An baby'due south poop changes colour and consistency during their offset few days, weeks, and months of life, and a wide range of colors is normal. Below, learn to recognize unhealthy baby poop and what changes to expect as a baby grows.

In infants, age, diet, and health are the main reasons for changes in stool color. The poop of newborns is well-nigh blackness, while older infants tend to have yellow or brown poop.

Breastfeeding and formula-feeding tin can too influence the color of a baby's stools.

Red or white poop tin indicate a health trouble. Otherwise, a wide range of colors is to exist expected. Anyone who suspects that a baby has diarrhea or constipation should seek medical advice.

a color wheel infographic showing the colours of baby poop

Various factors tin can crusade changes in the colour of a baby'southward stools. Common colors and their causes include:

Blackness

In newborns younger than i week, blackness is a good for you color for stool. After this fourth dimension, however, it could indicate a health problem.

During the first 24 hours of life, a newborn will pass meconium. This is thick, blackness stool. It is made up of cells, amniotic fluid, bile, and mucus ingested while in the womb. Meconium is sterile, and then it usually does not smell.

Over the first few days of life, a newborn volition continue to pass meconium. The colour should gradually change from black to dark light-green, then yellow.

After ane week of life, stool should no longer be black. If a black colour persists, seek medical communication. It could mean that there is some haemorrhage in the digestive system.

Yellow

This is a normal color of poop from a breastfed baby. Their poop tends to be dark yellowish

and may accept small flecks in information technology.

These flecks come from breastmilk and are harmless. Poop from breastfed babies is ofttimes described equally "seedy." The so-chosen seeds may resemble curds in cottage cheese but are yellowish.

Brown or orangish

This is a normal color of poop from a formula-fed baby.

When a babe drinks formula, their poop tends to light brown or orange. It may be slightly darker and firmer than stool from a breastfed baby.

Green

Many babies occasionally have dark-green poop. Some possible causes include:

  • tedious digestion, unremarkably because the baby has eaten more than usual
  • light-green foods in the diet of the breastfeeding mother
  • a cold or breadbasket bug
  • a food allergy or intolerance
  • antibiotics, either in the baby or the breastfeeding mother
  • treatment for jaundice

Some infants' poop is naturally slightly green. If the baby is putting on weight and seems content, green poop is not necessarily a crusade for concern.

Learn more almost green poop in children here.

Cherry-red

This is not a healthy poop colour.

Poop is unremarkably red considering there is claret in it. Seek medical advice.

The baby may have a wellness problem, or they may take swallowed a minor amount of blood. This could happen if a breastfeeding female parent has croaky or bleeding nipples. Another cause of red poop is haemorrhage from the baby'southward bottom.

White

This is not a good for you colour for stool.

White poop is uncommon and could indicate a liver trouble.

Jaundice, for example, is highly common in newborns, affecting every bit many equally lxxx% of these babies in their first few days of life. It unremarkably goes away within the outset 2 weeks.

Anyone who suspects that their baby still has jaundice afterward 14 days should check the color of their poop. Pale or white poop may advise liver disease. Another sign to look for is xanthous pee.

If the baby has white or pale stool, the doctor may test their bilirubin levels. Bilirubin is a compound that helps the torso get rid of waste. At that place are ii types of bilirubin, and if levels of one type are also high, it tin can cause health issues.

Baby poop can also have a multifariousness of textures and other features. Earlier an infant starts eating solid food, their poop is commonly very soft.

Breastfed babies may have quite runny or stringy poop, while formula-fed babies tend to accept firmer, but not solid, poop.

Mucus in a infant's stool is also common and rarely a sign of any health issue. If the baby shows other signs of unusual behavior or illness, however, speak to a md. Acquire more about mucus in infant poop here.

Dry or difficult poop tin hateful that a baby is non drinking plenty fluids, or they may be ill.

After an infant starts to eat solid foods, hard poop tin besides be a sign of constipation. Babies unremarkably become constipated when they eat foods that their bodies cannot yet digest properly. Here, find out more about constipation in babies.

Very watery stool tin can result from diarrhea. A baby with diarrhea may also poop more than often than usual or have a loftier temperature. Diarrhea can cause dehydration, which is potentially serious for infants.

Every baby is unlike, and some poop more often than others. Many newborns poop after each feeding, though they tend to laissez passer stool less frequently once they reach 6 weeks former. Breastfed babies may only poop once a week. A healthy frequency for formula-fed babies is once per day.

Every bit a babe grows, their poop often changes color. For example, as an infant starts to eat solid foods, what they eat may bear on the color of their poop. Undigested food in stool can besides cause a change in color.

Unusual colors, such as green, may not betoken a health issue. Stool color may vary for a short time, so return to its regular shade.

White, reddish, or black are the exceptions — these colors tin each indicate a health problem.

Also, if a lot of mucus is present or it appears in stool on an ongoing basis, this could signal an disease.

See a doctor about any concerns regarding an infant's wellness.

Expect newborns to poop frequently, sometimes later every feed. Infants older than iii weeks may poop anywhere between ii or three times a 24-hour interval to one time a week.

Healthy poop tin be shades of yellow, orange, brown, or light-green, and the texture may be runny to adequately firm. It should non be hard or watery.

Babies oft strain a little every bit they pass stool and may brand noises or scrunch up their faces. This is normal. However, too much straining or discomfort when pooping could be a sign of constipation.

Poop color can be one way to keep rails of a babe'southward wellness.

Stool that is quite soft and earthy in color is generally healthy. However, red or white poop oft signals a wellness issue that requires attention — equally does black stool from babies older than 1 calendar week.

Overall, as long as an infant is gaining weight and feeding as often equally they need, a broad range of poop colors is salubrious.