EBF oversupply/food allergy

my son is 4 weeks old and for the last 2+ weeks he has been very fussy and has explosive green mucusy stools. My pedi thinks it's a combo of oversupply and a possible food allergy. I just started block feeding yesterday and cutting out dairy.

For other moms that have experienced these issues, how long did it take to see a change in your baby's demeanor/poops? Did the poop gradually change from green to yellow or happen suddenly?

EBF oversupply/food allergy

Block feeding should help eliminate green foamy stool. In my experience this resolved quickly. As for mucus in the stool it varied (Dd also had visible blood).
Once I eliminated all the foods dd was allergic to from my diet it took about a week for all of the mucus to go away. Normal stool in breastfed babies can vary in color. I was told to only worry if the stool was black, blood red or chalk white.
While trying to determine if my daughter had a dairy allergy her allergist had me eliminate all cow products including beef. He also said that BF babies who are allergic to dairy can react to even a small amount of dairy so you have to be VERY careful. Also 50% of children who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy so you may want to keep that in mind.

Re: EBF oversupply/food allergy

DS had issues - i did an elimination diet - most dairy, spicy foods, meat, etc etc etc.
I couldnt figure out the problem. we had the ped test for a milk protein allergy and sure enough that was it...so even though i cut out dairy (in terms of having a glass of milk or bowl of ice cream), he was so sensitive that the tiniest trace dairy (using butter when cooking) upset his tummy.
maybe call your ped and ask for the test kits (its a stool sample test that my ped does in office once i bring him the testing cards). i knew right away i had to cut out all dairy...which ended up having me stop breast feeding because it was just easier then cutting out every.single.bit of dairy
once we switched his formula it was about 2 weeks before he was better

Re: EBF oversupply/food allergy

I had a similar experience with my LO - attributed the green stools to over supply in the beginning. it wasn't until we started seeing visible specks of blood that i realized it was probably a food intolerance. dairy is most common so i first eliminated all dairy (obvious and hidden). stools went from green and mucousy to darker, explosive diarrhea before it got better. very thin and liquidy, still visible blood. after almost a month of no signs of improvement i also eliminated all soy (obvious and hidden). within 2 weeks of that, i started seeing improvement in the frequency and look of the dirty diapers. it was a gradual improvement for us, not an immediate green to yellow change. at some point in there i also cut out beef because i thought LO was extra fussy the day after I ate a hamburger. a very unscientific study, but i figured i'd be safe than sorry.

my advice would be to eliminate soy at the same time as dairy, since it's common for baby to react to both. i felt like i wasted a month of time to help LO because i delayed eliminating soy. soybean oil and soy lecithin are considered different than other forms of soy and some babies tolerate those fine and some don't. i never eliminated soybean oil but did cut out soy lecithin for a period of time. i reintroduced soy lecithin and beef in moderation around 7 months and haven't noticed any issues.

Message edited 11/6/2014 10:47:53 AM.

Re: EBF oversupply/food allergy

Initially I was in denial it was a milk protein intolerancce (he was 12 weeks old) and went w/ oversupply issue. When that didn't resolve stooling problem and I started to see flecks of blood w/ the green mucoid stool I cut out dairy both obvious and hidden. Hi stools returned to normal w/in 7-10 days. His fussy nature improved at 6 months hehe and I don't think it was related to the milk GI issue, it was just his personality at the time. I remained completely dairy free till we weaned at 14 months but at that time he went to soy milk because he still couldn't tolerate any dairy. He has finally outgrown(mostly) his milk protein intolerance at 2.5 Never had to cut out soy (thank god). When I would accidently get dairy and his stools would get yucky again it would take about a week to sort it out. I also had to throw away all of my frozen pumped milk stash up to that point because it was "contaminated" with dairy. That was the worst part.