Mucus in breastmilk stool can be caused by a variety of things, some of concern and others of not much concern at all. Think of mucus as a possible symptom of irritation to the intestinal wall (the mucosa of the intestinal wall produces mucus due to irritation). What can irritate the intestinal wall? Something in the baby's diet, and if the baby is receiving nothing other than breastmilk, it would be something in the mother's diet, passing into the milk. The most common irritant is probably dairy (cow's milk protein - NOT lactose) that the mother consumes; other possibilities may include soy protein, eggs, corn, wheat. It's possible (but less likely) that a medication that the mother is taking could also cause GI irritation in the infant. Another common way to irritate the intestinal wall is to rush milk/stool through it explosively. How could this happen? Perhaps from a lactose overload - a mom with a very large milk supply and/or a baby who drinks more of the high-lactose milk and less of the hindmilk who's rising fat content helps slow the passage by taking longer to digest. Typically this kind of mucousy stool is greenish, slimy, frothy and explosive. Whenever there is mucus due to intestinal irritation, sometimes there is blood. If the blood is visible to the naked eye and a small streak of mucus tinged with blood occurs more than once or twice, the pediatrician will need to be involved. I'm very open with what I tell mothers about if there is a little mucus, no visible blood, and a happy, comfortable, thriving baby. Sadly, I see pediatricians who frequently and randomly "guiac" or check stool for hidden ("occult") blood, and perhaps 20% of the time it comes out positive, and even when there are no other issues, the pediatrician either has the mom undertake an extremely restrictive diet and repeatedly check stool for hidden blood or switches the baby temporarily or permanently to a hypoallergenic formula if they can't get rid of every trace of blood. Sometimes they refer the mom to a pediatric gastroenterologist for an intensive workup. Breastfeeding is bound to be negatively effected in some way, and therefore if the baby is happy, healthy and thriving and there mucus but no visible blood, I explain this scenario to the mother and let her decide what course she chooses to take. Mucus in and of itself is not problematic. Adults have a little mucus in stool as well - it is what provides lubrication for defecation (and why the intestinal wall is called "mucosa" - meaning, produces mucus). Lastly, if the baby has a cold and is swallowing mucus, the mucus will pass right through the stomach and intestine into the stool. So that is my 2 cents on stool with mucus. It's a question I hear a LOT, but probably because I see about 100 moms and babies each week ranging in age from 2 weeks - 20 weeks. I get a lot of poop questions! Nancy Nancy Holtzman RN BSN IBCLC Director of Early Parenting Programs Isis Maternity - Brookline, Arlington, Needham 781.429.1500 www.isismaternity.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html