What Is Meconium?
Meconium is a viscous, black-green substance, which in medical terms refers to the first stool of a newborn. Its composition includes amniotic fluid, mucus, fetal hair, bile, and cells shed from the skin and digestive tract. A typical change in newborn feces is the transition from meconium to yellow and green stools in about 4 to 5 days.
Meconium
- Chinese name
- Meconium
- Physical properties
- Sticky, black-green
- Nature
- Medical Terminology
- Solid
- Newborn's first stool
- Meconium is a viscous, black-green substance, which in medical terms refers to the first stool of a newborn. Its composition includes amniotic fluid, mucus, fetal hair, bile, and cells shed from the skin and digestive tract. A typical change in newborn feces is the transition from meconium to yellow and green stools in about 4 to 5 days.
- In the womb of a pregnant woman, the fetus is suspended in amniotic fluid. This fluid protects him / her during the growth and development of the fetus. The fetus will swallow amniotic fluid in the womb. The swallowed amniotic fluid includes the above-mentioned various substances in the feces (fetal hair, exfoliated skin cells, etc.). The amniotic fluid returned to the womb, and the substances it contains will be left in the intestine. This circulation ensures that the amniotic fluid is in a clean and healthy state during the nine-month pregnancy. This process occurs approximately every three hours.
- If the fetus excretes feces (meconium) in the womb, he / she may inhale it into the lungs, causing meconium aspiration syndrome.
- The above is from Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, ADAM, Inc.