Baby poop colors - a visual guide no one prepared me for

Nov 221 min read

Our 8-week-old's poop changes color like every other day and I've had to Google 'is this normal poop color' approximately 847 times. Mustard yellow, then greenish, then back to yellow. Meanwhile my wife is just like 'yeah that's fine' while I'm over here taking photos to compare to the color chart. Is this something that eventually doesn't stress me out or does every new parent feel like a poop detective?

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Comments(15)

EEd R.Regular1d ago

Does your kid have a pediatrician nurse line you can call? Seriously worth asking them directly instead of googling. Takes like 2 minutes and way less stressful than trying to match colors on your phone screen to a medical chart.

GGreg W.Regular1d ago

My 8-week-old had this exact greenish phase and I was convinced something was wrong. Pediatrician basically said 'welcome to normal baby digestive variance' and suddenly it went back to yellow. So yeah, the stress does die down when you realize it's literally just normal variation.

SSam Y.Regular1d ago

The mustard yellow is the good stuff - that's literally what you want to see with breastfed babies. Once you know that, the stress drops like 80%. The color changes are normal as their digestive system is still figuring itself out. Give it another month and you'll stop caring so much.

MMiles B.New Dad1d ago

Wait until they start solids. That's when the REAL color palette shows up. Green peas = bright green poop. Sweet potato = orange poop. It's like a food science experiment.

GGene K.Regular1d ago

haha nailed it

TTom R.Regular1d ago

I feel like dads specifically go through this poop detective phase way more than moms do. My wife was like 'as long as there's output, we're good' and I was comparing hex color codes or something.

DDrew H.Regular1d ago

Taking photos is actually not the worst idea for your pediatrician appointment though. If something seems genuinely off color, having reference pics helps them see what you're describing. Just maybe delete them from your camera roll eventually lol.

BBob G.Regular1d ago

lol the photo documentation phase is real. I have like 200 pictures of my son's diapers on my phone from weeks 6-12. My wife found them and laughed for like 10 minutes straight.

LLuke N.Regular1d ago

Nah you're definitely overthinking this but also this is completely normal dad behavior so welcome to the club. The color chart obsession usually peaks around week 6-8 then you just stop caring. One day you'll realize you haven't thought about poop color in 3 weeks.

PPhil K.Regular1d ago

Honestly get the What to Expect app if you haven't already. Has a whole poop color guide built in so you don't have to Google at 3am like some kind of maniac. Saved me a lot of anxiety spikes.

LLeo R.New Dad1d ago

This is exactly why I bookmarked the pediatrician's number in my phone browser favorites lol. Called them about 6 times in the first 8 weeks with stupid questions. They were cool about it though.

WWade G.Regular1d ago

Does your kid seem healthy otherwise? Like eating okay, not fussy, gaining weight? Then honestly you're probably fine and your wife is right. The obsessing phase does chill out, usually around month 3-4 when you realize your kid has survived this long.

CChris T.Regular1d ago

The greenish color usually just means they're getting some of the foremilk if breastfeeding, nothing wrong with that. But yeah the constant checking never really stops, it just becomes less frequent. By 6 months you'll probably only think about it if something is ACTUALLY wrong.

MMarcus W.Regular1d ago

This is peak new dad energy and I respect it. The poop obsession will fade I promise. By month 4 you won't even look at the diaper before throwing it away.

PPete D.Regular1d ago

Dark greenish is meconium (newborn poop), yellowish-brown is normal for formula fed, mustard yellow is normal for breastfed. Once you know these three you can basically stop worrying. Anything between those is fine. Bright red or black is when you actually call the doctor.