How can I tell if my baby has diarrhoea?
Many parents wonder if their baby has diarrhoea because bowel movements in a newborn tend to occur frequently. Your baby’s ordinary bowel movements will depend very much on whether she’s being breast or formula fed. The bowel movements of breastfed newborn babies are usually yellowish, on the soft or liquid side and may occur up to five times daily. Sometimes a breastfed baby will have a bowel movement during or immediately after each breastfeeding session. This occurs because as her stomach fills up, the milk stimulates her entire intestinal tract, prompting a bowel movement. Within a month, most breastfed babies are down to one or two bowel movements a day. The bowel movements of formula-fed babies tend to occur once a day and are fairly firm. Occasional loose stools are normal. If your baby begins frequently passing smelly, watery, mucus-streaked stools (one doctor describes this as looking like you blew your nose in your child’s nappy) – as much as a bowel movement per feed after t
