Expert: ruth kraft - 7/5/2009

Question
My son is almost 8 weeks old and has been on breastmilk right from the start, though he never latched on properly, so, I have been pumping everyday and have been feeding via Dr. Brown's bottles. The first few weeks he was extremely gassy which is when I had switched to Dr. Brown's from Avent but even then he was having normal stool - the yellow, seedy stool variety. Lately, for the last 3 weeks he has been having green watery stool - sometimes it is just green water. I have been emptying my breasts when I pump so it can't be foremilk/ hindmilk issues and I know it isn't thrush, nor am I on any antibiotics or iron supplements and I have been off diary products since he was so gassy at week 1. He wont finish his 3oz like he used to - sometimes 2oz and sometimes 2.5oz at every 2hr interval, but he isn't as gassy as he used to be. What am I doing wrong? What can I do to help him? Please help

Answer
it sounds to me like there might be a milk protien allergy. please know this is NOT the baby being allergic to YOUR milk. this is the possiblity that you are drinking or eating any kind of dairy that the baby is having a hard time getting used to. That is the most likely thing, so you can try reducing or removing all dairy for about 3 weeks and see if that helps. Otherwise, it might be something else in your diet that the baby isnt able to digest well, however, the general rule of thumb is that if it doesnt seem to be fussy because of it and there are wet and dirty diapers and baby is thriving, then you don't have to worry about it at all. The runniness I dont worry about either. sometimes it looks a little thicker sometimes it looks more watery but all is within normal range.

As far as what he takes in, it takes a baby 6 weeks to decide what he wants in a feeding so for him to even out at averageing 2.5 oz, isnt alarming to me either.

I hope that helped!
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