To : Ms. Sheperd
Re : GI bleeding

One of the benefits of being in a medical school is that I can walk right
next door and find a wonderful specialist any time I want.  Next door to my
office is a brilliant pediatric gastroenterologist.  I gave him your post
and he said that:

The most common cause of GI bleeding is anal fissure.  The fact that this is
bright red blood, means that it is bleeding from the rectum or anus.  This
means that the infant probably needs a good rectal exam to find the fissure.
Fissures are quite common and should be left alone if the infant is GAINING
wait and is pain free.  From your post, the infant is healthy, pain free,
and is gaining.  It is his opinion that the baby should be followed for
weight gain and as long as he is doing fine, then don't worry about the
small amount of blood in the stool.

He is most adamant that it is not due to the breast milk at all and that the
mom should continue to breast feed.  He has a number of children that he has
followed for many months that have streaks of blood in the stool,  that
eventually go away... and he never stops breastfeeding.

Regards
Tom Hale, Ph.D.