I just changed my 4 1/2 month olds diaper and her poop was hard and a black/dark purple color? this is odd..!?

Question

I started feeding my daughter rice cereal at 4 months. 2 days ago i started feeding her rice cereal with bananas. Do you think this is why it is black/purple? or could it be another reason and should i worry about it enough to call the doctor?

btw- her poop was hard before but never this color it was always likea light green/yellow color.

i do give her 2 ozs of water everyday and the doctor said to put her on formula three times a day because she was eating 7 ozs every 2 HOURS! it was crazy.. plus my she has slept well through the night for awhile now and she started waking up for a feeding, and my doc said that they should sleep through regardless thus another reason she said she needed to start with rice cereal

sorry i mean to start her on rice cereal....

and she is in the lower percentage of her weight for her age and height...so no i wasnt over feeding either

Answer 1

Angela M said it best. It's the bananas. You should hold off on the bananas for now and just give your baby very watery rice cereal because their digestive systems aren't really ready for more foods yet until they're about 6 months. A little juice (prune, apple, or pear) will help with the hard stools. I always diluted my juice, if you are worried about the sugar, etc. The main source of nutrition should be the breastmilk and/or formula. I had to start rice cereal at 5 1/2 months because my daughter wasn't sleeping much because she was hungry and the doctor recommended it. The rice cereal was so watered down it barely stayed on the spoon but I only gave her a small cup once a day for about three weeks and then started slowly introducing more grains and fruits (very, very slowly). I also exclusively breastfed. Good luck!

Answer 2

Honestly, I would find another pediatrician. Any pediatrician who says that all babies should sleep through the night at 4 1/2 months doesn't know very much about children. Many babies will sleep through the night (meaning at least 6 - 8 hours in a row), but not all. My son never did until he was 11 months old. And even then, there will be set backs when she starts teething or if she gets a cold.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be exclusively fed formula or breastmilk for the first 6 months of life, then rice cereal and pureed foods can be introduced. That being said, not all infants can stay on the same calendar. We waited 6 months to start my son on solids, and he did fine. My daughter was much hungrier and grew faster, so she started solids at 4 1/2 months, and is doing very well.

The color of the feces sounds bad. It sounds like she's not getting enough fluids in her diet. Baby "poop" should never be hard. It should be soft, even a little runny, and range from mustard yellow to dark green.

The way to test if she is getting enough fluids is to check how many times a day your baby wets her diaper - from 4 to 8 times a day is normal.

AmericanBaby.com has a good Q&A about solid food for babies that states:
"Most babies between the ages of 6 and 9 months will take anywhere from 25 to 35 ounces of formula a day. " See the link below for the full article.

Please give your baby a bottle of formula and get her to the doctor as soon as you can.

Answer 3

You should keep a record of whatever you feed to this baby. If the stool is hard and dark in color there is a reason for it. If the hard texture started after you began feeding her rice cereal that could have contributed to the problem but one could never be sure.
Anyway it's time to take a record of what you have been feeding this child and the child, to her pediatrician.

Answer 4

Sorry I can't help with this. I breastfed all 6 of my children and didn't start solids till 6 months. Our stool is a direct result of what we put into our mouth. Don't rush the food, keep it simple. Rice, then try Barley, then Oatmeal then the Mixed Cereal. The babies aren't in a hurry to try new food, we are in a hurry to give it to them.

Good Luck and have a nice day.

Answer 5

I dont really like huggies. I had big leaks at least once a day. After a week of this and so many ruined clothes I got fed up and got anothing kind of diapers. And I have had very few leaks since then and that was about 1 1/2 months ago

Answer 6

LOL, it's the bananas... my son loves bananas (he's nearly 2) and when he overindulges (usually when both mommy and daddy give him one in the same day w/o knowing that the other already has) he gets constipated like that. Balance it w/ about 2 oz of apple juice in a bottle diluted with water, and it'll be ok...
Also try using fresh (very ripe) mashed bananas blended w/ your milk or apple juice, instead of the baby puree or the cereal w/ it mixed in. Both of these are over processed, and the dried version in the cereal is almost certain to lead to dry stool.

Answer 7

LOL!! Different food = Different poop!!

Bananas... it must be bananas! My 10 month old gets these sometimes and I couldn't figure out what was doing it either.

You'd think I'd count it as a blessing, but it always freaks me out a bit when I open the diaper and little pellets are rolling around in there instead of the usual mess!

Answer 8

Is there added iron in the formula? Iron can do that to poo. I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe change to a formula that has no iron supplement and see how she does. Now that she has started on cereal and bananas she should be getting enough iron from that. If you are concerned though you should call the doc.

Answer 9

Try putting just a little bit of Karo syrup in her bottle! This will help her poop not be so hard! I used it with both my boys and a baby girl I fostered. Doctors recommend it!

Answer 10

Its the bananas my two boys eat them all the time and I was concerned about their stools to but the Doctor said it was caused by the potassium in the bananas.