Some babies do pass mucous stools on occasion and a one off is usually nothing to worry about.
If, however, the baby has consistent or frequent green mucousy stools that are accompanied by signs of illness (fever, lethargy, not feeding) then he should be assessed by a doctor.
Green/watery/mucousy stools in healthy breastfeed babies can be caused by a couple different things:
1. over intake of foremilk, also called ‘hyperlactation syndrome’ these babies usually nurse often from both breasts.
This often happens when a mother is cutting the baby’s feeds short. It is advised to let the baby nurse until he comes off on one side and then offer the second side. It is fine if the baby nurses on the second side and also fine if the baby doesn’t want the second side.
I helped one mother who had these symptoms and more in her baby and in this case the solution was to have the father look after the three year old boy and send both the mother and baby to bed together for 24 hours. Sometimes the answer is to just slow down at bit!
2. food sensitivity or allergy to one or more foods. The most common is dairy/milk proteins eaten by mom passed into her milk (also listed as casein and whey in processed foods).
The cause of the green nappies in the last baby I saw with green stools was the vitamin drops the mother had been giving to the baby. Remember that the baby is much more likely to be affected by something he has taken directly than anything through your milk.
Best wishes,
SARAH