Hey mamas!! My son woke up this morning with a low-grade fever. So I kept him home today from daycare. He has been acting fine all day...playing, eating, drinking. He has not thrown-up or had diaherra. So I thought ok--maybe just a virus he is fighting or a little cold. I figured if his fever didn't come back(given meds during day--history of febrile seizures) then I would take him to daycare and go into work. However, tonight when he had a bowel movement it was black. That scared me. I googled it and all it told me was a gastro ulcer or worse. He still does have a fever--but still low-grade. So I am asking all you mamas if you ever had this happen? I plan on calling his ped first thing in the morning, but wanted to get your opinions too. Thanks sooo much.
By the wat my son is 2...soon to turn 3 in Feb.
Thank you again for any feedback!!
A few weeks ago my 2 y/o had black poop, I freaked out and called his ped. She said don't worry to much about it 99% of the time it is something they ate. It cleared up and went back to normal, when i mentioned it to my Aunt she told me she had fed him Oreo cookies the day b4. So that is where that came from, mystery solved.
I wouldn't worry about the black poop either. Sometimes it can be your iron levels that make your poop black in color. It can also be from constipation. Definitely see the dr., if you are worried but there will be nothing he/she can do unless you saved a sample for them to look at.
If he's been eating any iron rich foods (spinach, etc) or vitamins with iron it can make the poop very dark. In young children, often the color of the food they are eating makes a big difference in the color that comes out the other end (brownies, chocolate cake/cupcakes, etc).
That he's acting/eating fine with little or no fever is a good sign.
Anyone who's losing a lot of blood will be very weak and sometimes anemic so I'm thinking this is not what is happening.
Unless the poop is super black and tar-like, I wouldn't worry. Poop comes in all different colors---especially when you are sick, its not uncommon to have several different colors when you are fighting a virus etc. Also, unless there is blood, tar-like etc. Don't worry! Take care of your little one and get reassurance from the DR in the morning.
M
Usually black stool indicates blood in the food tract somewhere but in kids their poop can be just about any color...if you don't believe me feed them fruit loops for a day...It's gonna be a SCARY green.
Call the doc if it gets worse or runnier. They have someone on call all the time and they expect to be woken up for emergencies. This may indicate he is bleeding inside somewhere so if it changes for the worse call the doc.
Ulcer poo is not just black but also tar like from the digested blood. Sticky and gross. Not like a regular poo. I have one of those and if he does not complain of stomach pain at any other time, then I would say he probably ate something to cause the color. Grapes and grape juice make neon green. So it is feasible that it is a food.
It can be completely black from eating too many dark foods too. Especially things like black berries, blueberries and such. Think about what he had yesterday and couple of days prior before you panic. It's not likely to be something serious like an ulser. When a person is bleeding internally, you also want to look for coffee ground looking spots. That's a sign of dried blood. Call for sure but I bet it's diet related more than anything. Good luck.
