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
Hi.. My daughter ate bananas last few days and her poop had black strings and when i searched internet for a reason, found your blog and was relieved after reading it.
Thanks for the information.
You’re welcome!
Crazy that doctors aren’t better informed about this! I took my 4 month old to the doctor with a diaper full of these black threads, and they sent in lab tests. I disinfected the entire house, got rid of my cats, treated the whole family with hook worm medication… Got lab results after 2 weeks, there were no parasites or ova. Doctor just said that they were probably dead hook worms. Worms showed up again today (first time eating bananas since first incident), but I turned to internet this time instead of docs. I am so relieved! Thank you soooooo much!
You’re welcome – but I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. What a nightmare!
So familiar! I stopped giving my baby bananas because I realized that it is causing the black threads in her poop. I thought it was some kind of allergic reaction! She loves bananas and I now feel guilty that I stopped giving them to her for more than one month. Now that I know that it’s common, I will definitely give her bananas for breakfast!
Thanks!
Thankyou so much for this post. This afternoon i gave my five months old just one and a half teaspoon of banana. Just an hour ago, when i opened her diaper.. it was full of black strings. The first thing i did was open my laptop to look over the net with one hand and call my baby’s ped for an appointment with the other. Wow! so relieved to see your blog… banana was the culprit
))
Thankyou so much
You’re very welcome
WOW. Same thing happened to me! I opened the diaper and freaked out! I thought she had worms…but they wernt moving. I know my bby girls grandma was giving her mashed bananas..but I wasn’t sure why that would cause worms…so I googled it. lol. And then I found this article. HUGE RELEIF! thanks alot!!What a weird reaction!!I was about to kill my mother in law! lol. Shes always wanting to feed her weird things..lol.I feel so much better now.
thankss!
My little boy, Lucas, has had banana on a few occasions and always had these worm like threads in his poo, but never had them at any other time or with any other fruit. I know with my little boy that it only happens after a banana, he’s had pears and lots of other fruits and never had the worm like threads. Thanx
I am convinced it is the bananas too. I gave my bub some fresh banana yesterday for the first time. I had her banana-caked bib soaking in a tub and noticed little pink ‘worm like’ things floating on the top of the water this morning – figured it was some fibre from the banana. Then half an hour later changed her nappy and saw the same worm things all through her poo – only black this time. The digestive track must change the colour. Exact same thing though. freaky but interesting.
This is the second day my little girl’s nappy have been full of the black worms!! What had I fed her differently? Bananas of course… Thank you so much for the confirmation and sharing other Mum’s concerns.
Thank you SO much for this article! I too searched the internet trying to figure out what the heck these tons of brown stringy things were in my 1 year old’s diaper….based on my search I was sure it was either tapeworms or pin worms( but I read these are white in color so I ruled that out) – THEN I stumbled on your article – thank you.
Quick question – we introduced her to bananas a couple of weeks ago but JUST noticed them in her diaper this evening (she did have a few banana slices this morning) ? Do you know why they just showed up now?
Hi Catherine, I’m afraid we don’t have an explanation as to why these ‘worms’ show up at some time and not others, although we’ve noticed the same thing ourselves! Sometimes, it may be that the colour of the rest of the poop is disguising their appearance – we’ve always found them to be more prominent in the early days of introducing solids then, when our babies have a wider menu, we rarely see them!
Thank goodness! Yes, bananas are the only thing my 7 mo old daughter will eat beside breastmilk. I noticed the fibers yesterday, hers are dark redish/brown wormy-looking, but only occur when she eats bananas. She had them w/ jarred bananas but lighter in color, much more & darker w/ fresh banana. Also have noticed when I eat loads of green veggies, cabbage, spinach, etc and she nurses her poo turns really green. Anyone else notice that? As with the bananas, It’s an interesting phenomenon. So glad I found this site! Thanks
WHEW!!! Why don’t they warn us about this in baby food recipe books?!?! Seems like it’s been the cause of a LOT of grey hairs out there!!
Lol – yes, we’ve been amazed by how many people have commented on this post. Hopefully it’s SAVED a few grey hairs
My son had the `black worms’ too, he had spoonful of bananas for a few days now. I will cut the banana out and see if it goes away. What a relief. I cant thank you enough for this post!!
You’re welcome – I’m glad it helped
I am so glad you posted this! My husband came running in to me with a full diaper, freaked out by the little black threads, and thinking Jose was going to have to go to the ER. I told him to wait until I did some “research” online. Thank god that its only banannas!
Thank goodness for this posting. I was so disgusted, but thought it was the bananas she ate. Thanks so much for posting this info.
You’re welcome
I’m 23 years old and noticed this stuff recently when I “dropped my kids off at the pool” I was pretty concerned, enough to search and this and other baby sites seem to be the center of this knowledge
At least I’m not infected with parasites.
hi,
I did gave my 5mnth old mashed banana’s few weeks ago for the first and last time but why these thread like things keep coming till now??
After this period of time, it wouldn’t be the banana causing this – however, other fruits and veggies may have a similar effect. If you are in any doubt, it is better to check with your baby’s doctor – just to be on the safe side.
I am SO RELAXED after reading this Post
I gave my 4 months old Baby, Banana for the first time…and he had black worms in his poo too… 
After reading this i am so glad that it is not any thing to worry…
So happy to have found this post! Found black threads this evening in my 5 1/2 month old son’s nappy, even my mum – a mother of 5 – didn’t know what it was (knew threadworms are white so didn’t think thats what it was) to have an answer is such a relief – he had bannana yesterday! Thank you.
My baby is exclusively breastfed and had this, so it’s not from any food in our case, at least. Almost every baby eats bananas, so of course it’s easy to blame it on them.
There may be other causes – which is why we suggest checking with your doctor to be on the safe side – but in the vast majority of cases the banana IS responsible, as it has that stringy, fibrous look when passed in the stool. Michelle, has your doctor given you any idea what it may be in your little one’s case?
This blog is useful, but there is no explanation why it happens? Is it a digestion problem? Is it some alergic? Please reply if anybody knows…
As an earlier ‘commenter’ remarked, these threads are visible in banana itself if you look very closely. It’s likely that they simply pass through baby’s body and come out pretty much the same as they went in (like some other foods!). It certainly doesn’t seem to be caused by a digestive problem and is not, in itself, an allergic reaction. Hope this helps.
thank godness I found this blog. I almost freak out when i saw the worm like black threads . I called my friend and she told me it’s normal when they take bananas and i search the web and found this blog which confirms it . Phew what a relief.
Thanks a ton Christine… I am a first time mom and my baby is about to be introduced to solid food. You can imagine how I would freak out when I see black worms like things in her nappy. Now I know what to expect.. What a relief.. Thanks again
You’re very welcome
oh my god…banana…..thnks
I just had my bub’s stool examined because I saw these thread-like things in her poop a couple of weeks ago. We’ve always given her banana to eat but these black threadlike things only started to show when we visited Manila, so I thought maybe they were worms. Now that I’ve read this I’m thinking it could be banana. I’ll get the results on Tuesday hopefully not worms. Fingers-crossed!
We have ours crossed for you too Karen.
Thank you so much for posting this. I am so relieved.
My husband and I were going crazy this morning after we found zillions of black threads in our seven month old’s poo. Our pediatrician prescribed several tests for stool. Luckily I found your site and we are more relaxed now. We just introduced him to bananas two days ago.
man i was haven a panic attack over here ..i thought my baby had worms……. dam banners…..i dug thru her nasty diaper and all…..
Thank you so much. I was worried sick just now while changing her! Finding this article really calmed me down
Bananas!
Hi there,
I too just found the brown stringy things in my babies diaper, but as the minority (seen two posts describing the same as what I am about to) my baby is still only breastfed. However, the last week or so I have been going crazy on bananas. Could it be that it is passed on through the breast milk?
Hi Jannica – as you say, you’re not the only one who has mentioned this after exclusively breastfeeding, so it may be a possibility. I wouldn’t want to say for sure, so it would be a good idea to check with your doctor – in fact, it would be great if you could post back here and let us know what he/she said.
Hi there, My daughter has never eaten bananas as she is prone to constipation and bananas can aggravate it. She has also had these black threads in her poop and Im sure it’s fiberous foods that cause it.
thank u so much for all the informationa and also reading the comments and experiences of all mums with their lil ones having their poop changed after having banana ..i feel so relieved that its normal phenomenon ..THANKS
I’m glad it helped set your mind at rest.
My son is 2 and has had a lot of bananas and no black string poop. Now he is on Flagyl for possible bowel infection (all test came up neg) and has started having black strings in diaper after eating banana. Could this be a parasite in the banana or just the fiber? Just strange to me that it started happening after we started taking meds for intestinal issues!
I’d guess it’s still banana fiber rather than a parasite – although only your doctor can tell you for sure. I agree it’s strange that you’re only seeing this for the first time since he started the meds… perhaps the color of his stools has changed as a result, making the fibers more visible…? I hope your little one is feeling better soon.
OMG, thanks so much. I, too, fed my 5 month old banana yesterday and found the horrifying banana “worms” this morning. Totally freaked out. Whew.
Ah, thank you, thank you, thank you. I was convinced DS had worms!
You’re VERY welcome!
Lol how funni my baby just ate banana last night and today I freaked out when I seen his poo!! Lucky for this post
My mother in law gave my daughther banana yesterday, and today her poo had little black worms.
Thanks a tonne Christine for this post. I have been feeding boiled banana to my 6 month old baby for quite sometime now and was worried about the black threads in her poop and her poop turning dark green in color. Otherwise she is perfectly healthy – socially and physically. She does all her daily activites normally. But still I would let the nurse know about her poop color though – it has turned dark green from regular yellow. Is that because of a virus in the banana?
There can be all sorts of reasons for green poo – certain infant formulas can cause it, as can lots of green leafy vegetables.
However, green poo can also indicate a medical problem, such as excess iron in the diet or an infection or other intestinal disorder. It really would be a good idea to have it checked out, just to be on the safe side.
so glad i found this site i was freaking out when i seen this in my little guys poop.
Crazy! After I too found black threads in our baby’s diaper tonight, I’ve been frantically searching the Internet for an answer. After (thankfully) finding this blog, I searched again for a reason bananas are causing this reaction. I found an explanation at the UCSF website–the black things are actually the fibrous center of the banana.
This was the first link I clicked on after finding black fibers that looks exactly like worms in my babies diaper. We mixed a small amount of mushed banana in his cereal almost a week ago. He hasn’t pooped for DAYS and then when he did, I panicked when I saw the contents. So glad my nerves only lasted for a minute since I found this site immediately. Thank you!
You’re welcome Sarah!
Dear Christine,
I thought to google before going to doctor for these black “worms” – yes they are black and still. I gave my daughter just a small bite of banana day before yesterday. Now, I am relaxed. Thanks a lot Christine.
Shaheda,
Saudi Arabia
Happy to help Shaheda
Hi,
My baby was fed banana oatmeal cereal for a week, and her poop has been having these black stringy and grainy stuffs. Suspected it was the banana cereal and stopped for 1 week+, but her poop is still having the black stuffs. Just wondering how long will it last?
Thanks.
Is she having any other fruit, June? Although banana is usually the culprit, sometimes fibres from other fruits will also show up in baby poop!
She was having pumpkin. But we’ve stopped that for a week now. She’s having anchovies soup + chicken stock porridge now.
Hmm, it’s difficult to say what might be causing it – if you are still seeing this after another day or two then you might want to get it checked out with a doctor to be on the safe side, although I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.
Thanks Christine. I’ve actually made a call to the dr and he assured me that it’s nothing to worry abt as long as there’s no blood in it…
I just hope it goes away..
That’s good news June, I’m sure it’ll clear up soon.
Hi friends
My 7 month old baby poo had black worms in it but it was hard and thick I gave her bananas for past two days. would bananas cause hard black stuff in poo?
The black bits are typically soft, as they are the undigested fibres of the fruit. It would be a good idea to discuss this with your doctor, just to be on the safe side.
Thank you so much for this guys. I have too like all those mums above been sick worried after seeing these things in my baby’s poo.
One more thing I have noticed, if anyone can tell me if they know, were these things that looked exactly like little white beans. and they were squishy. anyone knows anything?
Thanks Cristine… you really made me relax.. i saw the same thing in my daughter today and freaked out.. yes i did give her bananas, thank you soo much.
Many many thanks for this useful information….i saw these ‘”worms” 20 days back in my 6 mnths old daughter’s poo and since then i’m sooo worried..i’d hv her stools examined but no results…now i’m sure bananas r the real culprit.
christine… u r a life saver….
thanks!!
Thank you so much! my 5 month baby had ateaspoon of banana yesterday, and today when i opened his nappy…i saw these thread like wormish bits in his poo! i freaked out and am so relieved to read this online. Thank you!
Thank you so much!! My 5 months old had banana for first time and when she pooped both my hubby & I were freaked out seeing that strange poop
)
christine, could u plz tell me till when will my baby get these black things in her poop?? until then should i stop giving bananas to her??? she loves them…plz reply.
There’s no need to stop giving them to her, Farida. The ‘worms’ are just fibres and they do not indicate any problem at all
Thanks a lot!!
Thank you for this blog. I too thought my four month old daughter had worms. She had her first banana three days ago and today had what looked like black worms in her nappy. What a relief !
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Hi thanks for the article,
We had the same problem with my son, me and my wife were very upset, I had to take a day off to take him to doctors, Doctors wanted to see what the bugs were under microscope,So gave a stool sample for testing, and on the way back to work today, but back of my mind I was very worried about what those worms were, so jumped on the google, saw this article I am so relieved
My son Loves bananas very much, and was having it all thru the
week…..no wonder the results was astonishing……I email the link immediately to my wife to have read……
Website was very helpful, now I can concentrate on my work.
Thanks Again…..
You’re very welcome – I’m so glad the article gave you some peace of mind.
My 1 year old just had a nappy full of these little black worm like things. I was so worried, she has had banana before but just small amounts but yesterday she sat and ate a full banana so this is obviousy the reason for it. So glad i read this or i would have been rushing out to waste my doctors time lol, thank you.
You’re welcome – I’m glad it helped.
My 5 1/2 month old just had a nappy full of these little black worms too. Thank you so much for this article I was extremely worried until I finally found this article explaining why they were there!! I had started giving him banana a couple of weeks ago, but it was bottled and he didn’t have any of the little black worms, but recently I have been giving him some fresh banana with his oatmeal cereal which he loves and now he has the little black worms in his nappy. I wonder if there is a difference between the bottled baby food banana and just a mushed up fresh banana??
Anyways thanks again, I was getting extremely worried, now my mind is at ease and we can go about the rest of our day
You’re welcome, Crystal. I think the fact that the little fibres don’t show up after jarred banana shows just how processed the banana is (actually, there is a comment earlier in this thread about how the fibres are absent after giving processed banana baby food!). Anyway, I’m glad you’ve found the post helpful
hey..my 4 munth old poops green sumtymz..he jst has rice cereal hom cukd..iz it blood mixd poop?ny advic
You may find this post about green poop useful… My baby’s poo is green
Can they be a dark reddy colour also?
My daughter has a banana every day or so.. And this is the 1st time ive noticed it. They wern’t moving or anything, Im still getting it checked out and all that.. arhhh freaked me out!
Yes, they can certainly look reddish brown – we’ve noticed that and so have a couple of other parents who commented on this post.
Thank you for the reassuring article! I thought I may have given my daughter a bad/infected banana.
You’re welcome. I’m glad it put your mind at rest.
When I started to search for answer about little funny thing in my baby girl poo I was expecting find terrifying stuff what it could be…thanks to your page got peace of mind and don`t have to run see a GP ….find it very helpfull…
My little girl is 5 months old and today I see these brown worms in her nappy. I’ve been very upset, and got crazy ideas about it’s worms and keep thinking what my little one has eaten in the last 2 days ??? She ate jar baby food for the last 3 weeks and it’s really fine with her and she liked it a lot.
So yes it banana
But I gave her for the first time 4 teaspoon of mashed fresh banana yesterday, then I search in google and find this blog
thanks alot xxxxxxx
Thank goodness. I just noticed this in my baby’s diaper and I was shocked! I knew there had to be some explanation I could find! Thank you!
Happy to help