Hello!

I might have missed a few posts on this topic so please forgive me if  
this has been addressed already, but regarding the green stools and  
blood from a baby, I'd like to add to Carrie's answer.  I worked with  
a mom who was determined to breastfeed despite being encouraged to  
stop when it seemed nothing could be identified as the culprit.  We  
brainstormed a bit and as it turned out, it wasn't her milk at all, it  
was her major, major oversupply.  It was so unbelievably forceful but  
her sweet baby was coping somehow, gaining weight OK but really  
gulping from a fire hose.  I encouraged her to feed her milk via some  
other means (she chose to syringe-feed if I remember correctly) for a  
few days and sure enough, no further dietary changes seemed necessary  
(though she had already been through the normal course of an  
elimination diet so that might have also helped) ... it was the mode  
of delivery, not the milk itself!

So, we worked on tempering her abundant supply with block nursing and  
I talked to the pediatrician about considering a low dose of benadryl  
if they weren't seeing the improvement they wanted once the baby went  
back to the breast.  They never followed up with me except a few  
months later when the pediatrician (who I was seeing for my own child)  
casually mentioned that my assistance really helped get that family  
back on track.  I do wonder whether this is something that happens  
more often than we think in the cases of "my baby couldn't take my  
milk."  Unless we actually see a feed, it's hard to identify this  
problem, because most mothers, especially first-time mothers, won't  
know, necessarily, that what they're producing isn't "normal" or could  
be an issue for that particular baby.

--Diana Cassar-Uhl, IBCLC + LLLL in upstate NY

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