Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar: Is It An Alarming Issue?

Everyone gets unpleasant when their baby poop smells like vinegar, especially after eating solid foods.

It’s not a sign that anything is wrong or that you must rush them to the doctor.

Baby stools smell like that because most babies have an excess of acetic acid bacteria in their digestive systems when they’re born, which helps them digest breast milk and other fatty acids in human milk.

Still, sometimes things are no longer normal with your babies. We will dive into these uncommon symptoms and ways to deal with them. Read on!

My Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar: Why?

Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar

Why does my baby’s poop smell like vinegar? The root causes are multiple, such as malabsorption, lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease, teething, food allergies, and rotavirus.

Pay attention to other symptoms like vomiting or fever to evaluate the situation.

Lactose Intolerance

A lactose allergy may cause sour infant feces. Your infant might not adapt to the milk you’re giving him or, if breastfeeding, to the dairy you ingested and gave him via your breast milk.

Lactose intolerance can be the root cause of gas, diarrhea, and bloating.

Malabsorption

When a child’s digestive system doesn’t absorb food effectively, excrement might smell acidic.

To explain, viruses, parasites, infections, and other disorders may cause malabsorption. Beyond that, this issue also results in diarrhea and weight loss.

Crohn’s Disease

Crohn’s disease will lead to a watery, explosive, loose, and vinegar-smelling baby poop. The feces may contain blood and mucus.

Teething

Not just the baby’s teeth coming in the wrong order make you get on your nerves, but you can get downbeat with other changes in the infant’s poop.

Calm down! Some parents have detected vinegar-smelling excrement before their child’s tooth broke out. Yet by far, no scientific evidence has proven this.

Food Allergies

The vinegar-smelling poop may reveal whether the infants are intolerant to food or formula. You can also see mucus in the feces and sometimes even faint amounts of blood.

When a baby has a food allergy, the lining of their digestive system becomes inflamed, which leads to a foul odor in the diaper.

Beyond that, your kid may have been allergic to anything he ate if he produced mucousy diarrhea. Some foods irritate the gut lining.

Meet the doctor for medical advice if your family has a history of food allergies.

Rotavirus

This infectious virus leads to vomiting, loose black feces, and bloody or pus-filled stools.

Baby Poop Smells Acidic: What Other Signs Should I Look For?

Bad-smelling feces may be transient and safe. If it’s occasional with a few stinking loose stools, it’s okay. Should this happen numerous times a day or over weeks, see a doctor.

In other cases, diarrhea persists with an odor that may stem from dehydration.

On top of that, symptoms to take your infant to the doctor are:

  • Fever
  • Anxiety
  • Irritable
  • Abdominal pain
  • Vomiting
  • 6 or 10 loose stools within 24 hours

If your child’s excrement smells sour, call the doctor. Towards under-3-month babies, you’d better bring the babies to the emergency room on the spot.

Baby’s Poop Smells Like Vinegar: How To Treat It?

vinegar-smelling poop

Electrolyte Solution

Electrolyte solutions flush out toxins or offending elements for newborns. It’s an effective treatment, no doubt, yet you must consult your doctor first.

Breastfeeding Challenge

This method helps to eliminate the offending foods from the newborn’s diet. Then, you can add them slowly back to your diet one by one until the doctor finds the culprit.

Treat Infections

Antibiotics are common in intestinal infection therapy. Getting rid of viruses to run their course is the top priority.

Some popular supportive approaches include the BRAT diet, relaxation, and electrolyte solutions.

Supplementation For Malabsorption

Supplementation can help to mitigate the malabsorption syndrome and unpleasant odor. Doctors often employ specific formulas, digestive enzymes, and vitamins based on particular conditions.

Formula Challenge

If a newborn’s excrement smells like vinegar, your doctor may recommend a formula challenge under medical supervision in the hospital.

The period can last for roughly 24 hours, then gently add formula back to check if symptoms return. If so, you will probably alter the formulas after that.

How Often Do Babies Poop?

Some newborns’ intestines absorb so much milk as they develop that bowel movement decreases once a week, entailing the same defecation frequency.

The gastrocolic reflex tells the colon to empty food from the stomach so the infant may eat more.

This reaction often makes newborns defecate after feedings. Over time, it becomes less active and regulates food and bowel movements.

For the kid, you’d better go for ten dirty diaper changes each day in the first few months. 4-month-old babies should have 2 to 4 changes every day.

This way also works wonders to prevent diaper blowouts.

FAQs

How Often Do Breast-Fed Babies Poop?

Breastfed infants poop often. Meanwhile, breastfed toddlers usually defecate after feedings.

Some infants can have up to 12 bowel movements every day during the first 6 weeks. Then, the frequency will drop to 3-4 times a day after a few weeks.

However, less than 3 times a day might mean your breastfed baby isn’t getting enough milk.

If your 6-week-old does not defecate throughout the day, do not worry! Six-week-old babies have fewer bowel movements, and that’s common.

What Causes Smelly Gas In Newborn Babies?

Normal digestion includes passing gas. Still, too much farting by newborns typically indicates a problem. For example, rapid feeding, too much air intake, and formula sensitivity can cause gas.

Babies’ undeveloped digestive systems lack digestive microorganisms, or babies gulp air as they cry. Air always finds ways to escape. After each feeding, your infants burp to release air, for instance.

When Do Babies Poop Start To Smell?

Baby poop has minimal odor in the beginning. Yet, when germs fill their digestive tract, their excrement starts smelling.

Bottle-fed babies had smellier stools than breastfed newborns. Also, solid food makes baby poop stinkier.

Does A Baby’s Poop Change When Teething?

Yes. Teething contributes to smelly stools in babies. This stage begins between 4 and 8 months, making the baby’s body change significantly.

At that time, infants’ placenta-derived immunity begins to fade off. They are vulnerable and may have a diarrhea-causing illness.

In other words, their underdeveloped digestive system may need time to adjust, leading to baby poop altering. So, do not fret when you notice the awkward colors of the infant’s poop.

How About The Color And Texture Of The Infant’s Poop?

Your baby’s feces will differ in texture and color from an adult’s. In particular, breastfed babies’ poop is yellow and nasty. Bottle feeding produces a greenish, toothpaste-like liquid.

See a doctor if the stools aren’t yellow, brown, or green. Beyond that, black tarry or red stains suggest gastrointestinal bleeding, whereas white indicates nutritional malabsorption or liver issues.

Also, bloody infant poop is unusual, implying an infection inside. Be careful!

The Bottom Line

If your baby poop smells like vinegar, it’s likely due to changes in his nutrition.

Once you discover additional difficulties with odorous stools, consult your doctor. Hopefully, this post can help to deal with the problem of your newborns effectively.

We welcome your comments and inquiries. Moreover, share this informative article with other parents having newborns!

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