Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar: What are the Reasons?
New and experienced mothers are always in for surprises in their motherhood journey. Even if you have been doing everything right and following your grandmother’s and pediatrician’s advice, you can’t be ready for everything. Baby pooping habits are among the many things that challenge new mothers.
The color and odor of your baby’s poo change nearly every day for the first few months. Monitoring your baby’s pee and poop for the first months is important as it helps determine if the baby is eating or drinking enough. Ideally, breastfeeding babies’ poo should have a sweet or no smell at all. Therefore, you should be concerned if your baby poop smells like vinegar.
Importance of Baby Poop Color and Texture
It is always surprising for mothers when they are told to watch their baby’s poo. However, like observing their activity and feeding habits, observing their poo helps determine if your baby is sick. Generally, if your baby’s pop doesn’t have green to yellow hues, their digestive tract may have some issues that require pediatric care.
Baby’s poo with reddish or blood spots is a sign of stomach infection. Similarly, white or black poop indicates nutrient malabsorption or internal bleeding.
What is Normal Baby Poop?
You should know what normal baby poop looks like to identify any notable changes. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, a baby’s poop keeps changing for the first few weeks after birth. The poop is often in the form of meconium, which is dark and sticky, in the first hours after birth.
Babies have meconium in the first hours after birth because of meconium ingestion before and during birth. Apart from meconium, the baby’s poo for the first few hours also contains amniotic fluids and bile. The baby’s body empties these contents through defecation. The baby’s poo starts becoming normal as they start feeding.
Even then, breastfed babies’ poop slightly differs from formula-fed babies’ poo. Healthy breastfeeding babies have yellow, green, or brown-colored poop that doesn’t smell. This is because breastmilk is easily digested and absorbed in the gut. It is also loose and pasty or seedy in texture.
On the other hand, formula-fed babies have yellow-brown poop with a pasty texture. Their poop is more solid than breastfed babies and has a stronger smell. This poo appears so because processing and digesting formula milk takes longer, allowing the milk to sit longer with gut bacteria.
Your baby’s poo will start developing a stronger smell when they start eating solids. The smell varies depending on their diet. For instance, diets with foods like fruits, beans, and vegetables lead to smelly poop.
How Many Times Should Babies Poop Normally?
Unlike adults, babies have an overly active gastrocolic reflex. This explains why they poop a lot. They also have small stomachs, which means eating often. Gastrocolic reflex allows babies to pass stool regularly, making room for more food.
That said, infants poop between two to five times daily. The frequency reduces to 2 to 3 times a day after four months and once a day as they grow further. The reduction in frequency is because of the intestines’ increasing ability to absorb milk and slowed bowel movements. Note that formula-fed babies poop more frequently than breastfed babies because their developing gut system doesn’t absorb formula feeds completely.
When Should You Worry About Baby Poop?
You should be worried about your baby’s poop if:
- The baby has loose, explosive poop – loose and explosive stools are a sign of possible digestive problems. The foul smell also accompanies loose and explosive poop. While this should resolve within a few days, suspect milk allergy if this issue continues for two weeks.
- There’s mucus in the baby’s poo – a stringy baby poop with mucus should be a concern. The presence of mucus for two weeks is a sign of milk allergy or stomach problems.
- The baby’s poo is black – black baby poo in the first days is normal because of meconium. However, continuous dark-colored poop is a sign of a digestive issue.
- Blood streaks in poo – you should outrightly speak to your healthcare provider if your baby’s poo has blood streaks. This might be due to constipation or symptoms of CMPA.
- Foam in breastfed baby’s poo – foam in your baby’s poop is a sign of milk oversupply, especially due to over breastfeeding. If this occurs, adjust the breastfeeding position to reduce quick letdown and feed responsively.
You should consult your pediatrician if any of the changes in your baby’s poo persists.
Why Do Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar?
You should also be worried if your baby poop smells like vinegar. Some reasons behind this smell include:
Dietary Factors
Diet significantly influences the smell of your baby’s poop. The composition of breast or formula milk and the introduction of solid foods can cause notable changes in the baby’s poo. However, the effects of dietary factors differ among breastfeeding and formula-fed babies.
Unlike formula-fed babies, the mother’s diet directly affects the poo of breastfed babies. Strongly flavored and spicy foods can change the smell of breast milk. For instance, diets like cruciferous vegetables and garlic have sulfur compounds that contribute to the pungent odor of the baby’s stool.
On the other hand, the changes in formula feeds can change the baby poop’s odor for formula-fed babies. Most mothers don’t know, but formula feeds are made from different ingredients. Infants have a sensitive digestive system and react to various components differently. Transitioning from breast milk to formula feeds also affects the baby’s digestive system, leading to changes in stool smell.
You should also expect some changes in your baby’s poop after introducing solid foods. Some food items, especially fruits and vegetables, can change the scent of a baby’s stool. The baby’s developing digestive tract may also not break down ingested food components, causing unique odors.
Lactose Intolerance
Lactose intolerance is a serious condition among infants. Most lactose-intolerant infants have vinegar-smelling poop. While lactose intolerance is caused by several factors, it mostly begins from the mother. Breastfeeding mothers should watch their consumption of dairy products because they pass the content directly to their babies.
Key signs of lactose intolerance in babies include:
- Bloating
- Gassing
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
Fortunately, an easy solution to this problem is ensuring that you feed your infant with lactose-free milk. Breastfeeding mothers should also differentiate lactose intolerance from milk allergies. Lactose intolerance occurs when the baby’s digestive system lacks the enzyme that digests lactose. This is a medical condition that can be tested in the lab.
As the name suggests, milk allergy occurs if the baby’s immune system reacts to dairy products. Babies with milk allergy often swell in the eyes and lips, wheeze, and vomit.
Malabsorption
Malabsorption is common among infants and toddlers. This occurs when the digestive system can’t digest or process foods expectedly. Malabsorption can occur due to parasitic, viral, or bacterial infections. Your baby may also be suffering from a hereditary disease or damaged intestines.
Babies struggling with malabsorption often have sour-smelling poop. Besides vinegar-smelling stool, babies with malabsorption issues also have frequent vomiting, loss of weight, abdominal pain, and bloated stomach. You should visit your doctor earliest because malabsorption can result in severe malnutrition.
Indigestion
Indigestion could be the other reason your baby’s poop smells like vinegar. Infants often have challenges digesting breast milk and other food substances because of their immature esophageal sphincters. This makes indigestion a common phenomenon in babies. Overeating, playing too much, and overexcitement also cause indigestion in babies.
Fortunately, you can easily identify indigestion as the cause of vinegary-smelling poop. Apart from the foul odor, babies are often restless, have bad breath, are constipated, have bloated stomachs, and grind their teeth. You should seek medical interventions immediately to prevent worsening of symptoms.
Crohn’s disease
Most people don’t expect to hear of Crohn’s disease among infants. While it is an adult digestive condition, babies can develop Crohn’s disease when their digestive tract becomes inflamed and swells chronically. Key symptoms of Crohn’s disease in infants are loose, explosive, and sour-smelling stool with blood and mucus stains.
You should take your baby for an immediate checkup if they have these symptoms. Crohn’s disease is painful and can lead to life-threatening complications.
Teething
Teething is another common cause of baby poop smelling like vinegar. Unfortunately, there’s no direct scientific proof that teething causes sour-smelling poop. Superficial explanations suggest that the smell occurs when the baby’s teeth start erupting.
However, one explanation is that the baby swallows excessive saliva when teething, which causes digestive problems that lead to vinegar-smelling poop. Similarly, ibuprofen administered to teething babies for pain might be the cause of vinegar-smelling poop. You should consider teething toys for this.
Medications
Infants and toddlers rarely use medications. However, if your infant gets sick and gets prescribed some medications, you should expect vinegar-smelling poop. Medications, especially antibiotics, disrupt the normal gut flora. This is the good bacteria in the digestive system.
Throwing the normal gut flora off balance gives an opportunity for bad bacterial growth, resulting in mucous-stained and vinegar-smelling poop. You should also be wary of medications with diarrhea as some of the side effects. Diarrhea disrupts the baby’s digestive system, especially the good gut flora.
Your pediatrician will mostly likely inform you of this and ask you to monitor your baby’s poop closely. Keep track of the color, odor, texture, frequency, and volume during the medication period.
What to Do When Baby Poop Smells Like Vinegar
If your baby’s poop only smells vinegary with no other symptoms, start by changing their diet. This will most likely resolve the problem without necessarily seeking medical interventions. However, if the baby poop smells like vinegar and is accompanied by loose stools, vomiting, and fever, you should take your baby for a medical checkup.
Nonetheless, you should do the following if your baby poop smells like vinegar:
- For breastfed babies – if your breastfed baby’s pop smells like vinegar, chances are your breast milk has a low-fat content. This happens if your breasts produce milk excessively. To resolve this, always ensure to empty one breast before offering the baby the other because hind milk has high-fat concentration.
- For formula-fed babies – simply change the formula milk type if your baby has a vinegary smell.
- Monitor diet changes – you should closely monitor changes in your baby’s diet. This makes identification of the food behind the smell easy.
The Bottom Line
The smell of your baby’s poop is a direct indication of their diet. If your baby poop smells like vinegar, it might be due to lactose intolerance, dietary changes, teething, infections, or metabolic disorders. You should identify and eliminate the causative factors to avoid this and other odors.
