When you’re still in the hospital, or maybe on your first day home it happens. A disgusting looking tar explodes out of your baby. This greenish black substance is not indicating you gave birth to an alien, it is called meconium. This ugly substance built up in your baby’s body while they were still in the womb. The meconium usually only lasts for the first day or two, you’ll survive, we all do.

During the next few days, you’ll notice the baby poop changes to a brownish-green color and takes on the consistency of peanut butter. Don’t worry, there will be no mistaking it for peanut butter, the smell will make sure there are no questions.

Checking the color and texture of baby poop can tell you secrets about the child. A quick observation will tell you whether a baby is breast fed, or is on formula. A breast fed baby most commonly has a yellow color. Formula fed babies have more brown color to their stools, and usually it is a little firmer in consistency. Breast fed babies sometimes go up to 3 days without a producing a diaper loaded with baby poop. Don’t count on that fact, because the next day, the same breast fed baby makes up for it with 3 or 4 dirty diapers. Most formula fed babies are more consistent with their bowel movements.

The other surefire detection method between a breast fed or formula fed baby is the smell of the baby poop. Don’t go around smelling baby poop, people will think you’ve lost your mind. Don’t worry, you wont need to get your nose close to know the difference, a formula fed baby’s stool smells stronger, more closely resembling an older child’s.

The real fun in baby poop starts when they begin eating baby food. You may be startled to find a rainbow of colors in your baby’s diaper. After being fed carrots or squash, your baby may produce a diaper full of orange, or sometimes almost red looking stool. Green vegetables can result in an equally impressive color in the diaper. The most fun is on those days they ate both. You may discover your baby is the Picasso of baby poop.

The real joy of baby poop is all about the consistency. One day it is a nice, easy to clean solid. The next day, it is exploding out the sides of the diaper, staining everything in site. The only sure thing about baby poop, it’s going to stink.

On a more serious note, if you ever believe you are detecting blood in your baby’s stools, make sure to contact the Doctor. It could be a serious issue.

Now that you know all of the mysteries of baby poop, make sure you show off your baby’s artistic work to all your friends. Just a word of warning, when you start the show, you’ll quickly discover your social calendar becoming empty. Some things are better left to parents, and baby poop is one of those things.

A few of the signs of constipation can include:

1. Less than 3 bowel movements in one week.
2. If your baby is not wanting to eat.
3. Excessive crying and discomfort, accompanying the lack of bowel movements.
4. Your babies belly feels harder than normal.

Baby constipation is often not identified by the lack of bowel movements, but by the passage of hard, dry, pellet baby poop. This is an indication your baby is lacking in either dietary fiber, or may be slightly dehydrated.

If you are seeing the dry poo, then you may want to start by increasing fluids. Adding a few ounces of water to your babies daily diet can help alleviate dehydration. For older infants, adding prune, apple, or pear juice can help tremendously.

It is very rare for baby constipation to take place in babies who are only breast fed. A common time for babies to develop constipation is when they experience a change in their diets. Changing from breast feeding to formula, can trigger constipation. When you first start feeding a baby food, most commonly rice cereal, your baby may also develop constipation.

If the baby constipation is occurring after changes in the diet, you may need to consider changing formulas, or types of cereals. Rice cereal has very low amounts of fiber, which can lead to more opportunity for baby constipation. Switching to an oat or barley based cereal, with higher fiber, usually corrects the problem. Our babies react differently to different formula recipes. Consult your Doctor for advice on changing formulas if you have recurring bouts with constipation.

You may hear some people claim iron in the formula is the culprit leading to baby constipation. Iron is essential for your baby, and has been shown to cause no increase in cases of constipation. Do not choose a formula without iron, just because your baby is becoming constipated.

When moving your baby from strained baby foods, up to finger foods, and table foods, is another common time constipation may strike. These foods have less moisture, and you need to make sure to increase your babies intake of water, or juice to offset the change.

For stubborn episodes of baby constipation, you may need to encourage additional movement. Crawling is an excellent method to break loose the bowels. For smaller infants, you can help them exercise and stimulate their bowels, by moving their legs in a motion similar to crawling.

In more extreme cases, your Doctor may recommend or prescribe using a suppository. Do not consider a laxative or suppository without your Doctor’s advice, you could be asking for major problems.

When baby constipation strikes your household, the most important thing to keep in mind is hydration. Make sure your baby has plenty of fluids, and most times their bodies will correct themselves. If baby constipation persists, contact your Doctor’s office.