Meconium

What does meconium test for? How long until meconium? Meconium is the earliest stool of a mammalian infant. Learn when you can see it and when it can be an issue.

This sticky, thick, dark green poop is made up of cells, protein, fats, and intestinal secretions, like bile.

Babies typically pass meconium (mih-KOH-nee-em) in the first few hours and days after birth. But some babies pass meconium while still in the womb during late pregnancy. It consists of desquamated epithelial cells from the intestinal tract and bile, pancreatic and intestinal secretions, and water ().

In most cases the bowel itself is complete and intact but it is just the inside that is blocked. After delivery, your newborn will pass meconium stools for the first few days of life. If the fluid contains thick meconium or lumps, your midwife will advise that you are transferred to an obstetric unit for the birth if you are not already there.

Term babies should pass meconium (baby poo) in the first hours following delivery.

This normally means a messy nappy! A meconium plug is poo enclosed in a mucus coat which is often more difficult for your baby to pass. Some babies may pass just one plug, others pass more.

The foetal lung is normally protected from aspiration by the continuous movement of fluids up the trachea. During vaginal delivery, compression of the thorax and closure of the glottis help prevent aspiration. As meconium is rarely found in the amniotic fluid prior to weeks of gestation, meconium aspiration usually affects babies born at term and post-term. Passage of meconium before birth can be triggered by different stresses to the unborn.

Most of the fluid is water but there is also debris such as hair, fetal cells, mucus and so on. This debris is left in the intestine when the water is absorbed and removed. Fortunately, meconium stools do not smell bad. A few days after birth, babies pass their first bowel movement which is called meconium.

This sticky, tar-like substance is green-black in colour, and is simply waste produced in your baby’s intestine during pregnancy. Sometimes babies pass meconium before or during labour. Defined as respiratory distress in the newborn due to the presence of meconium in the trachea.

Infants born through meconium -stained amniotic fluid are at risk of developing meconium aspiration syndrome, particularly in the presence of maternal and fetal risk factors.

Signs of meconium aspiration syndrome include tachypnea, nasal flaring, retractions, cyanosis or desaturation, rales, rhonchi, and greenish yellow staining of the umbilical cor nail beds, or skin. More: Evidence Summaries Is omitting suction of newborns with meconium liquor really justified? Routine elective intubation and suctioning of vigorous infants at birth, does not reduce meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). Nor does suctioning the nose and mouth of such infants on the perineum and before delivery of the shoulders (intrapartum suctioning). Even in non-vigorous infants born through meconium -stained amniotic fluid who are at increased risk of MAS, intubation and tracheal.

The meconium is thicker and stickier than usual, and can cause a distended abdomen. Almost all babies who have this condition have cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that causes chronic constipation and abdominal pain. About of all babies with cystic fibrosis have meconium ileus. Broadly speaking there are two classifications of meconium -stained liquor (MSL), non-significant and significant.

Non-significant MSL is defined as a thin yellow or greenish tinged flui containing non-particulate meconium. Of infants with meconium ileus, to have cystic fibrosis.