Blood in Stool and High Fever

I agree with everyone else- probably milk protein intolerance. We just went through it and are on special formula. It typically manifests at 4-6 weeks. Here are a couple of other signs: vomiting or a lot of spit up, rash on the face and head (commonly mistaken for baby acne at that age) and "colicky" behavior. Fever is hopefully unrelated and probably the virus. Good luck!

My husband works in the ER and blood in stool is usually a cause for concern, unless it is red fresh blood. Fresh blood typically means a tear or wound (which will probably heal on it's own). Brown, dark red-almost black, and/or dried blood is much more of an issue. Talk to your ped. The fever would be my biggest concern. If tylenol is not working try motrin. The best way to avoid overdosing and causing more damage and the most effective way to control a fever is to alternate between Tylenol and Motrin. I have to give my son Tylenol before he get shots and then 3 hour after giving it I will give him Motrin, and 5 hours late I will do Tylenol again. I keep this schedule because it prevents us from running into going 2 hours without meds, and these two medications are OK to overlap. Good luck! Keep us posted

PS if you are just giving Tylenol make sure you are only giving it every 4 hours, but not skipping a dose and letting a fever spike. Also, check to make sure you are giving the right dose, yes a little bit under can cause the medicine to become ineffective for fevers and only give minimal pain relief.

The mucus and bloody stool happened to my son as well. They diagnosed him with a milk/soy protein intolerance. I was breastfeeding, but went on a special diet and he never had the blood again. Hope this helps!

Just curious if you followed up with your pediatrician. I have heard that emergency room doctors are sometimes ill equipted to deal with babies, and a pediatrician who sees babies day in and day out may be able to think of something simple they didn't test for at the hospital.

blood in stool could be allergies to something she is consuming. If breastfed, it could be for instance dairy or soy in Mama's diet coming through undigested and too hard for baby to digest. My sister in law had that problem with both girls and had to cut out dairy and soy for a while. If formula fed, could be reaction to formula ingredients that are hard to digest. Or feeding her solids too soon? As for fever, might be from brother or might be from trying to process stuff her system can not yet digest. Good luck.

My daughters had bloody stool at about 2 weeks and her pediatrician said she was allergic to her regular milk based formula. We then tried soy but same thing. Finally we went to a very expensive formula that has the proteins broken down very small (Similac Alimentum). Once we started using that she was fine and no more blood or mucus in her stool. She also started gaining weight better.

Is it possible that the two (blood in stool and fever) are not related??? Your baby is very young and fevers are not uncommon in babies that small. Also, it is possible that your baby may be having some digesting issues. Both of my boys where born allergic to milk protiens (i.e., brest milk, formual - both soy and regular). My first son was very small when he was born and at about 10 weeks I was changing his diaper and there was quite a bit of blood - it was really scary! A similar situation with my second boy, but not nearly as much blood and by the 5th week (he ate a lot more from the begining than my oldest did). It is very mucusy looking like you explained above. Anyway - the milk went thru their systems like fiber glass - just ripping up the intestinal wall.

My suggestion is to see a pediatric gastrointerologist (sp). Dr. Arasu is at St. Joseph's and he also has another Dr. that works with him that is good too (a lady - I only saw her once). He came highly recommended to me from other Drs. in the hospital.

Good luck!

Hi E.- So sorry you are going through this. I know it's scary with such a young little one. It's a good possiblity the baby might have a milk and soy protien intolerance. My baby girl was diagnoised last month with it. Typically they have bloody and mucus stools. If you are breastfeeding you will need to cut out dairy/milk and soy from your diet. If you are formula feeding you'll need to switch to a special formula. I would take your little one to the ped or ask for a referral to a GI
specialist.

The blood and mucous is allergy to milk/wheat. If you are breastfeeding cut it out of your diet. If formula you need to change. Other possible allergens are soy, corn, egg, oatmeal, peas, citrus, nuts. DO NOT put on meds like Zantac, Reglan, Prevacid. These have heavy metals in them causing future developmental problems. Also, DO NOT give Tylenol to your children. It reduces the glutiathione in the liver and that is out biggest antioxident in our bodies that helps us to fight illness. When you strip it out of the liver, there are big problems. Give Motrin instead......way less side effects.

Are you nursing? I nursed my son and he had a similar blood mucous problem. I found out it was because I was eating too much dairy and it was going through into the breast milk. Once I cut back, the problem stopped. He didn't run a fever, but I'm wondering if maybe the two issues are separate.

My son had blood in his stool when he was very small too; no fever though. I was breastfeeding, and we were referred to an excellent pediatric GI doctor who suggested cutting out soy and diary. I had to cut it out of my diet since I was breastfeeding, and I ended up seeing a nutritionist to assist with my diet. Soy and diary are in A LOT of processed foods in forms that are not obvious, so you need to be very careful of what you eat. Once I cut out all forms of dairy and soy, the bloody stool was gone. He eventually grew out of the intolerance, and when he was around 11 months we successfully reintroduced both back into our diets.
I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about it. He will probably want to rule out an anal fissure or other simple explanation before sending you to a GI. Good luck!