Whenever my 6-week old baby has a bowel movement there are specks of blood and what looks like bloody tissue mixed with the stool. The rest of the stool is the normal yellow, seedy stuff that you'd expect from a breast-fed baby. This is also accompanied by yellow stool (?) that comes out bubbly and foamy. The blood has been in her stool since she was 1 week old and the foam has just appeared in the last week.

I have cut dairy products out of my diet but that doesn't seem to have changed anything. When she was 2 weeks old I took the baby to a doctor who said the blood was due to a yeast infection and he prescribed some medicine to clear it up. This had no effect. I took the baby to a different doctor who said that it wasn't a yeast infection and that the color we saw was probably just discolored stool due to something I had eaten (he didn't see the stool but the first doctor did and tested it and said that yes, it was blood).

There has been no fever and the baby is growing well. She acts fussy and colicky in the evening and also cries as if in pain in the early morning from about 4:00 until about 8:00. Is this blood and bloody tissue something we should keep worrying about? Could she be allergic to my breast milk? 

Please help! Thanks much, Melanie

You need to have your baby's stool tested for blood again by your doctor. This is very simple test which can be done in the office.

If your baby has blood in it's stool, your doctor needs to determine why blood is there.

I honestly don't think your baby is allergic to your breast milk. There is nothing more natural or nutritious than mom's milk.

Call your doc (or find a new one who is board certified) and have your baby's stool tested again. I'll bet it will be negative (that is...no blood).

I hope that helps. Dr. Mike

This article was reviewed 08/11/2009 03:08 PM

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