Poop Happens

Newborn expectations and the proper color array

When it comes to newborn poop, it helps to be aware that there is a normal and expected poop progression that takes place over the first week or so. Most doctors expect newborns to demonstrate their pooping ability before sending them home from the hospital. And most newborns happily oblige — doing so without much difficulty or delay. The very first newborn poops you'll see, usually in the first 24 hours or so, are typically thick, tarry, and black. This lovely, gooey mess is simply the poop your baby made before being born and is referred to as meconium poop.

The Scoop on Poop

As breast milk or formula begins to make its way through your baby's system over the next few days, you can expect your baby's poop to become more of a pasty brown color (the so-called transitional stool) and then ultimately become the standard mustardy yellow and seedy poop typical of breastfed babies, or the more pasty/formed and variably colored poop of formula-fed babies. For all babies, but especially for those who are breastfed, the establishment of frequent poop that has gone through this predictable color change is a good indication that they are getting enough to eat. For the breastfed baby, it also suggests that the eagerly anticipated full-volume milk supply has arrived.

 

Precocious Pooping

In some instances, babies actually poop before they are born — allowing meconium to mix into the amniotic fluid. While this is a reassuring sign that all's well in the poop department, such babies may require closer observation in the period immediately after being born to make sure that the meconium hasn't made its way into the lungs.