The baby Fiona Coombs describes may have breastmilk colitis. It does happen, but it need not mean the end of breastfeeding. I have worked with several women whose babies had this problem It was much worse when the mothers were drinking cows milk (often lots of it!) When that was eliminated from the diet, babies did better but not completely blood-free. Usually these kids do not exhibit any signs of discomfort and they grow well. I had one mother whose baby did a lot of bleeding resort to using one of the pre-digested (really stinky awful) artificial milks in a tube feeding device at breast. The combination of her milk and the stinky stuff seemed to work well. Baby's bleeding stopped and baby continued to grow and mom preserved breastfeeding relationship. (She sent me several loaves of wonderful homemade Christmas breads as a thank-you.) The baby and I resembled one another. Mom's milk when to baby's thighs and I felt like just avoiding eating all that wonderful stuff and smearing on MY thighs--which is where it went anyway! Check out mom's diet and see if you can identify a history that may help explain what is happening. Good luck. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% "We are all faced with a series of great %% %% opportunities brilliantly disguised as %% %% impossible situations" - definition of a %% %% lactation consulting service. %% %% Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC %% %% [log in to unmask] Homewood, Illinois USA %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%