Editing Meconium (section)

{{Short description|Earliest feces of a mammalian infant}}
{{For|the historical meaning of the term|Opium}}
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{{Infobox medical condition (new)
| name          = Meconium
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| image         = Meconium.jpg
| caption       = Meconium from 12-hour-old [[newborn]]{{snd}}the baby's third [[bowel movement]]<br/><hr/>Scale: 5 cm left to right.
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| field         = [[Pediatrics]]
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| image_size    = 200
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'''Meconium''' is the earliest [[feces|stool]] of a mammalian [[infant]] resulting from [[defecation]]. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the [[uterus]]: intestinal [[epithelial cells]], [[lanugo]], [[mucus]], [[amniotic fluid]], [[bile]], and water. Meconium, unlike later feces, is viscous and sticky like tar – its color usually being a very dark olive green and it is almost odorless.<ref>Persis Mary Hamilton, ''Basic Pediatric Nursing'' (Maryland Heights MO: Mosby, 1991), 82. {{ISBN|978-0801658693}}</ref> When diluted in amniotic fluid, it may appear in various shades of green, brown, or yellow. It should be completely passed by the end of the first few days after birth, with the stools progressing toward yellow (digested milk).