For the last 2 days, my DD's diapers have been full of strange little black flecks. I've never seen anything like it before, and no, she hasn't been eating anything black. If you've ever seen chocolate shavings on a cake, they look kind of like that -- like little black flakes. She started having diarrhea at the same time this started, and now it's getting better and the black flecks are almost gone.
She's totally happy, good energy, appetite is normal, isn't in any kind of pain, so I'm hoping it's a sign that her gut is starting to de-tox?? We've been doing the GFCF diet, cod liver oil, and probiotics for about 2 months now, and this month we started Super-Nu Thera and DMG.
I found some reports on the MB12-Valtrex Yahoo Group from parents who've seen black flecks while their kid is on Valtrex. But we're not doing any anti-viral or anti-fungal stuff yet. Has anyone ever seen this just from GFCF and supplements??
Whatever these things are, it kind of scares me that they were in her for who knows how long and I'm glad she's getting them out.
I would take her to the Dr. It could be blood? Yes, my cousins child was allergic to her breast milk (it was something she was eating) but She had to remove all cow milk products out of her diet. The baby could not process the cow's milk protein and it was in her breast milk. She still is breast feeding, cow milk free. He is fine now before he was bleeding, could not go poo , he was only a couple months old.I'm back with an update: I think that the black flecks definitely had something to do with yeast die-off. I called both my regular pediatrician and our naturopathic Dr., and they (for once!) were in complete agreement that it was best to let the diarrhea run its course, because it's the body's way of flushing out viruses, toxins, etc.
We think the black flecks may have been either old blood, or possibly old scar tissue from the lining of her intestines. I didn't save any of the black flecks to have them tested, so we may never know for sure. But Dr. McCandless in her book, "Children with Starving Brains," talks about how the MMR vaccine damages the lining of the intestine, which starts the leaky gut syndrome, which sets the autism process in motion...so I'm wondering if this was scar tissue caused by her MMR 3 years ago.
The black flecks lasted for about 3 days, during which she had the worst yeast diaper rash I've ever seen. (She had it all the time when she was a baby, but this was the first time since then.) After the black flecks cleared out, she was fine for about 3 days, then we had 2-3 more days of just regular diarrhea (no black flecks), then she recovered completely.
During all this, she was happy, energetic, eating well, her temperature was normal -- she had no physical symptoms other than the diarrhea.
I definitely think it was yeast-related because of the yeast diaper rash, and also because her tummy is now flat for the first time in her life! She had a "Buddha belly" ever since she was a baby -- she's very tall and slender but always had a swollen tummy, and that's one sign of Candida/yeast overgrowth. As soon as the Invasion of the Black Flecks ended, her tummy "deflated" completely. She's now much happier and more relaxed and is expressing interest in potty training for the first time in months, yahoo! I think we'll give that a try again over Christmas break.
Jennifer
A friend of mine had an infant that got this and it was becuase he was allergic to her breast milk, the dr said it was dried up blood. Sounds like it could also be old stool that has been inside of her. Supposedly everyone has stool that stays in them and adheres to the linings of thier intestines. Maybe the changes in her diet are cause it to all come out which I guess could be good. check with the dr thoughMy dd has Esoinophilic Colitis and she gets this when she has a flare-up, which is typically caused by a food "intolerance", not to be confused with allergy b/c it's not IgE mediated. She would also get a bright red rash (no bumps just looks like acid poured on her skin) near her rectum and genital area. Many kids w/ EE or EC have a red ring around the rectum, which is where the undiegsted protein inflames the skin on contact. I could literally see where her urine touched her skin and ran down her genitals. We did a stool culture and it was negative for yeast, parasites, and bacteria. Pediatric GI declared it was a reaction of her colitis and probably a result of inflammation from undigested proteins. You may want your dd to see a Ped. GI if it happens again. Also note foods she is eating if you see it again.
As for breast milk allergy. It's commonly misunderstood and falsely stated. It is actually an "intolerance" to something in the breast milk. Most commonly due to a food protein and the child reacts to it. It's possible it can be an ezyme deficiency, but more research is needed. Why this happens is a mistery in the US and little research has been done to discover why children have these reactions. Many Peds mis-diagnose colitis as colic or reflux, when in fact it's much more serious. Many children outgrow this form of colitis by 1 y/o, but some like my dd continue to have it beyond that. Common foods that infants react to are cow's milk, soy, gluten, and corn. The mother must go on TED to determine what protein is actually causing it. My dd required an elemental formula to finally get better and I had to stop BFing her, so she could gain weight. She had bloody and musousy stools with failure to thrive (lost 2 lbs in 1 week), even on the TED. She couldn't digest any proteins.
BF is best for the baby when they don't have a medical condition causing issues with the Mother's milk.
Good luck and I would keep a close eye on this. Especially, if her stool become mucousy or very foul smelling.
Thanks I quit with Dara cause after a feeding she was still hungry anyhow. Can't digestive enzymes solve that problem?