Celebrating your baby’s firsts is a wonderful, exciting part of being a new parent. You might look forward to cheering on their first step, laughing over their first giggle, or crying over their first word. But what about your little one’s first poop? Yes, this is a milestone too!
While you probably won’t rush to capture your baby’s first few soiled diapers on camera, it’s essential to take note of the stool you see to monitor the feeding success and overall health of your baby. Consider this your beginner’s guide to baby stools – from newborn meconium to regular baby stools, and everything in between.
Day One – Three: Meconium
When it comes to first-time baby stool, we have good news and bad news. The good news? Newborn baby poop doesn’t smell! The bad news? It looks gross. Get ready to find a greenish-black, tar-like sticky substance inside your baby’s first dirty diaper. That lovely mess is called meconium.
- What is meconium? During your baby’s gestation period (time spent in utero), he or she ingests amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells, and recycled bodily fluids. Sometime within 24-hours after birth, your baby will pass the meconium as “poop” to empty any remaining intestinal fluids and waste products from their system.
- How often do babies pass meconium? During that first fateful diaper day, you can expect your baby to pass one meconium-based stool. Double that number for the second day. Moving forward, the more the baby feeds, the more meconium-laced poop they will pass per day – around three bowel movements daily by day three. It’s within the normal range to see higher and lower frequencies, as long as your baby starts clearing meconium from their system.
Day Four – Five: Transition Stools
Once your baby starts consuming more breastmilk or formula, you’ll notice the stool beginning to change in frequency, consistency, color, and stench. While stinky poop may put a dampener on the receding meconium, keep in mind that transition stools prove your baby’s intestinal tract and bowels are functioning well.
- What are transition stools? Around the fourth or fifth day of life, it’s time to say goodbye to meconium and hello to its transitional counterpart – a stinky, loose, yellow-green stool that varies in color and consistency depending on the baby’s age and feeding method.
- How often do babies pass transition stools? Nearing the end of the first week, you can expect your baby to poop as often as five to ten times per day. The frequency will vary based on how often your baby feeds and by which method: breastfeeding or formula.
- What are white spots? If you happen to notice some white spots mixed with the yellowish poop in your newborn’s diaper, there’s no need to panic. Your baby’s digestive system is still developing, and during that process, you may often find undigested milk passed within the stool.
Day 6 – 30: Regular Poop
During your baby’s first month, the frequency of bowel movements will likely decrease as she or he grows and matures. By the third and fourth weeks, your baby may not poop every day at times – which is no problem provided the stool isn’t too hard, and there is no evidence of discomfort.
You can expect variations in color and consistency to pick up again around the six-month mark, or whenever you start introducing baby food or solids into your baby’s diet. Until then, buckle in for a few months of soft, watery stools of the yellow, green, and brown variety. Pee-yew! Babies – they’re lucky they’re cute, right?
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