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