Question
A four-month-old baby, exclusively breastfed, has a stool examination result showing positive hidden blood with one plus sign. Is this result normal?
Answer
If the baby’s stool occult blood test shows a weak positive, it indicates the presence of red blood cells in the baby’s stool, suggesting that there is slight bleeding somewhere in the baby’s gastrointestinal tract. Parents should consider further examination for the baby to quickly identify the type of pathogen and provide targeted medication treatment. Additionally, it is worth noting that if a mother’s nipple is cracked and bleeding while breastfeeding, the baby may swallow milk mixed with the mother’s blood, which could also lead to a weak positive hidden blood in the stool. However, this situation usually does not affect the baby’s health.