So you think if you’ve seen one dirty diaper, you’ve seen them all? Far from it. The color and texture of baby poop can change from day to day — and bowel movement to bowel movement — causing even experienced parents to worry about what’s in their baby’s diaper.
You can expect your newborn to poop about once or twice a day. That'll go up to anywhere from five to 10 times daily by the time he’s a week old. As your baby grows and eats more, he’ll begin to poop less, so that by 6 weeks old he may poop only once every several days.
The color and consistency of newborn poop also varies depending on whether you’re breastfeeding or formula-feeding. Breastfed baby poop tends to be mushy, seedy and sometimes even watery. Formula-fed newborn poop is thicker and more fully formed.
Read on to find out what's normal in terms of baby poop color and what might warrant a call to your pediatrician.
Black baby poop
Sticky, greenish-black baby poop
The first few times you change your baby’s diaper, you may notice newborn baby poop that’s greenish-black and sticky or tar-like. That’s meconium, a substance that gradually filled your baby’s intestines in utero. It will pass within the first day or two of life and is a completely normal sign that your baby’s bowels are functioning.
Thick, black baby poop
Thick, black stools when your baby is more than 3 days old may indicate bleeding in the digestive tract, which can be dangerous. (This is different from your baby’s first few meconium bowel movements.) Contact your pediatrician.
One thing to note: Iron supplements or iron-fortified formula can sometimes cause stool to turn dark brown or black, in which case there’s no need to be concerned. Check with your doctor to be sure.
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Green baby poop
Watery, green baby poop
Loose, watery stools that are greener than usual and make an appearance several times a day likely mean that your baby has diarrhea. This occurs most often when there’s a change in your baby’s diet (or your diet, if you’re breastfeeding); or when your little one has an allergy or food intolerance (to milk, for instance). Severe diarrhea can indicate more serious issue, like a viral or bacterial infection.
Besides being messy, frequent and watery baby poops can quickly make your little one dehydrated and cause discomfort and diaper rash. Make sure your baby is getting plenty of fluids — breastfeeding or taking a bottle at least as often as usual, if not more.
Also consider giving your baby a teaspoon of liquids with electrolytes (like Pedialyte) about every hour; call your doctor if you have questions about dosing.
If watery poop lasts longer than 24 hours, always check in with the pediatrician for an official diagnosis and get-well plan. Call right away if it’s accompanied by fever, vomiting or signs of dehydration.
Bright green baby poop
If you’re breastfeeding, newborn baby poop color that’s bright green and frothy may indicate your baby is switching breasts too often and getting less of the fatty hindmilk that comes at the end of a feed.
Your baby may also be super gassy and cry a lot. Try feeding more frequently and ensuring one breast is fully drained before offering the other.
Yellow baby poop
Seedy yellow baby poop
Sometime around the third or fourth day of your newborn’s life, after all the meconium passes, you’ll start to see what’s known as transitional stools. This is a sign that baby's starting to digest breast milk or formula and transitioning to normal baby poop. These stools are lighter in color — greenish-yellow or brown — and loose and grainy in texture.
In breastfed babies, poop will often look mustard-like. The color is usually yellow, green or light brown in color. The consistency will be loose, even watery, and sometimes seedy, mushy, curdy, creamy, pasty or lumpy. It smells sweet(ish!) — not your usual bowel-movement odor.
Thicker yellow baby poop
In babies who are formula-fed, the stool will appear pale yellow to tan-brown, sometimes with a greenish tinge. It's usually soft but better formed than a breastfed baby’s — like the consistency of peanut butter.
The odor often smells more like regular poop (but not quite as strong as when your baby starts eating solids).
Watery yellow baby poop
Many parents swear that normal-colored baby poop that looks a bit looser than usual is a sign of teething due to all that swallowed drool. Be sure to call your doctor if poop is watery and lasts more than a day, as it could be a sign of infection.
Brown baby poop
Thick brown baby poop
Once you introduce solid foods into a baby’s diet, their poop will change from soft, mushy and mild to thick, dark and smelly seemingly overnight. It’s not pretty, but it is normal.
Expect your baby’s stools to become increasingly adult-like as their diet does.
Dry, hard brown baby poop
If your baby’s bowel movements are dark in color and firmly formed, or come out in hard pellets, that's likely a sign of constipation.
Check with your pediatrician for confirmation and a treatment plan. Don’t use any at-home remedies without medical advice.
Red baby poop
Don’t be surprised if baby's bowel movements reflect the most recent meal in color or texture — say, bright red poop after eating beets. That happens because baby's immature digestive system sometimes doesn’t change food very much as it passes from one end to the other.
But pink or red streaks in your baby’s stool can mean blood. You don’t have to panic, but you should call the doctor.
Red baby poop could be a sign of:
- Blood that your baby swallowed during delivery, if it occurs in the first couple days of life
- Blood that baby swallowed if you’re breastfeeding and your nipples are cracked
- A milk or other food allergy
- A rectal fissure (a tear around the rectum, usually due to constipation)
- A bacterial infection
Orange baby poop
Similar to most red poop, orange baby poop is likely linked to something your baby has eaten: specifically, a fruit or vegetable with beta carotene. This plant pigment gives many fruits and veggies (such as sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and oranges) their orange hue — and if it ends up in your baby’s poop, it can turn it orange too.
Another potential cause for orange baby poop is medication. Some antibiotics and antacids contain the ingredient aluminum hydroxide, which can turn poop orange.
White and gray baby poop
Though rare, chalky, white baby poop can indicate an underlying congenital liver problem known as biliary atresia, which is when bile doesn’t exit the liver to the gallbladder. It can be life-threatening, but it’s treatable when caught early.
If you’re not sure, contact your pediatrician immediately: The sooner it’s addressed, the better.
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