Hi all,

I exclusively breastfeed my 5 1/2 month old daughter. She has been having blood streaked stools on and off for the past 4 weeks. Initial inspection of the rectal area by her Pediatrician did not reveal anything abnormal. He suspected that it might be an internal anal fissure and since she was eating, playing and sleeping normally we waited for 2 weeks to see if the problem went away. It did not. So her stool culture and blood were tested for any infection or anemia. She cleared both tests.

We next wanted to check if anything in my diet might be causing an allergy. So I was off dairy, nuts, berries etc to see if it helped. There was no difference again.

Meanwhile I've been applying an antiseptic ointment \";Neosporin\"; to her rectal area with every diaper change. It seems to help for 2 days and then the 3rd day the problem is back.

Interestingly she has blood only in the 2nd or 3rd bowel movement for the day and none in the bulk that she passes in the morning.

We are now wondering if we shud consult a Pediatric Gastro enterologist.

Thanking you much in advance and in anticipation of your reply,
Tara Jayanthi replied.
Hi,

Blood streaked stools are quite common in infants apparently. My 5 month old daughter had it when she was around 2 months old - my paediatrician assured me that as long as it was just streaks(like thin lines) of blood it was okay and was probably due to straining while passing stools. My daughter still gets it occasionally . I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you.

Cheers

Jayanthi Aarti replied. Hi Tara,
I had the same problem when my son was 3 months old. I din't exclusively breastfedd him. So i thought Formula milk was the reason. It lasted for about a month. And it disaapeared as suddenly as it had begun.
So don't worry, i think it is just a matter of time. Maybe you can try applying Shudh Ghee to thhe rectal area.

Regards,
Aarti