"The Many Colors of Poop"

I mentor in a pediatric office where I am enjoying everything I can about young people, especially babies. In babies there are different things that a parent must watch for. One of the things that should be watched in a baby is the color of their feces. In an book written by Laura A. Jana, MD, and Jennifer Shu, MD, the many colors of feces and what to watch out for is described.
Once a baby has bowel movements enough to get rid of the tarry meconium, acceptable feces colors are yellow, brown, and even sometimes green. For a baby who breast feeds, the normal color is mustardy yellow. For babies who take formula, the color is yellow-tan with hints of green. A changing in color is not uncommon and will happen when the baby is introduced to new things such as solid foods or experience a snotty nose cold. New introductions can cause a change in a baby's feces. However, red, black, and white are colors that you would want to take to the attention of your pediatrician. When red presents itself, it can mean that blood is in the baby's feces. This should not cause a parent to panic because during delivery it is possible for the baby to swallow some blood and it present itself later; however, this is something that should be brought to the doctors attention. If the feces is black this can mean that there is old blood due to blood turning from red to black over time. However, it must be remembered that seeing black feces does not apply to a babies first meconium bowel movements because seeing black and tarry feces is fully expected. If the feces is white, it should be brought to a doctors attention as soon as possible because this could mean an underlying liver problem which could be very bad. Although change in a babies feces is fully expected, there is need to watch it in case there is a bad change in the color that could tell you vital information about your babies health.

I really thought that reading this excerpt was interesting because even though I have been mentoring with a pediatrician, I did not know that color changes comes along with an introduction of something new, nor did I know what a color change meant. Due to my interest in learning about babies, how they work, and their diseases/illnesses, I think that this information helped to further my knowledge.

Works Cited:
Jana, Laura A., and Jennifer Shu. "The Many Colors of Poop: Book Excerpt from the Authors of Heading Home with Your Newborn | Simply Being Mommy." Simply Being Mommy | Texas Mommy Blogger. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. .