents need to monitor the nature of the feces. This is especially important during the neonatal period. In the first 3 days, when the baby is still in the hospital, doctors constantly ask mothers if he pooped, and how.

stools in children can be both frequent and not very

Important criteria to pay attention to are:

Number of stools. The first days one bowel movement is approximately 5 g. At 6 months 40-50 g, and closer to a year - 100-150 g;
Colour. The original feces (meconium) are green in color. During breastfeeding, yellow remains the most characteristic color. There may be different variations of it, which is due to the individual characteristics of the organism. After the introduction of complementary foods, it begins to darken and closer to the year it can become completely brown;
Smell. In infants who are breastfed, the stool has a slightly acidic odor. Then, as with artificial nutrition, it is more rotten;
Additional components in the stool. If the mother saw undigested food particles (vegetables, fruits: bananas, apples), white lumps (clots of fat), green streaks of mucus in the feces of a newborn, then you should not immediately panic. In most cases, this is due to the continuing adaptation of the infant's body to the environment. However, impurities such as pus or blood should alert parents. In any case, it is better to contact the local pediatrician for advice.

Watching your baby's bowel movements is a very serious responsibility in the early stages of his life. Therefore, it is very important to understand what is worth paying attention to. If the child poops after every meal, he may be ill and needs the help of a doctor. The health of children is the most precious thing for their parents.

How many times should a newborn poop

Tiunova Elena

Published: 01/15/2023

Reading time: 6 minutes

5219

Even the most squeamish girls with the birth of a baby become tireless researchers of the contents of a dirty diaper.

- Isn't it a lot? But not a little? Isn't it rare? But not often? Is the color normal? Is the consistency good? Is it supposed to smell like this? - young mothers are ready to discuss these subtleties at any time, regardless of the enthusiasm of the interlocutor. They can be understood.

On the one hand, a newborn does not know how to do much - eat, sleep and, in fact, dirty a diaper. Therefore, there are few topics for discussion at first, but I want to talk. On the other hand, it is indeed possible to draw conclusions about the state of health of the infant from the answers to these specific questions.

Frequency and nature of stool in a breastfed child.

In the first two or three days after birth, the baby passes the original stool - meconium. If a young mother does not know about this, she may be frightened by a sticky dark mass that is difficult to wash off. When a woman has milk, the baby's feces brighten, acquire a mushy texture and a milky, slightly sour smell.

In the first month and a half, the baby may poop after each feed.
If before 4-6 weeks of life he poops less than once every 24-36 hours, this may mean a lack of nutrition. Weight gain must be controlled. On average, for the first weeks of life, it should be 125-150 g.
As for consistency and color, the stool should be mushy, from bright yellow to greenish in color.

This is important!

If the baby eats with appetite, gains well, behaves actively, then the shade of the contents of the diaper is not so important. Anxiety should be caused by an admixture of blood in the stool, streaks of mucus, blisters and a sharp putrid smell. This should be reported to the pediatrician immediately.

After one and a half months, the baby may start to poop less often. For many mothers, this is a source of serious concern. If the baby does not poop for a day, two, three, anxiety covers. But this condition for a breastfed baby is most often the norm. If the child behaves as usual, and the stool after the delay is soft and moves away effortlessly, then everything is in order.

Should alert hard shaped stools, crying and strong straining during bowel movements - these are signs of constipation.

Recent studies from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest that, with normal health and behavior, a baby aged 4-6 weeks and before the introduction of complementary foods may pass stools even once a week or less. But be attentive to the condition of the baby and still consult a doctor before ignoring a ten-day stool retention in crumbs.

With the introduction of complementary foods, the baby's stool will become more formed, but should still retain a soft consistency.

This is important!

When the baby begins to receive complementary foods, he should defecate at least once a day. If the baby has signs of constipation - rare or formed hard ("sheep") stools, difficult bowel movements - you need to consult a doctor to find and eliminate its cause.

Frequency and nature of stool in a formula-fed child.

A bottle-fed newborn may poop once a day even in the first weeks.

After one and a half months, bottle-fed babies should have a bowel movement daily.

Formula-fed babies will have a firmer stool consistency than breastfed babies, but should still be soft. Hard, shaped stools in infants, regardless of the method of feeding, are a sign of constipation.

Color may vary depending on mixture. It is usually yellow or dark yellow. Too bright or very dark shades, a pronounced green color is a deviation from the norm, you need to consult a doctor.

What can affect stool frequency and consistency?

Nutrition. The frequency and nature of the baby's stool is primarily influenced by the type and quality of the food he receives. For babies, it is important that the mother's diet is balanced and varied, so that she does not smoke or drink alcohol. If the child is allergic - so that the mother does not eat foods that cause an allergic reaction. Properly selected milk formula is important for babies on artificial feeding. If these conditions are not met, it will immediately be noticeable in the stool of a newborn.

Functional disorders. In newborns, malfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract may occur not because of the disease, but because of the immaturity of the body - both the gastrointestinal tract itself and the nervous system. That is, a healthy baby without errors in nutrition can still experience constipation or diarrhea.

Infectious diseases. Often, it is by the nature of the stool of a newborn that one can notice that an infection has entered the body. Rapid loose stools, foam, an unpleasant odor will immediately indicate the onset of the disease.

Taking medications. Iron preparations have the most pronounced effect on the color of the stool: it becomes gray-black. If the child does not take iron-containing medicines, then this color of the stool is an alarm. It may indicate intestinal bleeding.

If the child is on IV, Nutrilak Premium COMFORT can help to normalize the stool. The mixture is specially designed for sensitive tummies.

So, a dirty diaper is not "fuuu", but a source of valuable information about the well-being of the baby. If you have doubts about what you saw, do not hesitate to consult your doctor.