For most newborn babies, they begin the normal process of bowel movements within the first 24 hours of life. At first, the stools are black and tarry, which then turn to a loose, yellow/green color, and then within a short time, to a more normal appearing stool. However, understanding what is normal for your baby will help you identify when something is not right.
For instance, if your baby has extra runny stools, his or her stomach could be upset. While babies will have bouts of diarrhea for one reason or another, if this lasts longer than a day, you should contact the pediatrician. Of course, if you notice your child struggling to pass stools or you see any mucus or blood, the doctor should be contacted right away.
Regardless of the phase, just expect to be changing many diapers. In fact, it is common for a newborn to go through as man as 100 diapers a week! After all, these newborns usually wet a diaper about every three hours, which quickly adds up, not to mention the number of stools. A breastfed baby will also have somewhat different bowel movements from a bottle fed baby. In this case, newborn babies typically have fewer bowel movements with breast milk than they do with formula simply because the body is naturally absorbing all the nutrients and no processed ingredients. You will find that a breastfed baby might only have a stool every two days whereas a bottle fed baby could go four or more times a day!
If you have decided to breastfeed your baby, you have made an honorable decision. In addition to eliminating the need to carry bottles and formula around, you are also providing your newborn with all-natural milk, loaded with special things needed for the first part of life. The stools produced from breast milk are generally a yellowish color, loose, and small curds. Although messy and not very fun to clean up, these bowel movements are easy for the baby, with the body ridding itself of only what is not needed.
Keep in mind that a breastfed baby will often have a bowel movement shortly after eating. As mentioned, most breastfed babies have fewer stools than bottle-fed babies do but not always. Therefore, if your baby has a couple of bowel movements a day, do not confuse this with diarrhea. In fact, the more your baby eats the more often and the larger the quantity of stools. However, as your baby reaches two months of age, you will likely notice the frequency of stools decreases.
You will soon realize what is normal for your child so if something changes, you would be aware. Let us say your bottle-fed baby was having only two bowel movements a day. In this case, it would be wise to contact the baby’s doctor just to make sure everything was fine. Sometimes, just increasing the amount of milk intake is enough to get your baby back on a good schedule.