Help! There Are Black Worms in my Baby’s Poo!
May 7th, 2008 by Christine
We received an e mail earlier this week from Cheow in Singapore who was horrified to find something nasty in her baby’s diaper.
His poo seemed to be full of little black threads. She told us “… they look like worms, but they are not moving. And there are LOTS of them!”
Of course, we are not doctors – and it is ALWAYS important to seek medical advice when you have any concerns about your baby.
However, one thing that immediately sprang to mind when Cheow mentioned black worms were – believe it or not – bananas!
Yes, strange though it may seem, eating bananas can lead to the appearance of black, fibrous threads in baby’s poop and – from personal experience – we agree that they do look alarmingly like worms!
This is a harmless and perfectly normal phenomenon – although the black bits may sometimes look more like specks than threads or worms.
We suggested to Cheow that bananas might be the cause and asked if her little boy (Kang) had eaten any recently.
Well, we received another message from Cheow today, telling us…
Kang loves bananas and recently has been eating them up to twice a day. We took him to see the doctor anyway and she agreed that bananas were the cause – in fact, the staff at the hospital thought it was funny that we thought they were worms! Kang hasn’t had any more bananas since we received your reply… and there are no more ‘worms’ in his diaper!
We’re glad you’ve identified the cause, Cheow – although, of course, it’s fine to continue to include bananas in little Kang’s diet.
After introducing solid foods to baby, there are very noticeable changes in his poop – and they CAN be a little worrying, particularly when you’ve become accustomed to the yellow, almost sweet-smelling poop of the breast fed baby!
Sometimes you may find little bits of undigested food – and some foods may have an extreme effect on the appearance on your baby’s poo – beets, for example, can give it a positively red colour and may even give a pink hue to his pee!
As we mentioned, you should always see your doctor if you are worried – but most of the strange sights you’ll see will be a perfectly normal part of your baby’s transition to solid foods!
Poop talk…
Well, the topics of conversation certainly change when you’re a Mum, don’t they?
But if YOU have ever noticed that a certain food has had an unexpected affect on your baby’s poo, we’d love you to tell us about it by leaving your comments below! That way, other Mums on the verge of introducing a new food to their babies may have a better idea of what they may find in their little one’s diaper as a result!
Oh thank you !! My 4 month old baby has just started solids this week and he ate a spoonful of mashed up banana on Tuesday. He didn’t have a poo on Tues, Wed or Thurs and when he did go today, his nappy was FULL of the black threadlike things !!! I’ve been worried sick about it all morning and have been searching the internet for information, when I stumbled upon this article – I’m so relieved now – thanks once again . . . .and Thank God ! for the internet !!!
I’m happy to hear this post helped solve the problem!
Phew! Thanks loads. I was scared it was blood in her poo but am very relieved as she had banana yesterday for the first time! Just how you describe. What a strange reaction! Thanks very much.
You’re welcome, Sophie.
After reading this I am relief that it may be nothing major. My son did ate a few banana a couple of weeks back, in Brasil. But I have not seen the blackish threads in the poo. He just ate couple of pieces of banana a couple of days ago (in Sao Paulo, Brasil) and now there are those threads and the poo is somewhat runny and mucus like.
It has been two days now and I was wondering how long does this last.
By the way, we have given him a few bananas in the past in the USA, but never noticed the threads.
Thanks.
We’ve added a new page to our site today with lots of tips, recipes and ideas for introducing bananas to your baby!
You can see our new Banana Baby Food page here
What a relief! Found lots of black threads/worms in my sons poo and yes he had eaten banana for breakfast. First time I noticed it in such quantity so may just cut down on the portion I give him with his porridge. Useful info, thanks
Thanks for this post! I just started my son on bananas yesterday and his poop yesterday and today had them in it so I freaked. Googled it and found your blog, I feel better now
Happy to help, Suzanne
I was so horrified seeing SO MANY black work like strings in my daughter’s diaper after she ate banana. I took her to the doctor. These doctors are so dumb, they couldn’t tell me what it was, and asked me to come back after 4 days. I came worrying out of doctor office. Basically they want us to go visit them more so that they can get more money. I was relieved when one of my friend told me it could be banana. And when I searched on the internet, I am convinced that it is defintely banana, it cant be anything else. I know what my daughter eats all day. It has to be banana. If anyone out there is worried about the same issue, please relax, its just banana.
What if it’s not banana? My baby’s 5 months old and I saw them in her nappy for the first time yesterday. She has never had any banana. She did have a little bit of pureed apple and peach the day before, and last week she’d had a bad case of constipation for which the doctor prescribed a small dose of a mild laxative (one dose seemed to do the trick), but definitely no banana!
Louise, as we said in our post, we are not doctors so we don’t like to speculate about what might be causing this… it’s just that bananas are a very common culprit and it’s worth knowing that the ‘black worms’ phenomenon can often be triggered by eating them. If your baby has not eaten bananas, then we recommend checking with your doctor to see what is responsible. Please let us know how your little one gets on.
HI All
Thank you for all these messages posted! I too freaked out this morning when i saw the thread like black stuff in her poo!
I also fed her bananas (but only one spoonful)! But at least I am quite convinced now that bananas should be the culprit!
Hello
My husband and I were freaking out as my baby has just had a poo full of black fibrous threads. There is no way he could have eaten anything other that what we are giving him. We have started weaning with baby rice and banana. We guess that is what it must be!
oh yes! thanks for posting this.. i’m glad it wasn’t what i thought it was… yay!
Thank God i came across your blogg. I too thought that my baby had worms. i have never heard of this reaction before, and havent heard other mums talking about this either. My baby had some banana yesterday which resulted in the black type threads in his poo.
I must also say thank goodness for this post as I am another mom who just feed my 5 1/2 month old some banana for the first time and was about to call the doctor saying I think my baby girl has worms. Thank you so much.
You are very welcome!
OMG!!!! Exactly the same thing has just happened to me!! My daughter had banana for the first time this afternoon – my heart was racing while I tried to finish changing her nappy so I could look it up on the net! What a relief!!!!
[...] Help! There are black worms in my baby’s poo! [...]
OMG Thank you! My daughter has been eating bananas alot lately and I too googled it and found this blog. I feel much, much better knowing that there are not worms in her poop!
Thanks a bunch, I was about to take my 5 month old to the emergency room because I thought he had worms (tons of them). He has been eating bananas with his oatmeal, but just recently I gave him a real banana and not baby food. I wonder if there’s a difference.
That’s an interesting point, Erinn – I would imagine that a real banana would be much more likely to cause this reaction than jarred baby food, which goes through more processing. Anyone noticed this type of reaction with jarred baby food?
Hi
My son has had literally millions of black specs in his poo – freaked me out, and I wander if this is from Banana – he has most days from breakfast, should I decrease the amount he is having or even give him a break from it? And why does this happen? It isn’t just from banana it seems others are reporting that it is happening from other fruit as well.
Cheers
bek
Rebecca, the specks are likely from the bananas – but, as always, it’s best to check with your doctor if you feel there may be another cause. Although I’d imagine black specks/worms are the result of the way the body processes bananas (and perhaps other fruits too), your doctor may be able to give you a clear explanation as to why this is so! Unless your doctor advises otherwise, there shouldn’t really be any reason to limit bananas in your son’s diet – as we mentioned in our original post, two of our children had the ‘wormy poo’ after eating banana, yet our pediatrician confirmed that this was harmless. Indeed, they carried on eating bananas regularly and eventually the worms no longer appeared!
oK SO MY 6 MONTH OLD ATE A FEW BITES OF BANANA THIS MORN. THIS AFTERNOON NAPPY DIAPER FILLED WITH BLACK THREAD LIKE WORM LIKE THINGS. SO I CALLED DR THEY DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS TOLD ME TO BRING HER IN AND THE DIAPER IN 2MORROW. NOW THAT I HAVE SEEN THIS SITE I FEEL MUCH BETTER ABOUT THIS I MAY CANCEL HER APPT AND SAVE CO PAY AFTER READING ALL THE COMMENTS. SHE HAS EATEN JAR BANANAS AND THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED TO HER SO I GUESS A FEW BITE OF REAL BANANA AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS. THANK YOU!
Christine, Wow! Another grateful person for your blog! My little one ate some banana last week! And just this week started with her “theads in poo” for my life I could not figure out what it was until I found your blog. Whew, Thanks!
You’re welcome
Thanku 4 this site. I just noticed the same in my sons nappy he 6 months n I gave him banana 2day and he had them in his nappy tonite – I was so alarmed until I read this
hi! Thank u for this information. Now I know whats the effect of the bananas to my baby. Thanks! I’m not worried anymore, but I have a question… why is it always hard for my baby to make poo. Can you help me……………
Jea, have you checked our Baby Constipation page? There are lots of tips there to help your baby ‘go’. Hope this helps!
Hi Christine,
Thank you very much for your website and your blog too. They’re very useful.
You’re very welcome Han – I’m glad you’ve found it useful
Hi Christine,
Thank you! I am so relieved that I found your blog. My 5 1/2 months old daughter had a tiny bit of banana yesterday for the first time and I was freaking out when I changed her diaper today. I wonder what other “surprises” I will find as we continue on with this solid foods journey
Hello,
I freaked out when my baby had the same thing yesterday. He is not even 4 months so he has not started on baby food. He is breast fed and formula fed, so on this note I ate a bananna for the first time since I have been breast feeding him, since I am not to fond of bananas. Could the same be true since they supposedly eat everything we do? I have taken him to the doctor and I am just to wait until the next poop to take a sample to the doctor so that they can run some tests. If anything serious I will keep you posted
Anna, we haven’t yet heard from a parent whose baby has experienced this after exclusively breastfeeding – but that certainly doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Please do let us know what the doctor says
oh how i love the internet. i just changed my daughters diaper who is one year old. her diaper was filled with little black worm like threads. yes she ate banana yesterday and today. i feel a lot better and can now have a good nights sleep.
Geez… a big stone lifted off my head. My 7 month old son had his diaper covered with this timy threadlike stuff and i got really scared. have been searching the net and so releived to see your explanation… and yes he did have banana yesterday… thanks a ton…
Hi Christine,
.
Thank you for your blog again, I’ve used a lot of your information, your recipies for my son
I have a question about feeding fruit. My son loves to eat fruit and yogurt but he doesn’t love milk or cereal. About a week ago, he quited his bedtime meal. So I’m wondering about giving him fruit or yogurt ( mix with milk ) before bedtime. Is it ok? If it is, which kind of fruits can I give to him?
Please let me know which is good for him, b/c I’m worried he’ll get hungry if he has the last meal at 5PM ( his bedtime’s about 8PM ).
Thank you very much!
Han, how old is your little one? Also, when you say he has stopped his bedtime meal, are you referring to a milk feed or a solid feed?
Hi,
My son is 8 month old, since his birth he doesnot like milk even my breast milk. I had to pump the milk for him, and from 6th month, I give him solid food and I have to mix solid food with milk b/c he never drinks milk from bottles ( he only drunk milk when he was sleeping ). Before turning to 8 month, he had 6oz milk at 8pm when he was sleeping but now he doesnot want to drink when sleeping anymore. So I’m kind a worried that he’ll get hungry at night. Please give me your advice.
Thank a lot!
So sorry, Han – I’ve only just seen your post. Is your little one’s progress and nutrition being evaluated by a pediatrician?
Hello! My 5 1/2 month old has just started on solids, and has been on pureed apple for last week, and today and black threadlike bits on her poo… hoping maybe its not just banana that causes this? Thank you for this super useful and relevant blog/site, great to find!
hi
my 3month-old daughter feeds only on the breast milk but has got small white worm-like creatures. what is it? please help
Sahra, in this situation it really would be best to get the opinion of your child’s doctor or another medical professional.
Oh, beautiful! I’ve seen these things before in my other children, but I just changed my 18 month old’s diaper and found quite a load of these “things.” Since we spent all day yesterday at the park and in a public swimming pool, I was suspecting the worst. However, he did indeed eat bananas yesterday, so I’m feeling pretty confident that is the smoking gun!
Very useful!
We have just started our 5 month old with some bananas and found the black ‘worms’ I suspected it was the bananas but it was good to read this which has confirmed my suspicions.
Panic over!
Thanks!
Thank you so much! I was definitely scared when I saw the black threads in my son’s poop and was about to call the ped. My husband said check the internet and here it was! Thanks again, i will definitely visit this again!
This info was so helpful I suspected it to be bananas because i examined the left over baby food that included bananas in the fridge that i made my daughter after noticing the “crazy banana strings” in her diaper. I saw those very fibers in the bowl. They were not black they were light brown and had the same consistency as what was in her diaper. The ones in her diaper were more coiled so they still alarmed me a little. The info on your sight has calmed my soul…thank you.
[...] I googled it like I google everything else. I found this great article which calmed me [...]
Tks so much for your blog info! Really worried to death… when we saw the worm like dark brown stuff in my 4mth old baby. We just gave her, her first semi-solid – mashed bananas yesterday.
I feel glad that we are sticking to feeding her with 1 kind of food per wk, so that we can be sure what food cause what kind of reaction/allergy.
Isn’t the internet great! I have just changed my 7 month old son’s nappy and noticed the same black thread like worms, and of course the first thing you think of is dried blood. I am now relieved to read the above blogs, and yes my son also had his first banana yesterday.
I changed my son’s diaper a little while ago and found white thread like things in his poop. He did eat two bananas today but they are white and not black. The threads aren’t moving but am horrified to even think he might have worms.
April, to be on the safe side I would check this out with your pediatrician. Please let us know the outcome
I’m so glad that I found your web site. I had rush my baby Talor to the doctors because she had black worm like bugs in her diaper and the doctors took the diaper to be sent in and it was bananas. But I was so worried I disinfected my house, called all my friends that I went to, told them to disinfect their houses. And one of my girl friends looked up ‘parasites black worms’, got this site and then called me and said that it was normal. So to all parents – they look like worms but don’t move and there is a lotttt of them and they are black. Saidi Lefebvre
Thank you for your advice, our baby has been eating bananas all this week as he was suffering from diarrhea and doctor suggested bananas as they can cause the opposite effect. Today on our baby’s nappy change we have noticed the brownish little ‘worms’, as we thought they were, but after a 2 hour web searching we came accross your site. Thank you again for your tip! We can also send a microscopic picture of these brownish fibres to anyone that is interested to compare.
Thank you so much!!! I was on the verge of a panic attack, I was examining my 4 mths old poo for hours trying to figure out how she could have worms!!lol
WOW!! Im sooooo relieved!! Ive just started weaning my little Ryan at 5 Months old, i gave him banana mixed with baby rice this morning and found those lil black threads, im glad its perfectly normal.
Thanks for the advice!
I was wondering, why my 4months baby did’nt have that kind of “black Worm” in his poo, but his poo became dark yellow & the smell became very uncommon, after i fed him 1 spoon mashed banana mixed with homemade baby cereal (brown rice). Is it Normal? i was worried & decide for not giving any banana anymore. then go back to baby cereal & sweet potato. within 1 day, his poo turned to be normal.
is there any clue for this? thx for the advice.
Different foods can certainly produce different looking (and smelling) poos, so it’s likely just the slight change to his diet. However, if you are at all concerned, it’s always best to check with your doctor.
Just found in my 6 month old baby girls poo had lots of tiny little black “threads” in it.
Looked like worms, but none were moving and nothing looking like a head, but still concerning.
A quick look in baby books and a google search didn’t help much, until I delved 3 or 4 pages into the search results (and found this site!).
Thank you very much for recording this information, as it gives us a little peace of mind.
Will stop the banana for a few days and see what happens.
Cheers David.
Thank you so much for this post! I too was freaking out about these black specks. VERY relieved I am not alone & that it was caused from a banana! Crazy!
Thankyou so much.. you dont know how relieved I am to know its nothing but the little piece of banana I gave my son yesterday which resulted in this ugly looking terrifying poo with black threads…
My baby ate a banana yesterday and today her poop had the thread wormy looking things but instead of being black they were reddish brownish color. I don’t know if it’s cause of the banana. Please help
Orli, I can’t say for sure – and it’s always a good idea to check with your doctor if you’re concerned – but it’s very likely these threads are caused by the banana. As a matter of fact, since this post was originally made, I’ve had ANOTHER baby whose diapers look decidedly wormy after banana – and I would say that the threads do appear brownish in colour at times.
Oh thank God I found ur website..I as most of ur bloggers have said had the same thing these stringy worm like things in bubs nappy after eating banana for a few days. I’m soo relieved to know that banana caused this. Thanks a million a relieved mum :O)
You’re welcome Nicolle