The Scoop on Poop

I was giving a program today and one of the students asked me “do you ever get pooped on”.  And the answer of course is yes.  Although I usually say that “it’s never a good day at the zoo unless you get pooped on at least once”. 

Poop is a daily part of your life when you work at a zoo, even if you have a position like mine that does not involve cleaning the animals.  Poop is an excellent indicator of the health of an animal.  In fact, the zoo regular examines the fecals of our animals to check for parasites.  If you have a pet at home, then checking their poop will give you a good idea of how your beloved Fido is feeling.  Runny and stinky poop?  Fido probably isn’t feeling too well.  Bits of green plastic and a small helmet?  Fido probably got into Jr.’s army men play set again. 

You get the idea.

This practice of observing and monitoring poop to assess the health of the pooper applies to humans as well.  Because of this I have become a bit obsessed with poop.  I don’t really “like” looking at it, but I do pay particularly close attention to the poop of my children.   Things like color, consistency, content, regularity, and amount are all taken into consideration.  I don’t write it down on a chart to track it, or examine it with a dissecting microscope, but I do try to pay attention to it.  The Weatherman on the other hand hates poop about as much as I hate vomit so he tends to toss or flush the evidence as soon as he can and ignores my yells from the other room inquiring about the normality of the feces.  But hey!  At least he changes the poopy diapers!  I am grateful for that!

This poop observance really paid off for us when I noticed that Frog Face was having traces of red blood in his stools when he was around 4 weeks old.  I wasn’t too panicked because I had recently learned of a friend whose young child experienced the same thing that was caused by a food allergy to dairy products.  So I cut all dairy from my diet and sure enough the blood went away about a week later (dairy takes a bit of time to get out of the mother’s system).  It has been difficult being dairy free because you never realize all the foods dairy is in until you can’t have it.  McDonald’s French fries for instance have dairy in them.  Many breads have dairy as well.  And then of course there is cheese, ice cream, butter (although dairy free butter is actually pretty good), and chocolate.  Oh how I miss chocolate.  And pizza.  And ice cream.  Although oreos, chocolate frosting, and some bakers chocolate do not contain dairy.  This helps a little.

Let me just say I am glad I only have to cut dairy while I am nursing and that when Frog Face is weaned I will be able to binge on my missed dairy items (this binging combined with the weaning will probably result in an increase in growth around the middle for this mama).  Poor Frog Face may have to deal with this allergy for a while still, although many babies apparently outgrow their dairy allergy within a couple years. 

Anyway, back to poop.  There are many types of poop out there: I have come to learn that bright green poop after blueberries is okay, and that Frog Face is the master of “stealth poops” where he somehow manages to fill a diaper without making a single sound, and the only way I know it is filled is when I get a whiff of his tushy or (far too frequently) stick my hand in it when I go to pick him up.

I might be a bit crazy to pay so much attention to poop, but that’s okay.  I have been trained to observe poop at work so I can’t help but observe it at home too.  Just another way that raising children is similar to raising animals.  And hey!  At least Goober is fully potty trained, so there is that to be thankful for!

Bet you thought I was going to post a picture of poop huh?  Instead I give you my little Frog Face.  3 months old last Saturday and already thinking he can sit like a big boy.

Her "strong" pose.  I think she looks a bit like the Joker from Batman