I’m glad to say that baby’s poop had no blood in it today. Yesterday we had two more scary looking, explosive poops with orange jelly and red threads of blood. Followed by some scratchy, dry, green looking poops, and finally today back to normal, mustard-yellow, runny poops. More information than you probably wanted, but I thought I’d share the good news. Poop-watching is important business for us new mothers.

The scoop on baby poop is that there are a wide variety of colours and consistencies out there, most of them normal. Yellow, runny poop is the most common, particularly for breastfed babies. It’s usually mustard-yellow with seedy, chunky bits. Formula fed babies tend to have thicker, darker poop, more orange and tan-brown. It smells worse too. Another good reason to breastfeed.

By the way, did you know that scientific studies have shown that mum’s prefer the smell of their own baby’s poop, above all others? Aren’t you glad that someone, somewhere is funding this important research in the world?

Back to types of poop. Then there’s green poop, which if baby is breastfed can indicate a food allergy (like dairy, or kombucha) or that baby is getting too much skinny foremilk and not enough fatty hindmilk (keep baby on the boob longer, ladies!) Green poop in a formula fed baby can mean too much iron in the formula. Green, mucousy poop can also mean a virus, but so long as baby seems happy, it’s nothing to worry about.

The bad poop colours to watch out for are black, dark red or white (the exception is baby’s first poop the meconium, which is usually dark and sticky). Dark poop, especially black tarry poop at any other time, or red currant jelly poop, means some kind of internal bleeding. White chalky poop means that baby’s liver isn’t working properly and isn’t producing any bile to break down the milk. If you see any of these poops call the doctor immediately.

I’ve started watching baby’s poop like a hawk, and now I’m even starting to look at my own poop. Not something I’d normally confess to, but ever since I had a baby I’ve lost all sense of decorum when it comes to bodily functions. Apparently you can tell a lot about a person’s health by their poop. Not that I’m going to go around looking at anyone else’s, but if my poop looks good then baby’s poop is probably going to look good. And that makes me a very happy mum.