Transcript: The Truth About Baby Poop

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Newbies
The Truth About Baby Poop

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription as performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

JAMES MURPHY: When the time your baby has his first bowel movement and throughout the first year of life, your baby’s poop stories will become a regular topic at the family dinner table. But what is your baby’s poop really telling you about his body? I’m Dr. James Murphy, pediatrician and an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant and you’re listening to Newbies.

[Intro/Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome to Newbies, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Newbies is your online, on the go support group guiding new mothers through their baby’s first year. I'm your host, Kristen Stratton. I’m also a certified Birth Doula, Postpartum Doula and owner of In Due Season Doula Services.

If you haven’t already, be sure to visit our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also subscribe to our show through iTunes so you’ll automatically get new episodes when they’re released. Sunny is here to tell us about other ways you can participate in the new show.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay. Hi everybody and thanks for listening into Newbies. So here on Newbies, we like to get the audience – you guys our listeners involved in the conversation. There are several ways you can do that. First of all, we have a Facebook Page and a Twitter page. We would love for you guys to follow us, we’ll be posting some questions there to ignite different types of conversation, similar conversations that we have here on the show. So please check that out.

Also, if you want to be a part of the actual show, if you want to have your voice on Newbies or your story on Newbies, there are a couple of different segments we’re working on. One is called: “Ask the Experts.” We have a team of experts that are waiting to answer pretty much any question you have when it comes to being a new mom and having a new baby. If you go to our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com, there’s a whole list of experts there and you can submit your question that way we’ll read it on the show and that way you’ll get your questions answered.

The other one is: “We love talking about different apps.” Newbies has an app; all of our Mommy Media Shows have apps and we want to know what apps you like that you’ve been using early on in motherhood and we’ll talk about those on the show too. We’re actually going to review an app in just a little bit. So those are couple of ways that you can get involved and I’m sure there’s going to be many more in the future.

KRISTEN STRATTON: All right, let’s go ahead and meet our panelists.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My name is Turiana Hamel-Smith. I’m 27. I’m a stay at home mom of two. My son is four months old and my daughter is three and a half.

SERENA SALINAS: Hi my name is Serena Salinas, I’m 33. I am a lawyer as well as a yoga instructor and I do mommy and me classes. I have one daughter, she is eight months old.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Wonderful. Thanks for joining us.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay, so before we kick off our conversation today where we’re going to be talking about: “Baby Poop.” I thought it was appropriate. We found an app that is all about baby poop. It’s called: “Poop MD.” It is a free app. It’s available on the iPhone and iPad. It was created by an assistant professor, John Hopkins University of Medicine and the whole goal is: “To learn about your infant’s poop colors and what they mean.”

It uses the camera option on your phone so you can actually take pictures of your baby’s poop. Assuming the lighting is correct – believe it or not, they’ve got lighting tips and everything to kind of guide you through the whole process. But it will analyze the color and tell you if it’s something you immediately need to talk about with your pediatrician. You can also store the results for future reference and you can e-mail your pediatrician a copy of the photos and the results.

The interface is pretty easy to use. It really is all about: “Taking pictures, saving them and analyzing them.” That’s pretty much the only real function of this app.” Everyone had the chance to look at it a little bit. What do you guys think? Kristen?

KRISTEN STRATTON: I really am fascinated by this. I don’t know what I do without this. When I was taking care of my newborns but certainly think that this would be a good way if you didn’t have access to maybe getting hold of your pediatrician if you have some concerns. This could maybe alleviate some of your worry if things were normal or maybe help you make the decision to seek care right away. But it’s definitely interesting that you would be photographing your baby’s poop.

There’s a baby poop color chart which is pretty helpful. It’s not breastfed exclusive either. There is some information about normal poop for a formula-fed too. So that’s very helpful.

SUNNY GAULT: All right ladies, what do you think?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I could see myself using this a lot; especially now I have a four month old and just recently his poops started changing colors. Before, up until three months, it was green and then I think that was just his stomach getting used to being outside of the womb. Now it’s more of that standard mustardy color that it should be. But every once in a while, it still fluctuates and I think that’s – Tim. He uses the copy usually anyways. He doesn’t have any issues, no diaper rash – nothing like that. I think it’s just the way that he poops individually.

But there was definitely moments where I thinking: “This is an interesting color.” I wonder what this means. This looks weird. It’s not necessarily doctor worthy yet but I would still like some peace of mind.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, of course.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So I could see myself using it.

SERENA SALINAS: For me as a first time parent and I have a younger sister who has three kids but she’s far away. So I don’t have the benefit of having family members that I can be sending my poop pictures to. Let’s be real, I’m taking pictures of my daughter’s poop. So this is already using something, it’s already tapping into something that I’m already engaging in. I have a friend who gave birth to her daughter a few months before me. So we were exchanging pictures of poop with one another.

But it would have been nice to include an MD in that conversation. So I wish I would have known about this eight months ago because it would have been tapped in to something I was already doing which was freaking out about poop. It would have alleviated in my concerns which was mentioned earlier.

Again, it would have just been nice to have something to engage in because if I don’t have something to engage in, I’m just engaging in my thoughts which were just going to get more-ridiculous-and-more-ridiculous. It would have save me a lot of calls to the pediatrician.

SUNNY GAULT: Speaking of pediatrician, okay Dr. Murphy; I’m really curious to hear what you have to say. Are you okay with moms out there analyzing their baby’s poop with an app?

JAMES MURPHY: They are always analyzing their baby’s poop, calling and talking to that. Yes, I’m trying to figure out what they’re seeing over the phone is very hard.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

JAMES MURPHY: Even now, when I release on their lip ties, mothers take pictures of that in between visits and said that to me and say: “Am I doing it okay?” So it really helps the in-between actual visits to be able to analyze what’s going on. But yes, in the first week of life; the photos tell us I think more than later on, unless there’s a real medical problem going on.

So I’m just wondering if the people who put out this app, how many people are they devoting to receiving the photos and commenting and returning it?

SUNNY GAULT: I don’t think that they are actually receiving the photos. I think it’s the app itself based on the color is giving you a breakdown.

JAMES MURPHY: It’s going to be a mechanical then.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s a mechanical thing and it’s not to replace pediatricians. Again it’s that 3:00 in the morning whatever and my gosh. This is a totally different color, what would I do? I think it’s like an in-term thing like you were talking about between visits or just to ease their mind at strange times. Right?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, it will be one of those. Ease their minds or make them more angry?

SUNNY GAULT: That’s true.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Right.

JAMES MURPHY: Show up sooner.

SUNNY GAULT: That’s true. Okay, so we’re going to put a link on our website for this. You guys can download and check it out if you want. It is free, so we love free stuff.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Today on Newbies, we’re discussing: “What you need to know about all things baby poop.”

Our expert, Dr. James Murphy is:

• A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics
• A fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
• President of the San Diego Counting Breastfeeding Coalition
• Served one year on the governing counsel of the International Affiliation of Tongue Tie Professionals
• A member of the International Lactation Consultants Association
• An Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

Thank you so much for joining us Dr. Murphy and welcome to the show.

JAMES MURPHY: I’m glad to be here.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Dr. Murphy, can you tell us about that first bowel movement that we all know; so where that thick, black poop?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, that’s called Meconium and it’s the residual of what’s in the bowel as it’s forming. As the baby is swallowing the amniotic fluid, it’s all the leftovers as it usually is. So this is very thick, darkly colored and it looks black when it comes out. But if you take it and you smear it on a white sheet of paper, you’ll see it’s just green.

But because it’s so dark green, it really looks black and it’s a little sticky. But it’s not anything like the black that happens when you have blood in your poop. So this black poop is just thick, sticky stuff that has to be cleared before the regular poop starts coming.

KRISTEN STRATTON: What should new parents expect to happen with their baby’s bowel movements as the first few days of life?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, as I was learning to be a lactation consultant, one of our courses told us that: “On the first day, your baby’s poop is black. On the second, it’s dark green. On the third, it’s light green. On day four, it should be [inaudible]. On day five, it should be French as mustard.” Now if your milk came in on time and you have sufficient quantity and the baby is transferring a sufficient quantity of milk to grow normally, your poop tends to follow that [inaudible] pattern.

However, so many mommies do have problems with getting their milk coming in because the baby has trouble extracting the milk and we have other issues that delay the normal progress to this. We can have babies that have dark, dark poop much later in the first week and that’s a big red flag then we have a problem and baby’s not getting proper nutrition. So that needs to be addressed right away.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, that’s a really important topic. How often should a parent expect an exclusively breastfed baby to poop those first few weeks?

JAMES MURPHY: So once we’ve get going, we’d like to see two good poops a day. But babies don’t always give us what we want. So sometimes we see no poops and sometimes we see them pooping all day long. After we get going for a few weeks, babies can start to have pauses between stools. So, they’re not stooling everyday.

Doctors actually have stories about how long they’ve had patients go between poops and it still comes out nice and soft – then they’ll just go through a whole box of diapers at one day and then they’ll do it all over again. So there’s a wide range of normal but if a baby is stooling everyday, we’re very comfortable that everything is functioning well.

Moms get concerned when the baby’s aren’t pooing everyday. We tell them: “As long as the baby is comfortable, eating and looks happy, you should be happy too.” When the baby starts to get grumpy, that’s usually around day five or six then maybe it’s time to do something. There are a lot of easy things to do. You can just stimulate the baby’s rear end with a thermometer or the probe from a thermometer.

You can give a glycerin suppository which isn’t active. It just simply melts and greases the shoot. It tells the rectum that there is something in here that shouldn’t be in here. Baby poop is just not irritating to the bowel. It’s just sits there and is fine. But the glycerin suppository will irritate and cause the baby to relax the anus and let the poop come out and make everybody happy.

When the baby gets grumpy, it’s time to do something that the baby’s happy just sit back and relax.

KRISTEN STRATTON: All right, I’m sure that our panelists have some really great stories about their poop with their newborn those first few weeks.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So much poop.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So maybe you can share some of those good stories.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Both of my children for the first week, it was my husband who is on diaper duty. I had a caesarian so I didn’t do a lot of that. Thankfully, I never have to experience the dark sticky black poop when I’m pretty happy about that. But I remember distinctly with my daughter, there was one time she was sitting in her swing and I heard the fart come out and it was a big wet one.

I’m thinking: “Okay, now it’s time to change your diaper.” I’ll just take her upstairs and I picked her up and she’s dripping in poop. There was poop soup in her swing and I have a dog who’s into everything. So I was holding this infant, poop dripping from her and in the swing. I’m trying to get her upstairs and my dog’s following, licking it up. This is what’s happening.

Thankfully, my son has not had such I guess excitement with his poop. He did poop on my lap once which was horrifying because it gotten places that I don’t want to mention. That was unpleasant as well.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You survived.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes. I’m like: “Well, now a second-time mom – yes its poop whatever.”

SERENA SALINAS: Well as a first time mom, I naturally was concerned about everything. My boyfriend and I, we shifted diaper duty. I’m really happy about that but we used clothed diapers initially. I feel like my relationship with poop was very intimate because of the cloth diaper relationships. Yes, specifically washing them and just the recycle. But I don’t have any particularly positive, memorable poop soup stories.

But I do remember my boyfriend and I using as a barometer of whether everything is okay. If her poop smelled like freshly baked bread and I know it’s not. It feels kind of yucky to make that connection between delicious fresh baked bread and fresh baked poop. But that was our barometer at that point in time.

As first time parents, we were a little call it like: “That smells like fresh baked bread. I’m not cooking that.” Men, it’s like baby girl’s cooking something. So that was the interesting aspect of our first relationship with poop was the bread barometer if you will.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, I remember my kids poop smelling kind of sweet.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeasty, it’s gross.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes, Elliot sometimes smells like sweet and then cheesy or like sweet. I’m like: “I don’t want to eat lunch after this.”

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, you know we just get to know our babies so well really.

SERENA SALINAS: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, Dr. Murphy for our parents who choose to or who need to use formula, what should they look for in their newborn’s bowel movements?

JAMES MURPHY: Some babies can deal with the formula just fine. But because breast milk is 90% liquid protein, the whey and 10%, the hard protein – the casein; baby poop lets in an exclusive breastfed baby should always be soft. Constipation is just not possible unless you have a neurologic disorder called: “Hirschsprung’s Disease and then it can’t come out and then it can get hard.”

But with formula, that’s more than 50% casein. So it makes much firmer stools and the babies can have anywhere from a nice soft poop like the breastfed baby all the way down to having teeny tiny little rabbit pellets or the things that looked like little pencils coming out. Then when it gets hard like that then we need to modify the baby’s diet; or at least add something to the diet that puts the liquid fiber back into the poop and makes it soft again so the baby doesn’t have to strain so hard to pass the poop.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Let’s talk about constipation, can you explain a little bit more about breastfed babies and formula babies when constipation would be concerned?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, constipation by itself is a definition of a problem because when you’re constipated, you have hard poop and that’s difficult to pass. So it’s uncomfortable and it can set the bowel up for a lifetime problems. We think that when we had our poop regularly and everybody had to push out real hard that the bowel develops little out pouching called: “Diverticula.” Then when you get to be middle-aged or so, you can have Diverticulitis which is every bit is dangerous as appendicitis.

So we try to keep the poop soft so that you have to lose unusual pressure to have the bowel movement. So constipation is annoying at the very least and can cause anatomic changes on the bowel that’s significant. So keeping the poop soft so that it passes easily without effort is what we should always be striving for.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Panelists, do you ever experience any issues with constipation with your babies?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: The only time I’ve experienced it is: “When my daughter was six months old and we decided we were going to start and trying solids.” We started with – I think it was oatmeal cereal with iron fortified which for some mom didn’t know that iron can be constipating. So I gave it to her and she didn’t poop. She was struggling and crying. I had to actually lay her on the bathroom floor and then put her legs up in half and like physically help her dig it out.

I remember it being scarring for her – not physically scaring but just you know emotionally scarring for myself having to dig poop out of my child’s bottom and for her probably because that’s not fun. So we just put away with that cereal, we just went and said: “Forget that.” We haven’t had any issues yet with my son but that is definitely fore front in my mind when we do eventually start solids to just stay away from that for a little while.

SERENA SALINAS: Yes, I had a similar experience which started what my boyfriend calls: “My poop anxiety.” He is out of the belief that – I have this irrational anxiety about constipation. Well, after I gave birth to my daughter, I was constipated. So I remember how uncomfortable it was and it just not feel good. I don’t want my baby girl having to deal with anything remotely close to what I experienced.

So I had a similar experience with perpetuated or facilitated my poop anxiety which was: “We started formula. We started supplementing with formula.” We had a similar instance where she was just super uncomfortable, pushing, grunting. So not being scared of poop, I went in and dove her it on in. I had a similar experience where I needed to assist her. Unfortunately, it did not resolve. I wasn’t able to pull anything out.

So it was just really hard to have to see her go through something that I went through. So I know personally. But since then, we’ve been able to resolve this issue of: “Making sure that whatever she is fed, it doesn’t facilitate the constipation but it’s still something that is always at the forefront of my mind.” If she’s unhappy or grunting, my first reaction is: “Constipation.” But as time has gone on, I’ve gotten a little better with my poop anxiety. It’s still at the forefront of my mind.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, understandably so. Well, when we come back, we’ll continue our discussion about baby poop.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome back to the show. We’re talking with Dr. James Murphy about baby poop and what every new parent should know. Dr. Murphy, let’s talk about what you would recommend for a new parent whose child is very gassy and having discomfort in both a breastfed baby and a formula-fed baby.

JAMES MURPHY: Well, one of the things you think of as we talk about foremilk and hindmilk which has been found to be due to the fat globules adhering to the ductules. So the protein and the carbohydrate composition of the milk flows more freely; hence, what you’re doing is feeding a little bit from each breast and giving mostly what we do refer to as: “Foremilk” then we’re not getting the fat content that satisfies the baby and makes the baby less gassy.

So you end up with green frothy explosive poops. Okay? One person found out – I believe that was in Western Australia that: “You don’t have to deal with foremilk or hindmilk because a simple massage of the breast before you feed and you’ll have a milk shake.” There is no format. There is no hind milk.

SUNNY GAULT: I love that.

JAMES MURPHY: So that’s one way tool. If you think its Foremilk Syndrome, all you have to do is: “Massage it and create the milk shake and feed the baby.” One I think that is consistent though is: “Whatever seems to make the mother gassy will make the baby gassy.” So if mothers eating the same thing kind of food and is passing onto the baby, she wants to stop having the problem with the baby; she needs to change the diet. So we have to think about that.

Formulas if you have milk intolerance then you’re going to have to use a formula that doesn’t use cow milk as the basis for that. We have a variety of different formulas that are nutritionally complete. Nowhere near all the benefits of the breast milk but nutritionally are complete and have the ability to resolve the individual sensitivities that each baby has. So you have to consult your pediatrician usually about that.

Pediatricians are very well versed mid-formula manipulation because we get so much information about that. I just wish that they were as well-versed in how to support the breastfeeding diet.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, in a perfect world.

JAMES MURPHY: Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You touched on it before but what’s the longest normal interval between bowel movements and then exclusively breastfed baby?

JAMES MURPHY: We’d like to see the baby having poop every day. So when we have two poops a day early on, we know the baby is getting a sufficient volume of milk in order to gain weight. When they’re not pooing regularly then we have to file the weights to see what’s happening. The interval between poops is very variable. The baby is also variable from day-to-day [inaudible] babies.

So when the baby stats to become upset from not pooing; even though the breast milk is totally normal, that’s not causing any problems in the bowel, something is happening. The accumulation in the recto sigmoid area has becoming uncomfortable for the baby – that’s the time to do something. So normal is what the baby has that is comfortable for mom and comfortable for baby. That tends to be not more than five days between poops but most babies satisfy us and can go long before five days.

But again, if they get out the five days and they start to get grumpy, the longer they go after that, the more grumpy they get. So it’s time to either use the lubricated rectal for mom or the glycerin suppository. Then babies who do are on formula and do have chronic constipation need to have something that they put in the diet regularly in order to keep the poops soft.

Today that’s pretty much Miralax because it’s done such a wonderful job of softening poop from the other end. We used to have [inaudible 00:24:26] to get the constipation out. Now just by giving repeated those as of the Neurolax, it makes the poop soft as it goes down and can expel that without all that trouble of having a very uncomfortable [inaudible 00:24:38-39] to disimpact the baby.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Does explosive poops that we’ve mentioned before, would those be an indication of an issue or are those normal at all?

JAMES MURPHY: Those are normal unfortunately. Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Man.

JAMES MURPHY: We would like to have them a couple of poops every day. They should stay on the diaper and not smell too badly. The babies, they may save it up and then all of a sudden have the mega poop that it goes up the back and down the legs and everywhere else.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Which is why you should always keep extra clothes no matter where you go in your purse

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes and for mom too.

JAMES MURPHY: And lots of wipes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Lots of wipes, yes. Panelists, do you have new tricks or tips that you’ve learned to help you with this explosive moments and what do you wish you had known about your baby’s poop that first year?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: No tricks to make them not happen because they happen all the time. But I did learn with my first child that – well usually when she had an explosive diaper was because the diaper got too small and so she needed a size larger. It took me quite a few messes to figure that out. I guess that’s a tip. So now with my son, the minute it starts leaking out the tub, size up. It’s time to go. Let’s do this now so we can avoid that mass mess later.

SERENA SALINAS: No tips other than the tip that you had mentioned earlier about the diaper being too small. I think we’ve mentioned it a little earlier in the conversation is: “Just make sure you have an extra pair of change of clothes for you and baby as well as some wipes and maybe a little bit of water because sometimes the wipes just won’t pick it up.”

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: In the bag, you need a trash bag or a grocery bag; just store that stuff in as you’re on the move because that gets everywhere.

SUNNY GAULT: Do you guys wash them like the poop explosions have go all over the onesies and stuff, do you guys have any tips for what you use to wash it with because I know that stuff can stain really fast.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s so fast.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s not going to dry.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I’ve used Oxi Clean actually. Sometimes – sunlight. If I don’t need it right away, I’ll just leave it out on the sun. But if I need it like my son’s swaddle his Woombie that sometimes gets poop on it, I need that night. So I need that right away. So I’ll wash it, spray it, use a little toothbrush to scrub in getting all the grooves and wash it and it comes right out and it’s amazing.

SERENA SALINAS: What do we use? I forget what it’s called but if we have like a stain stick that we use that is: “It doesn’t have a bunch of chemicals on it.” I also put some Thieves Oil inside my wash [inaudible] and that seems to do a good job of pulling out the brown color that pops up.

KRISTEN STRATTON: It might be yellow like highlighter.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes, it’s the mustard color that I found to be really hard to get off anything.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: When I was putting out my daughter’s clothes for my son, I realized: “Look there’s the stain.”

KRISTEN STRATTON: The line, the tell-tale line.

SUNNY GAULT: Let’s put this back in the wash.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: That was last Thursday.

JAMES MURPHY: So we need to have the manufacture’s design the diaper that expands to accommodate to any size people.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Right or onesies that repel poop stains.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Would they have the slit in the shoulders so that you can pull the onesie down rather than up and over the head. I do not learn that until after my three children.

SUNNY GAULT: No.

SERENA SALINAS: No.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes. So a lot of my kids got poop on their face. Sorry kids. Sorry, mommy loves you. All right, well thank you so much Dr. Murphy and our lovely panelists for chatting with us today about baby poop.

For our Newbies Club members, our conversation will continue after the end of the show. Dr. Murphy will share about: “When to begin solids and how to interpret your baby’s poop.” For more information about the Newbies Club, please visit our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: We have a question from one of our listeners and this comes from Haddie of New Mexico and Haddie writes:
“Hi. I’m a first time mom with a one week old newborn. Is it possible for an infant this young to develop diaper rash? Even when I use ointment with every change to prevent it, what should I do if this problem keeps occurring?”

- Haddie
TARA ZANDVLIET: Hello Haddie. This is Dr. Tara Zandvliet. Yes it is definitely possible for your newborn to have a diaper rash in the first week. It’s often the time to get the most diaper rashes. Their newborn skin is super sensitive and everything from the diaper, the clean, the wipes and even their own urine can irritate the skin to the point of seeming like a burn. As they get older, their skin becomes much less sensitive and diaper rash happens less often.

So keep the skin clean and dry. Change the diaper often and don’t rub a lot with those wipes. It’s hard with the thick black meconium at the beginning but now, it should be easy to gently wipe off the stool. Consider using just a soft cloth with water instead of a wipe or use hypo allergenic wipes with aloe. You can use aloe creams, zinc creams like Desitin or vitamin creams like A and D – they all help as a barrier between the wetness and the skin.

If you use a zinc cream, use the original ones and not the creamies. One favorite where I trained was called: “Happy Heinie” which was a mixture of a zinc cream, an anti-fungal woman’s vaginal cream like Monostat and Cortaid anti itch cream which was hydrocortisone 1%; it was the ointment and not the cream. We mix that up in equal parts and put it on at each diaper change. That works like a charm.

If you continue having problems then consider changing the diaper brand even if they’re cloths. I hope that helps.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Newbies.
Don’t forget to check out our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed
• Twin Talks for parents of multiples.

Thanks for listening to Newbies: “Your go-to source for new moms and new babies.”

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Well such information and materials are believe to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical or advise or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

[00:31:43]

[End of Audio]

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Episode Transcript

Newbies
The Truth About Baby Poop

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription as performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

JAMES MURPHY: When the time your baby has his first bowel movement and throughout the first year of life, your baby’s poop stories will become a regular topic at the family dinner table. But what is your baby’s poop really telling you about his body? I’m Dr. James Murphy, pediatrician and an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant and you’re listening to Newbies.

[Intro/Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome to Newbies, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Newbies is your online, on the go support group guiding new mothers through their baby’s first year. I'm your host, Kristen Stratton. I’m also a certified Birth Doula, Postpartum Doula and owner of In Due Season Doula Services.

If you haven’t already, be sure to visit our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also subscribe to our show through iTunes so you’ll automatically get new episodes when they’re released. Sunny is here to tell us about other ways you can participate in the new show.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay. Hi everybody and thanks for listening into Newbies. So here on Newbies, we like to get the audience – you guys our listeners involved in the conversation. There are several ways you can do that. First of all, we have a Facebook Page and a Twitter page. We would love for you guys to follow us, we’ll be posting some questions there to ignite different types of conversation, similar conversations that we have here on the show. So please check that out.

Also, if you want to be a part of the actual show, if you want to have your voice on Newbies or your story on Newbies, there are a couple of different segments we’re working on. One is called: “Ask the Experts.” We have a team of experts that are waiting to answer pretty much any question you have when it comes to being a new mom and having a new baby. If you go to our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com, there’s a whole list of experts there and you can submit your question that way we’ll read it on the show and that way you’ll get your questions answered.

The other one is: “We love talking about different apps.” Newbies has an app; all of our Mommy Media Shows have apps and we want to know what apps you like that you’ve been using early on in motherhood and we’ll talk about those on the show too. We’re actually going to review an app in just a little bit. So those are couple of ways that you can get involved and I’m sure there’s going to be many more in the future.

KRISTEN STRATTON: All right, let’s go ahead and meet our panelists.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My name is Turiana Hamel-Smith. I’m 27. I’m a stay at home mom of two. My son is four months old and my daughter is three and a half.

SERENA SALINAS: Hi my name is Serena Salinas, I’m 33. I am a lawyer as well as a yoga instructor and I do mommy and me classes. I have one daughter, she is eight months old.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Wonderful. Thanks for joining us.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay, so before we kick off our conversation today where we’re going to be talking about: “Baby Poop.” I thought it was appropriate. We found an app that is all about baby poop. It’s called: “Poop MD.” It is a free app. It’s available on the iPhone and iPad. It was created by an assistant professor, John Hopkins University of Medicine and the whole goal is: “To learn about your infant’s poop colors and what they mean.”

It uses the camera option on your phone so you can actually take pictures of your baby’s poop. Assuming the lighting is correct – believe it or not, they’ve got lighting tips and everything to kind of guide you through the whole process. But it will analyze the color and tell you if it’s something you immediately need to talk about with your pediatrician. You can also store the results for future reference and you can e-mail your pediatrician a copy of the photos and the results.

The interface is pretty easy to use. It really is all about: “Taking pictures, saving them and analyzing them.” That’s pretty much the only real function of this app.” Everyone had the chance to look at it a little bit. What do you guys think? Kristen?

KRISTEN STRATTON: I really am fascinated by this. I don’t know what I do without this. When I was taking care of my newborns but certainly think that this would be a good way if you didn’t have access to maybe getting hold of your pediatrician if you have some concerns. This could maybe alleviate some of your worry if things were normal or maybe help you make the decision to seek care right away. But it’s definitely interesting that you would be photographing your baby’s poop.

There’s a baby poop color chart which is pretty helpful. It’s not breastfed exclusive either. There is some information about normal poop for a formula-fed too. So that’s very helpful.

SUNNY GAULT: All right ladies, what do you think?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I could see myself using this a lot; especially now I have a four month old and just recently his poops started changing colors. Before, up until three months, it was green and then I think that was just his stomach getting used to being outside of the womb. Now it’s more of that standard mustardy color that it should be. But every once in a while, it still fluctuates and I think that’s – Tim. He uses the copy usually anyways. He doesn’t have any issues, no diaper rash – nothing like that. I think it’s just the way that he poops individually.

But there was definitely moments where I thinking: “This is an interesting color.” I wonder what this means. This looks weird. It’s not necessarily doctor worthy yet but I would still like some peace of mind.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, of course.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So I could see myself using it.

SERENA SALINAS: For me as a first time parent and I have a younger sister who has three kids but she’s far away. So I don’t have the benefit of having family members that I can be sending my poop pictures to. Let’s be real, I’m taking pictures of my daughter’s poop. So this is already using something, it’s already tapping into something that I’m already engaging in. I have a friend who gave birth to her daughter a few months before me. So we were exchanging pictures of poop with one another.

But it would have been nice to include an MD in that conversation. So I wish I would have known about this eight months ago because it would have been tapped in to something I was already doing which was freaking out about poop. It would have alleviated in my concerns which was mentioned earlier.

Again, it would have just been nice to have something to engage in because if I don’t have something to engage in, I’m just engaging in my thoughts which were just going to get more-ridiculous-and-more-ridiculous. It would have save me a lot of calls to the pediatrician.

SUNNY GAULT: Speaking of pediatrician, okay Dr. Murphy; I’m really curious to hear what you have to say. Are you okay with moms out there analyzing their baby’s poop with an app?

JAMES MURPHY: They are always analyzing their baby’s poop, calling and talking to that. Yes, I’m trying to figure out what they’re seeing over the phone is very hard.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

JAMES MURPHY: Even now, when I release on their lip ties, mothers take pictures of that in between visits and said that to me and say: “Am I doing it okay?” So it really helps the in-between actual visits to be able to analyze what’s going on. But yes, in the first week of life; the photos tell us I think more than later on, unless there’s a real medical problem going on.

So I’m just wondering if the people who put out this app, how many people are they devoting to receiving the photos and commenting and returning it?

SUNNY GAULT: I don’t think that they are actually receiving the photos. I think it’s the app itself based on the color is giving you a breakdown.

JAMES MURPHY: It’s going to be a mechanical then.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s a mechanical thing and it’s not to replace pediatricians. Again it’s that 3:00 in the morning whatever and my gosh. This is a totally different color, what would I do? I think it’s like an in-term thing like you were talking about between visits or just to ease their mind at strange times. Right?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, it will be one of those. Ease their minds or make them more angry?

SUNNY GAULT: That’s true.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Right.

JAMES MURPHY: Show up sooner.

SUNNY GAULT: That’s true. Okay, so we’re going to put a link on our website for this. You guys can download and check it out if you want. It is free, so we love free stuff.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Today on Newbies, we’re discussing: “What you need to know about all things baby poop.”

Our expert, Dr. James Murphy is:

• A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics
• A fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
• President of the San Diego Counting Breastfeeding Coalition
• Served one year on the governing counsel of the International Affiliation of Tongue Tie Professionals
• A member of the International Lactation Consultants Association
• An Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

Thank you so much for joining us Dr. Murphy and welcome to the show.

JAMES MURPHY: I’m glad to be here.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Dr. Murphy, can you tell us about that first bowel movement that we all know; so where that thick, black poop?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, that’s called Meconium and it’s the residual of what’s in the bowel as it’s forming. As the baby is swallowing the amniotic fluid, it’s all the leftovers as it usually is. So this is very thick, darkly colored and it looks black when it comes out. But if you take it and you smear it on a white sheet of paper, you’ll see it’s just green.

But because it’s so dark green, it really looks black and it’s a little sticky. But it’s not anything like the black that happens when you have blood in your poop. So this black poop is just thick, sticky stuff that has to be cleared before the regular poop starts coming.

KRISTEN STRATTON: What should new parents expect to happen with their baby’s bowel movements as the first few days of life?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, as I was learning to be a lactation consultant, one of our courses told us that: “On the first day, your baby’s poop is black. On the second, it’s dark green. On the third, it’s light green. On day four, it should be [inaudible]. On day five, it should be French as mustard.” Now if your milk came in on time and you have sufficient quantity and the baby is transferring a sufficient quantity of milk to grow normally, your poop tends to follow that [inaudible] pattern.

However, so many mommies do have problems with getting their milk coming in because the baby has trouble extracting the milk and we have other issues that delay the normal progress to this. We can have babies that have dark, dark poop much later in the first week and that’s a big red flag then we have a problem and baby’s not getting proper nutrition. So that needs to be addressed right away.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, that’s a really important topic. How often should a parent expect an exclusively breastfed baby to poop those first few weeks?

JAMES MURPHY: So once we’ve get going, we’d like to see two good poops a day. But babies don’t always give us what we want. So sometimes we see no poops and sometimes we see them pooping all day long. After we get going for a few weeks, babies can start to have pauses between stools. So, they’re not stooling everyday.

Doctors actually have stories about how long they’ve had patients go between poops and it still comes out nice and soft – then they’ll just go through a whole box of diapers at one day and then they’ll do it all over again. So there’s a wide range of normal but if a baby is stooling everyday, we’re very comfortable that everything is functioning well.

Moms get concerned when the baby’s aren’t pooing everyday. We tell them: “As long as the baby is comfortable, eating and looks happy, you should be happy too.” When the baby starts to get grumpy, that’s usually around day five or six then maybe it’s time to do something. There are a lot of easy things to do. You can just stimulate the baby’s rear end with a thermometer or the probe from a thermometer.

You can give a glycerin suppository which isn’t active. It just simply melts and greases the shoot. It tells the rectum that there is something in here that shouldn’t be in here. Baby poop is just not irritating to the bowel. It’s just sits there and is fine. But the glycerin suppository will irritate and cause the baby to relax the anus and let the poop come out and make everybody happy.

When the baby gets grumpy, it’s time to do something that the baby’s happy just sit back and relax.

KRISTEN STRATTON: All right, I’m sure that our panelists have some really great stories about their poop with their newborn those first few weeks.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So much poop.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So maybe you can share some of those good stories.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Both of my children for the first week, it was my husband who is on diaper duty. I had a caesarian so I didn’t do a lot of that. Thankfully, I never have to experience the dark sticky black poop when I’m pretty happy about that. But I remember distinctly with my daughter, there was one time she was sitting in her swing and I heard the fart come out and it was a big wet one.

I’m thinking: “Okay, now it’s time to change your diaper.” I’ll just take her upstairs and I picked her up and she’s dripping in poop. There was poop soup in her swing and I have a dog who’s into everything. So I was holding this infant, poop dripping from her and in the swing. I’m trying to get her upstairs and my dog’s following, licking it up. This is what’s happening.

Thankfully, my son has not had such I guess excitement with his poop. He did poop on my lap once which was horrifying because it gotten places that I don’t want to mention. That was unpleasant as well.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You survived.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes. I’m like: “Well, now a second-time mom – yes its poop whatever.”

SERENA SALINAS: Well as a first time mom, I naturally was concerned about everything. My boyfriend and I, we shifted diaper duty. I’m really happy about that but we used clothed diapers initially. I feel like my relationship with poop was very intimate because of the cloth diaper relationships. Yes, specifically washing them and just the recycle. But I don’t have any particularly positive, memorable poop soup stories.

But I do remember my boyfriend and I using as a barometer of whether everything is okay. If her poop smelled like freshly baked bread and I know it’s not. It feels kind of yucky to make that connection between delicious fresh baked bread and fresh baked poop. But that was our barometer at that point in time.

As first time parents, we were a little call it like: “That smells like fresh baked bread. I’m not cooking that.” Men, it’s like baby girl’s cooking something. So that was the interesting aspect of our first relationship with poop was the bread barometer if you will.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, I remember my kids poop smelling kind of sweet.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeasty, it’s gross.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes, Elliot sometimes smells like sweet and then cheesy or like sweet. I’m like: “I don’t want to eat lunch after this.”

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, you know we just get to know our babies so well really.

SERENA SALINAS: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, Dr. Murphy for our parents who choose to or who need to use formula, what should they look for in their newborn’s bowel movements?

JAMES MURPHY: Some babies can deal with the formula just fine. But because breast milk is 90% liquid protein, the whey and 10%, the hard protein – the casein; baby poop lets in an exclusive breastfed baby should always be soft. Constipation is just not possible unless you have a neurologic disorder called: “Hirschsprung’s Disease and then it can’t come out and then it can get hard.”

But with formula, that’s more than 50% casein. So it makes much firmer stools and the babies can have anywhere from a nice soft poop like the breastfed baby all the way down to having teeny tiny little rabbit pellets or the things that looked like little pencils coming out. Then when it gets hard like that then we need to modify the baby’s diet; or at least add something to the diet that puts the liquid fiber back into the poop and makes it soft again so the baby doesn’t have to strain so hard to pass the poop.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Let’s talk about constipation, can you explain a little bit more about breastfed babies and formula babies when constipation would be concerned?

JAMES MURPHY: Well, constipation by itself is a definition of a problem because when you’re constipated, you have hard poop and that’s difficult to pass. So it’s uncomfortable and it can set the bowel up for a lifetime problems. We think that when we had our poop regularly and everybody had to push out real hard that the bowel develops little out pouching called: “Diverticula.” Then when you get to be middle-aged or so, you can have Diverticulitis which is every bit is dangerous as appendicitis.

So we try to keep the poop soft so that you have to lose unusual pressure to have the bowel movement. So constipation is annoying at the very least and can cause anatomic changes on the bowel that’s significant. So keeping the poop soft so that it passes easily without effort is what we should always be striving for.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Panelists, do you ever experience any issues with constipation with your babies?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: The only time I’ve experienced it is: “When my daughter was six months old and we decided we were going to start and trying solids.” We started with – I think it was oatmeal cereal with iron fortified which for some mom didn’t know that iron can be constipating. So I gave it to her and she didn’t poop. She was struggling and crying. I had to actually lay her on the bathroom floor and then put her legs up in half and like physically help her dig it out.

I remember it being scarring for her – not physically scaring but just you know emotionally scarring for myself having to dig poop out of my child’s bottom and for her probably because that’s not fun. So we just put away with that cereal, we just went and said: “Forget that.” We haven’t had any issues yet with my son but that is definitely fore front in my mind when we do eventually start solids to just stay away from that for a little while.

SERENA SALINAS: Yes, I had a similar experience which started what my boyfriend calls: “My poop anxiety.” He is out of the belief that – I have this irrational anxiety about constipation. Well, after I gave birth to my daughter, I was constipated. So I remember how uncomfortable it was and it just not feel good. I don’t want my baby girl having to deal with anything remotely close to what I experienced.

So I had a similar experience with perpetuated or facilitated my poop anxiety which was: “We started formula. We started supplementing with formula.” We had a similar instance where she was just super uncomfortable, pushing, grunting. So not being scared of poop, I went in and dove her it on in. I had a similar experience where I needed to assist her. Unfortunately, it did not resolve. I wasn’t able to pull anything out.

So it was just really hard to have to see her go through something that I went through. So I know personally. But since then, we’ve been able to resolve this issue of: “Making sure that whatever she is fed, it doesn’t facilitate the constipation but it’s still something that is always at the forefront of my mind.” If she’s unhappy or grunting, my first reaction is: “Constipation.” But as time has gone on, I’ve gotten a little better with my poop anxiety. It’s still at the forefront of my mind.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well, understandably so. Well, when we come back, we’ll continue our discussion about baby poop.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome back to the show. We’re talking with Dr. James Murphy about baby poop and what every new parent should know. Dr. Murphy, let’s talk about what you would recommend for a new parent whose child is very gassy and having discomfort in both a breastfed baby and a formula-fed baby.

JAMES MURPHY: Well, one of the things you think of as we talk about foremilk and hindmilk which has been found to be due to the fat globules adhering to the ductules. So the protein and the carbohydrate composition of the milk flows more freely; hence, what you’re doing is feeding a little bit from each breast and giving mostly what we do refer to as: “Foremilk” then we’re not getting the fat content that satisfies the baby and makes the baby less gassy.

So you end up with green frothy explosive poops. Okay? One person found out – I believe that was in Western Australia that: “You don’t have to deal with foremilk or hindmilk because a simple massage of the breast before you feed and you’ll have a milk shake.” There is no format. There is no hind milk.

SUNNY GAULT: I love that.

JAMES MURPHY: So that’s one way tool. If you think its Foremilk Syndrome, all you have to do is: “Massage it and create the milk shake and feed the baby.” One I think that is consistent though is: “Whatever seems to make the mother gassy will make the baby gassy.” So if mothers eating the same thing kind of food and is passing onto the baby, she wants to stop having the problem with the baby; she needs to change the diet. So we have to think about that.

Formulas if you have milk intolerance then you’re going to have to use a formula that doesn’t use cow milk as the basis for that. We have a variety of different formulas that are nutritionally complete. Nowhere near all the benefits of the breast milk but nutritionally are complete and have the ability to resolve the individual sensitivities that each baby has. So you have to consult your pediatrician usually about that.

Pediatricians are very well versed mid-formula manipulation because we get so much information about that. I just wish that they were as well-versed in how to support the breastfeeding diet.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes, in a perfect world.

JAMES MURPHY: Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You touched on it before but what’s the longest normal interval between bowel movements and then exclusively breastfed baby?

JAMES MURPHY: We’d like to see the baby having poop every day. So when we have two poops a day early on, we know the baby is getting a sufficient volume of milk in order to gain weight. When they’re not pooing regularly then we have to file the weights to see what’s happening. The interval between poops is very variable. The baby is also variable from day-to-day [inaudible] babies.

So when the baby stats to become upset from not pooing; even though the breast milk is totally normal, that’s not causing any problems in the bowel, something is happening. The accumulation in the recto sigmoid area has becoming uncomfortable for the baby – that’s the time to do something. So normal is what the baby has that is comfortable for mom and comfortable for baby. That tends to be not more than five days between poops but most babies satisfy us and can go long before five days.

But again, if they get out the five days and they start to get grumpy, the longer they go after that, the more grumpy they get. So it’s time to either use the lubricated rectal for mom or the glycerin suppository. Then babies who do are on formula and do have chronic constipation need to have something that they put in the diet regularly in order to keep the poops soft.

Today that’s pretty much Miralax because it’s done such a wonderful job of softening poop from the other end. We used to have [inaudible 00:24:26] to get the constipation out. Now just by giving repeated those as of the Neurolax, it makes the poop soft as it goes down and can expel that without all that trouble of having a very uncomfortable [inaudible 00:24:38-39] to disimpact the baby.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Does explosive poops that we’ve mentioned before, would those be an indication of an issue or are those normal at all?

JAMES MURPHY: Those are normal unfortunately. Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Man.

JAMES MURPHY: We would like to have them a couple of poops every day. They should stay on the diaper and not smell too badly. The babies, they may save it up and then all of a sudden have the mega poop that it goes up the back and down the legs and everywhere else.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Which is why you should always keep extra clothes no matter where you go in your purse

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes and for mom too.

JAMES MURPHY: And lots of wipes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Lots of wipes, yes. Panelists, do you have new tricks or tips that you’ve learned to help you with this explosive moments and what do you wish you had known about your baby’s poop that first year?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: No tricks to make them not happen because they happen all the time. But I did learn with my first child that – well usually when she had an explosive diaper was because the diaper got too small and so she needed a size larger. It took me quite a few messes to figure that out. I guess that’s a tip. So now with my son, the minute it starts leaking out the tub, size up. It’s time to go. Let’s do this now so we can avoid that mass mess later.

SERENA SALINAS: No tips other than the tip that you had mentioned earlier about the diaper being too small. I think we’ve mentioned it a little earlier in the conversation is: “Just make sure you have an extra pair of change of clothes for you and baby as well as some wipes and maybe a little bit of water because sometimes the wipes just won’t pick it up.”

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: In the bag, you need a trash bag or a grocery bag; just store that stuff in as you’re on the move because that gets everywhere.

SUNNY GAULT: Do you guys wash them like the poop explosions have go all over the onesies and stuff, do you guys have any tips for what you use to wash it with because I know that stuff can stain really fast.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s so fast.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s not going to dry.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I’ve used Oxi Clean actually. Sometimes – sunlight. If I don’t need it right away, I’ll just leave it out on the sun. But if I need it like my son’s swaddle his Woombie that sometimes gets poop on it, I need that night. So I need that right away. So I’ll wash it, spray it, use a little toothbrush to scrub in getting all the grooves and wash it and it comes right out and it’s amazing.

SERENA SALINAS: What do we use? I forget what it’s called but if we have like a stain stick that we use that is: “It doesn’t have a bunch of chemicals on it.” I also put some Thieves Oil inside my wash [inaudible] and that seems to do a good job of pulling out the brown color that pops up.

KRISTEN STRATTON: It might be yellow like highlighter.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes, it’s the mustard color that I found to be really hard to get off anything.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: When I was putting out my daughter’s clothes for my son, I realized: “Look there’s the stain.”

KRISTEN STRATTON: The line, the tell-tale line.

SUNNY GAULT: Let’s put this back in the wash.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: That was last Thursday.

JAMES MURPHY: So we need to have the manufacture’s design the diaper that expands to accommodate to any size people.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Right or onesies that repel poop stains.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Would they have the slit in the shoulders so that you can pull the onesie down rather than up and over the head. I do not learn that until after my three children.

SUNNY GAULT: No.

SERENA SALINAS: No.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes. So a lot of my kids got poop on their face. Sorry kids. Sorry, mommy loves you. All right, well thank you so much Dr. Murphy and our lovely panelists for chatting with us today about baby poop.

For our Newbies Club members, our conversation will continue after the end of the show. Dr. Murphy will share about: “When to begin solids and how to interpret your baby’s poop.” For more information about the Newbies Club, please visit our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: We have a question from one of our listeners and this comes from Haddie of New Mexico and Haddie writes:
“Hi. I’m a first time mom with a one week old newborn. Is it possible for an infant this young to develop diaper rash? Even when I use ointment with every change to prevent it, what should I do if this problem keeps occurring?”

- Haddie
TARA ZANDVLIET: Hello Haddie. This is Dr. Tara Zandvliet. Yes it is definitely possible for your newborn to have a diaper rash in the first week. It’s often the time to get the most diaper rashes. Their newborn skin is super sensitive and everything from the diaper, the clean, the wipes and even their own urine can irritate the skin to the point of seeming like a burn. As they get older, their skin becomes much less sensitive and diaper rash happens less often.

So keep the skin clean and dry. Change the diaper often and don’t rub a lot with those wipes. It’s hard with the thick black meconium at the beginning but now, it should be easy to gently wipe off the stool. Consider using just a soft cloth with water instead of a wipe or use hypo allergenic wipes with aloe. You can use aloe creams, zinc creams like Desitin or vitamin creams like A and D – they all help as a barrier between the wetness and the skin.

If you use a zinc cream, use the original ones and not the creamies. One favorite where I trained was called: “Happy Heinie” which was a mixture of a zinc cream, an anti-fungal woman’s vaginal cream like Monostat and Cortaid anti itch cream which was hydrocortisone 1%; it was the ointment and not the cream. We mix that up in equal parts and put it on at each diaper change. That works like a charm.

If you continue having problems then consider changing the diaper brand even if they’re cloths. I hope that helps.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Newbies.
Don’t forget to check out our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed
• Twin Talks for parents of multiples.

Thanks for listening to Newbies: “Your go-to source for new moms and new babies.”

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Well such information and materials are believe to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical or advise or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

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