hi mamas..me again!
2 days ago my daughter (18weeks) had a loose stool and yesterday she had one with some mucus (about the size of a quarter). My mom told me it was normal for a teething baby to have mucus in her stool but I called my pedi just to be on the safe side. My pedi is not in on Monday's but it is a large group so I knew I would get a pretty quick response. When a nurse returned my call she said the doctor wanted me to bring my daughter in & could I be there in 20 minutes (next open appointment I guess) So we rushed my baby to the doc's bringing the diaper as requested. The are running lab cultures on it..2 have come back negative.
She is not eating solids and I have been both breast & formula feeding her since week 1.
So, I have read on line that during teething mucus may appear in the stool due to excess saliva not being digested. She is showing all the signs I have been told to look for...excessive drooling after she had begun to swallow her spit...chewing (gnawing really) on everything.. irritability (normally she only cries when excessively tired) ... refusing to breast feed (wants to or so it seems but will turn away from my nipple after 1 or 2 sucks and whimper or cry only to try it again and again) and will only take a bottle with a fast flow nipple on it (usually prefers the slow flow and would rarely take a medium flow).
So, am I crazy to think my doc's office is making a big deal out of this? They seemed to ignore any reference to teething. I also mentioned that prior to this she had been more active than usual .. she has begun to crawl. Could teething be the cause?
well good news, all tests were negative. Now I have to be thankful that my insurance basically covers everything for my daughter (not so much for me... about 80%). She is still teething - plus going through a growth spurt and we have had some crying jags. But we will get through this!
I agree with everyone else - one odd diaper doesn't mean so much and you're lucky to have such a responsive pediatrician! Blood in the stool, which you often can't see, and repeated mucus could mean an allergy, food intolerance or other digestive issues which are much better to catch early.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that you see new teeth soon and/or all tests come back negative :)
I kinda think their reaction is a bit odd myself, but I guess you should be thankful they're thorough! ;) It could absolutely be teething, although to be honest, she would be on the young side of teething. Her symptoms do indicate teething, so it's possible, but both my kids exhibited similar symptoms from about 4 months and no tooth appeared until 8-9 months. The mucus poop sometimes happens to my kids randomly too...it's usually only once or twice and then nothing more. If I only see if a few times I don't call the doctor, BUT...it could also be a sign of C-dif. I'm not sure it's real name, but it's a virus/bacteria (not sure) that causes the runs and it can be very difficult from which to recover. I would bet that's why the doctors were wanting to run tests, and it can be pretty bad for a baby that young, but if the tests came back negative you have nothing to worry about...I might just ask them if that's what they tested for though.
Be glad that your doctor is taking you seriously and testing the sample you brought in. If you didn't think it was possibly a big deal you wouldn't have called them on their day off to get assurance and if they didn't think it was possibly a side effect of a serious illness they wouldn't be running tests on the sample. If all results come back negative then you will all be able to rest easy and blame the occasional abnormal stool on her teething. Best Wishes!
Doctors don't like to jump to the teething conclusion because something more serious could easily be missed. It's best to veer on the safe side to ensure it isn't viral. It'll give you peace of mind anyways.
I'm actually going through the same thing with my daughter atm. I started using a nipple shield to help with the teething. She nurses a lot better now.
C.
www.momsinstinct.com
Here is a thread on the topic on LLL. I was thinking food sensitivity too, but if it was just one poop....????
My son experienced the same thing at about the same time. It was due to teething. He suffered no ill effects. I agree -- it's a little unsettling to see a blob of mucus in your child's diaper! I'm glad your pediatrician is so responsive and thorough!
If the mucous continues or you see signs of blood, food sensitivity is definitely a high possibility. Dairy would be the first thing to cut out of both of your diets (since you're BF), followed by gluten, corn, etc. Good luck.
yes, remember doctors are trained to make sick people better so when they look at that they see all the "illnesses" that could be causing it. if you think its teething then i bet it is. if she were sick id think you as mom would know. Do you know that 60% of the time docs prescribe antibiotics its because they just want to appease the parent even though they know they wont help in that situation? sometimes as a mom you have to make it clear to them youd rather not go the pharma route and then they calm down a little with the drugs. If not consider switching practices
If I saw one abnormal stool in my child and no other symptoms, I would not worry at all. I would not call a doc or prob think enough of it to mention it to anyone. If I saw a repeat, then I would certainly pay more attn. Have you seen any more mucus? As far as teething, could be, or might not be. My 2nd baby did cut his first tooth at 4 months, so it is possible.
