When your baby is born, especially if you are first-time parents, you will be struck by the appearance of his first bowel movements, known as “meconium” . Many parents are taken by surprise, but it is not an anomaly for the baby and you should not worry.
What is meconium?
Meconium is a thick, dark greenish-black, slimy substance that forms in the baby’s digestive tract during pregnancy. It is the medical term to refer to the first feces of the newborn , which are usually expelled in several stools during the first 48 hours of the baby’s life.
Meconium is made up of dead cells and secretions from the stomach and liver that line the newborn’s intestine and is formed in the fetal period: amniotic fluid, mucus, lanugo (fine hair that covers the baby’s body), bile and cells that they have sloughed off the skin and digestive tract.
During pregnancy, the baby in the mother’s womb swallows amniotic fluid that contains all the other components mentioned above. To keep the amniotic fluid clear, clean and healthy, all the contents other than this fluid itself are filtered and remain in the intestine, forming meconium .
Meanwhile, the amniotic fluid is absorbed and released into the uterine space when the fetus urinates. This amniotic fluid recycling process occurs about every three hours.
Meconium aspiration syndrome
In some cases, the baby expels the meconium while still in the uterus, which usually happens when the due date approaches and the delivery is under stress. Once the meconium passes into the amniotic fluid, the baby may suck it up into their lungs, known as meconium aspiration syndrome, which can cause inflammation in the baby’s lungs. One sign may be that meconium remains in the amniotic fluid when you give birth.
Meconium aspiration syndrome (SAM) is present in only 4 percent of cases, and some are more severe than others, depending on the amount, consistency, and length of time the meconium has remained in the airways.
How to clean meconium?
Meconium is thicker and stickier and stains the skin more intensely than subsequent stools, so cleaning should be more thorough.
Cotton works quite well to clean these poops, and once most of it is removed, you can moisten the cotton or use a wet wipe to remove the stuck debris that dirties the baby’s skin.
After the meconium, the transition stool
After the first meconiums have been expelled, the newborn baby’s stools will be called “transition stools”, from the third or fourth day of the baby’s life and approximately until the first week. The main characteristic is the color, a fairly strong smell, and its appearance is liquid and greenish.
Once the remains of meconium have been completely eliminated from the newborn’s intestine , when the baby is fed breast milk, the stools appear golden yellow, and the texture of these is lumpy and soft. The artificial milk stools are characteristic for a light yellow-brown color, they are more consistent and with whitish lumps.
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