How much stool should a two-month-old child have? Dangerous symptoms associated with the stool of a newborn. Physiological features of a two-week-old baby

The birth of a child is not only a great joy for parents, but also the time of worries and anxieties that has come. How does the baby grow and develop, does it have enough food, is it digested correctly? Many of these questions will be answered by the contents of your baby's diaper. It is the chair, or rather, its quantity, color and consistency, will tell the mother whether the baby has enough nutrients. What you need to know about stool for a baby under 6 months old? Let's try to figure it out.

Baby chair per month

The first month is the most disturbing. The stool of a baby at 1 month old often changes, and the mother still cannot understand if this is normal, or if she needs to panic and rush to the doctor. The very first days after birth, the stool in a newborn has a very dark color - dark green, almost black. This is the so-called original feces or meconium. Its consistency is thicker - it resembles a window putty. Gradually, as the mother's milk arrives, the stool changes. This usually happens on the second or third day after giving birth.

The child's stool does not change immediately per month - at first it goes through the so-called intermediate stage, which lasts several days. At this time, the color of the stool becomes greenish and liquid, which also scares the parents. However, it is normal for the second stage if it does not last longer than 4-6 days.

Finally, gradually, the baby's stool at 1 month old acquires the shade that is considered normal. This is a yellow color - or rather, all kinds of its variants: mustard, brownish, orange. The consistency of the stool is rather liquid, mushy, interspersed with white lumps or mucus can be observed. This should not be feared: such inclusions only indicate that the baby eats well, and the excess part of the food comes out undigested. The smell of the stool resembles fermented milk, it is not too bright and tart.

How often should a baby have stools per month? A newborn baby poops a lot - and parents need to be prepared for this. Stock up on diapers: stool frequency in the first month can be up to 10-12 times. Gradually, as lactation improves, stool frequency will decrease. But the most amazing thing is that while breastfeeding, the baby may not walk in a big way for up to a week. And this is also the norm - just mother's milk is completely absorbed. On artificial feeding, this, as a rule, does not happen.

How to determine what happens if the baby has a rare stool per month? Is this normal or indicative of constipation? You should focus on the condition of the baby. If his tummy is soft, he does not twist his legs, does not cry, eats with appetite and sleeps peacefully, then everything is in order. If the crumbs have colic and constipation, you will certainly notice this - the baby will be capricious. You will need to help him to empty the intestines by giving an enema.

Why can the baby's stool change per month? Changes are most often related to color and consistency. You may encounter the following problems:

• Chair green;
• Watery and frothy stools;
• Black stools;
• White stools;
• Other changes in stool color - for example, a reddish tinge to the stool.

First of all, the mother needs to remember that the color of the child's stool per month (however, as well as at an older age) directly depends on her nutrition. Therefore, you do not need to be scared if the baby's stool turns red. Remember what you ate the day before - beets, tomatoes, red berries may well affect the shade of the stool in the crumbs. The same applies to some vitamin complexes.

The black color of the stool invariably scares parents, but in reality it is rarely a problem. A similar shade can be given by foods containing a large amount of iron, as well as drugs prescribed for mom. White stools in a child per month cannot be called the norm, since it may indicate abnormalities in the functioning of the liver or pancreas. Be sure to consult your pediatrician.

Finally, green stools in most cases appear due to improper feeding, when the baby eats "front" milk, which contains carbohydrates, but does not contain fat, like "back" milk. You should change the feeding regimen and try to get the baby to empty the breast completely.

Stool 2 months old and older

The first month is the most difficult, but later the baby's stool is more or less formed. The stool of a 2 month old child, as we have already said, should normally have a yellow tint and a mushy consistency. Mom may face such a problem as dark stool, which doctors call "hungry". This happens when the baby does not have enough milk. If, along with a change in the color of the stool, the baby pees less often, and the urine acquires a rich shade and a pungent smell, you need to urgently consult a doctor - you may need to feed the baby. Regular weighing will help prevent this problem - you will always know if your child is gaining weight normally.

The stool of a 4-month-old child continues to resemble a yellowish gruel in color and consistency. Sometimes at this age you have to feed the baby if the mother does not have enough milk. In addition, many parents already give water, juice or compote at this age. Pediatricians believe that this is not necessary if the mother has enough milk. One way or another, if the stool in a 4 month old baby changes, most likely in connection with complementary foods.

The stool of a baby at 5 months may also change, since at this age most parents still give the baby the first complementary foods in the form of puree. Do not be alarmed if undigested residues of complementary foods are visible in the stool of a child at 5 months - any new food is not absorbed immediately. It is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of the child's skin: if the baby reacted to the new food with an upset stomach, the delicate skin around his anus may become inflamed.

Finally, a child's stool at 6 months of age may become harder when protein supplements are introduced, and sometimes even constipation occurs. Parents have a fascinating job of drawing up the right menu for the crumbs. There is no need to introduce several types of complementary foods at the same time - then it will be difficult to determine what exactly the baby has reacted to.

Text: Olga Pankratieva

4.64 4.6 out of 5 (53 votes)

»Artificial feeding

Green feces of a baby at 3 months: what is the reason?

What should be a 3 month old baby? Under what disease does a child have a 3 month old green chair?

After the birth of a child, every mother is faced with the problem of stool in a newborn. In the first months of a child's life, he very often has difficulty in excreting feces, it can be constipation or diarrhea. Before you start treating constipation or diarrhea, you need to pay attention to the stool itself. If the baby is breastfeeding, then problems with stool occur very rarely.

After all, breast milk for a baby is the best source of vitamins, and it is also well digested by the baby's intestines. Sometimes the stool may be lumpy, mucus, or greenish in color. But if the child behaves calmly and you do not notice that something hurts him, then you should not worry. Such a stool can be from overeating, poor digestion, or when a child is born, his microflora is not yet formed and frequent diarrhea or constipation can be up to 2-3 months.

Stool in newborns may be after each feeding in small quantities. When active lactation is established in a nursing mother, then the child should have normal yellow stools with a thin consistency and the frequency of stools can be from 4 to 6 times a day.

When the child is already a little used to the environment and his intestines are formed, then the frequency of stool is less frequent. There are cases that babies by the age of three months can empty their intestines once a day, this indicates that breast milk in the baby's intestines is well digested. The child's feces are 3 months old, sometimes it can have a slightly green color, but this is considered the norm and such a chair is called transitional. With artificial feeding, the baby's stool is almost the same as with breastfeeding, only it has a thicker consistency and a dark color.

It also happens that a child's stool may have a green color. The reasons for such a stool may be different, a violation of the intestinal microflora or the digestive system. If such a stool bothers the child, he may refuse food, the temperature rises or there is frequent frequent spitting up, in such cases, you need to consult a pediatrician. If a child has green stools for 3 months, the cause may be an intestinal infection - dysbiosis. But before diagnosing a child, you need to consult a doctor who will examine the child and prescribe an analysis of feces for dysbiosis.

The causes of intestinal infection can be diathesis or allergies, congenital intestinal dysfunctions, infectious diseases. If the baby is breastfed, this infection can be transmitted to the baby from the mother. For the treatment of dysbiosis, medications are used to restore the intestinal microflora - these are Linex, Bifi-form. Enterol, Bifidumbacterin. You need to adhere to the diet of a nursing mother, during this period you must carefully monitor your diet.

How many times a day should a month-old baby have stools?

As a rule, immediately after birth, with the beginning of breastfeeding, a young mother does not have such a question, because the baby defecates almost after each feeding. But how many times a day should a month-old child have a chair, because it is at this stage that parents notice that their baby may start going to the toilet less often? Naturally, attention should be paid to this issue.

How many times a day, according to the norms, should a child have stool

In pediatrics, there are such averaged norms for ease of orientation. Once upon a time (when breastfeeding was not given due attention and most children were mixed or completely artificially fed) they were taken for an unshakable norm. Today, pediatricians advise simply to build on them, but in each case an individual approach is important .

0 - 4 months: child's stool 1-7 times a day;

4 months - 2 years: chair 1-3 times a day;

from 2 years old: 0.5-1 times a day.

Anything less common used to be considered constipation. Nevertheless, today pediatricians have come to the conclusion that with a normal child's health, a normally shaped stool, sufficient nutrition and fluid intake, a child has the right to poop at least once every 5 days, subject to exclusive breastfeeding and normal development. However, such norms are not permissible for a newborn child, but from a month and older.

Constipation is not determined by quantity, but by quality. And if the baby is not worried about the tummy, and if he defecates normally, independently and easily, then this may just be the norm for him. Of course, such a phenomenon as a sharp transition from 5 times a day to 1 time in 5 days should alert and become a reason for consulting a local doctor.

But if by the month the child poops from 1 time a day to 1 time in 2, or even 3 days with normal health, then you should not worry. It is just that the volume of feces may then increase (but do not expect that in direct proportion).

Breast milk can be absorbed almost completely and completely go "into growth", and soft unformed feces, accumulating in small quantities very gradually, do not create proper pressure on the intestinal walls, and therefore do not stimulate frequent frequent emptying.

However, a rare stool in a month-old baby on formula and mixed feeding is a serious reason to see a doctor. There are many nuances here. Most likely, the baby needs to be given more water, possibly changing the mixture. Sometimes a course of prebiotics is required.

Some personal experience

At one time, I was not spared a similar problem, when, under the condition of exclusively natural feeding (only the breast, on demand, without supplementation and supplementation), the child defecated 5 times a day during the first month, this indicator dropped to 1 time per month, in 2 months - up to 1 time in 2-3 days. We also had this (about 4-5 months) that we went to the toilet every 5 days, but we felt great, our tummy was always soft, and we developed well. The doctor recommended simply to observe carefully. And with the mixing of complementary foods and supplements, the stool became more regular and decorated (like that of an adult).

It is necessary to consult a doctor in any case if any question arises - you are responsible for the health of your baby. However, giving an enema and giving a laxative for no reason is also not good.

Child's chair: norm and pathology

In case of problems with stool, it is certainly important to look at the baby's behavior, if there are changes in the state of health, then urgently see a doctor. From my own experience, I can say that there are often problems when switching to a mixture when it was 2.5 months. It may often not be suitable if the composition lacks such important components as prebiotics and probiotic, there is no optimal ratio of whey protein (casein), lutein, etc. In general, you need to monitor the composition very carefully. We did not find our mixture right away, so during the search we encountered problems with stool, colic in the baby. Now we are eating Nuppy Gold Estonian, there is almost everything you need in the composition, the stool from it quickly improved, and before that it was some kind of greenish color, very liquid, there are no allergic reactions.

Oh, while I was breastfeeding, we had no problems with the chair. But when I started to introduce supplementary feeding, then the constipation went. I immediately brushed aside the enemas - I don't want to spoil the intestinal microflora of the child and earn dysbak for him. Soap pellets are from the same series. So the only then effective assistant in this matter were children's candles glycelax. They liquefy and inject feces rather quickly (literally 20 minutes of waiting). Only the baby's ass must be clamped so that the candle does not pop out ahead of time when you just insert it. Then our stool gradually improved, the body adapted to the new food. And there was no harm from the candles to the child.

Please tell me! We are 9 days old, a chair of a normal color, with small white blotches! In general, we seem to eat up normally, but poop 1-2 times a day! We can do it once, but in a burst of three volleys =) I worry, because all the sources they say that they should poop as many times as we eat! help.

Not necessary with every meal. Some people do not poop for several days, but with good general well-being of the child, this is normal.

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When a little man is born, parents are eager to take care of him as best as possible in order to prevent the slightest discomfort, and even more so diseases. If a baby is bottle-fed, most modern parents are very responsible when it comes to the choice of mixtures, because the baby's nutrition in the first months of life is the basis of everything: up to a year, proper feeding lays the foundation for health for life. There are several criteria for how successfully the replacement of breast milk was selected: how the baby gains weight and height, in what condition his delicate skin, and of course, the stool of a newborn with artificial feeding.

What the baby's diaper is filled with will tell an experienced pediatrician about his state of health no worse than tests, but it is not always possible to show the crumbs' stool to the attending physician. Therefore, this review will help you learn how to independently monitor the consistency, color, smell and regularity of the stool in newborns in order to help the baby in time and correctly in case of problems.

Normal bowel movements of a bottle-fed newborn.

A bottle-fed newborn eats differently than a baby receiving mother's milk. This means that the stool of an artificial baby and the stool of an infant will be different, because the composition of human milk and formula, no matter how hard the manufacturers of baby food, are still not identical. Therefore, let's determine the criteria by which we will determine whether everything is good with the newborn's stool: this is the color, consistency, smell and frequency.

Colour.

• Normally, the color of the stool of a bottle-fed newborn is naturally yellow or dark orange, and it depends on the mixture you choose.
• If you observe white inclusions in the feces, this is not scary: the newborn's digestive system matures and learns to cope with food, and soon it will fully digest and assimilate the entire mixture.
• However, if the point is not in the physiological characteristics of the baby, but in the fact that you are simply overfeeding the baby (after all, he cannot tell you when he has "enough"), in the feces you will observe curled undigested lumps, and the consistency of the feces itself will become thinner: this means that you need to revise the portions in consultation with your pediatrician.
• When the stool is bright yellow or orange, it is imperative to inform the doctor about this: such a color signals a malfunction of the liver.
• And green feces in babies older than a week can be a sign of unpleasant diseases such as dysbiosis, staphylococcal enterocolitis, rotavirus infection, or congenital inability to absorb lactose (newborn feces - meconium - are greenish in nature, but this is normal only in the first days after birth).
• A too dark color of feces, especially streaks or blotches of blood in it, is also a signal of danger. Blood in the feces may appear due to the presence of microcracks in the anus (a common occurrence after constipation, when dry and dense feces scratch the rectum), but the reason may be different, therefore, it is also necessary to see a doctor.

Consistency. The stool of formula-fed babies is always denser than that of infants, so it is important for mom to make sure that it is not too hard - the baby will be very uncomfortable, and in the long run it is fraught with constipation. The normal consistency of the stool of newborns is mushy, the feces become more formed only after the introduction of complementary foods. Loose stools in artificial babies is also a sign of problems, usually, in addition to a thin consistency, changes in the frequency of bowel movements, color and smell are also observed - all these are signs of an intestinal infection, and a little later we will talk about this in more detail. It can also be a sign of an individual's negative reaction to the mixture. In this case, you will have to choose another, after consulting in detail with your doctor.

Smell. In a newborn with artificial feeding, stool odor is more pronounced than in infants who eat naturally, whose feces normally have a faint odor before complementary foods appear. A putrid smell in combination with a liquid consistency and the appearance of foam can serve as a danger signal - such a stool necessarily requires the removal of a doctor, it can be a sign of a staphylococcal infection in the intestine.

Frequency. Infants who are bottle-fed in the first days empty their tummy up to 6 times, but gradually the mode of functioning of their body becomes more orderly and predictable, and just a few weeks after birth, the crumbs can already have a chair only once a day, while breastfed babies, it can be several times a day (usually after each feeding). This is due to the fact that, unlike mother's milk, infant formulas are absorbed longer and more difficult - the baby just needs more time for this.

Constipation in a newborn with artificial feeding

If there is no stool for more than a day, this can lead to compaction of feces in the intestines and to the occurrence of constipation, which is accompanied by unpleasant sensations and soreness. For babies who are bottle-fed, constipation is the most common problem (every third artificial newborn is familiar with it), while babies are more likely to have problems with loose stools when the mother's diet is inaccurate. Therefore, if a newborn, who is artificially fed, cries and worries all day, his tummy is hard, the pooping process itself is painful, the baby pushes, blushes and screams, pulling his legs up to his tummy, and the chair turns out to be hard and dense, in the shape of a sausage or dense "peas"- this is constipation.

If the frequency of bowel movements is less than once a day (but not more than 3), but the feces are soft and the child does not experience discomfort, this may simply be an individual feature of your baby.

What are the causes of constipation? There may be several of them.

1. First of all, you should consider the composition of the formula for artificial feeding: even if it is good and suits many, it may not suit your baby specifically. This is verified empirically: if everything is working out, as soon as the mixture is changed, then this is the reason. Often, children prone to constipation are advised to mix with probiotics or fermented milk mix.
2. However, the mixture itself may be all right, but its shelf life may come to an end or even end altogether. Be very careful when buying and be sure to pay attention to the information about until what date the product should be consumed: if the expiration date expires, it is better not to take it.
3. Another possible reason is the mixture is too thick. It may even fully correspond to the norm indicated on the jar - it will be too thick for your baby, in which case you just need to make the mixture more diluted, liquid.
4. An over-age-appropriate formula can also lead to constipation. If the newborn has a tendency to constipation, then it is better not to rush to replace the mixture with a more "adult" version.
5. The introduction of complementary foods can also cause constipation, because the child is offered food of a completely new, denser consistency and often higher calorie content. In this case, be sure to keep a diary of complementary foods and note the body's reaction to each new dish: if constipation is noted after taking certain foods (for example, rice, bananas), it is better to exclude them from the menu until the baby grows up. And whole cow's milk is generally contraindicated for a child under one year old (one of the problems that it provokes is also constipation).
6. A newborn who is malnourished may also have a problem with constipation: the feces simply have nothing to form in sufficient quantities, they "lodge" in the intestines, thickening and making it difficult for themselves to move out. In this case, check the portions that the baby eats in one feeding: are they appropriate for the age and weight of the baby? It is also important to pay attention to the nipple on the bottle: if it is too tight, with a very small hole, it will be difficult for the baby to suck and he will stop sucking without even eating enough - simply because of fatigue.
7. Among the causes of constipation and lack of fluid in the body. Bottle-fed babies must be given some water, after 3-4 months - with baby tea, and after 6 months - with compote. If the newborn was breastfed, and then he was transferred to formula, the parents can act as they used to - that is, only feed without adding liquid, and then it is simply difficult for feces to be excreted from the body, it becomes too dry and dense. And staying in a hotly heated house with dry air in winter, or exposure to summer dry heat for several days in a row leads to dehydration and can also cause constipation.
8. Constipation is also found in babies as a reaction to a stressful situation: separation from the mother, the fear of losing her, falling into an unfamiliar environment without parents (for example, in a hospital) often also provokes a similar condition.
9. Physiological abnormalities also happen: the anus may be too narrowed, or the rectum too wide, in any case, the pediatrician carefully monitors the development of such children.

How can I help my baby?

1. Provide him with sufficient physical activity and mobility, make vigorous movements with his legs, pulling them up to his tummy (as when riding a bicycle) and pressing them tightly against it, and also spread it on his stomach before each feeding;
2. Massage your tummy by moving your hand in a circle in the clockwise direction;
3. Let him drink more (in addition to ordinary water, maybe dill water, fennel tea, and for babies who are already receiving complementary foods, make a compote from prunes, freshly squeezed plum juice or plum puree);
4. Warm baths often help as they have a relaxing effect;
5. Also try using glycerin suppositories: they help soften hardened stool and lubricate the anus, making it more elastic and slippery, making it easier for hard stools to pass;
6. In any case, if there is no stool for more than 3 days, and all the "light" measures you have taken do not help, be sure to inform your pediatrician about it. If the child does not have anatomical pathologies of the intestinal structure, leading to constipation, most likely, the doctor will prescribe an enema as a last resort: it cannot be abused, as it flushes beneficial microorganisms from the intestines. Also, the doctor may prescribe mild laxatives created specifically for babies up to one year old, for example, Duphalac (you cannot give babies for constipation drugs for adults).

Diarrhea in a newborn with artificial feeding.

Diarrhea for artificial babies is much less common than constipation, but it is also common, and mums need to be prepared to act in the right way.

Diarrhea is considered a completely liquid stool (not mushy, but rather the consistency of liquid sour cream and even more rare). Often, diarrhea is accompanied by bloating, a high frequency of bowel movements, an unpleasant sour odor and skin irritation in the diaper area, since such stools are highly acidic.

Often causes of diarrhea turn out to be dysbiosis, intestinal infection, too early introduction of complementary foods, change of formula for feeding, teething period and intolerance to certain foods and dishes.

1. In the first case, it is necessary to take prebiotics and probiotics; preparations based on bifidobacteria will be an excellent solution. The fact is that dysbiosis is a violation of the balance of beneficial and harmful bacteria in the stomach and intestines: if antibiotics are prescribed to a child, the beneficial microflora dies, and it has to be repopulated. This explains the fact that after suffering illnesses with antibiotic treatment, the child often gets "after" new problems: dysbiosis and diarrhea. To prevent this from happening, when treating the underlying disease, be sure to also take medications that will preserve the intestinal flora (for example, Bifidumbacterin or Lactobacterin).
2. If the cause of diarrhea is an infection (with food poisoning or problems with hygiene), then the baby will also vomit and have a high fever. Due to inflammation of the walls of the small intestine, streaks of mucus and blood can also appear in the stool. Intestinal infection in newborns with artificial feeding is a common occurrence, because they do not receive immunomodulators that are absorbed with breast milk by breastfed babies, and therefore their immunity is less strong and the body is less protected. To fight the infection, your doctor will prescribe a broad-spectrum antibacterial drug.
3. Problems with diarrhea when introducing complementary foods are also fairly common. Until now, there are "experts" who recommend feeding too early, at 2-4 months, to which the body very often reacts with diarrhea, since the stomach is not yet ready for such a load. But even if complementary foods were introduced on time (for formula-fed children, it is recommended by WHO from 5 months), certain foods may not be absorbed, and they will have to be abandoned. Just keep a food diary and note what exactly the baby has reacted negatively to. And such products as whole milk of animals (cows, goats) and fatty foods in general should be excluded from the diet of a baby up to one year old. Give juices with caution - they have a lot of sugar, and it contributes to the formation of thinner stools, since it is difficult for the body to absorb.
4. If you decide to change the mixture, weigh the pros and cons, and don't do it without good reason, just out of curiosity and a penchant for experimentation. The baby's stomach is very delicate, sudden changes are harmful to him, and therefore, babies often react with diarrhea to change the mixture. Between two equally good infant formula, always choose the one you are familiar with.
5. When babies are teething, their body becomes especially vulnerable to infections, moreover, it reacts sensitively to any irritants, and therefore diarrhea often happens these days.
6. However, the most difficult cases requiring medical intervention, long-term treatment and constant monitoring are some diseases characterized by intolerance to certain types of food: celiac disease manifested with the introduction of cereal complementary foods (fecal, shiny and fetid) and congenital disruption of the endocrine system - cystic fibrosis (extremely common offensive stools of increased viscosity). In both cases, the treatment is prescribed by a doctor.
7. It is also important to know that diarrhea can be one of the symptoms of appendicitis, peritonitis and volvulus, therefore, in any case, with diarrhea, it is important to consult a doctor who will assess all the symptoms in a comprehensive manner and prescribe the necessary treatment.

How can I help my baby?

1. The most dangerous consequence of diarrhea is dehydration. The baby becomes sluggish, drowsy and weak, his skin dries up and a rash may appear on his body, a large fontanelle sinks, and his urine becomes very dark and he rarely pisses. To help in this situation, they often add water to it (every 10-20 minutes), prescribe a special drug - Regidron, and try to eliminate the causes of the situation: they treat dysbiosis or intestinal infection, or remove complementary foods that caused diarrhea from the diet.
2. Also, the doctor prescribes medications for the child that kill intestinal infections. The most effective are Furazolidone, as well as Nifuroxazide and Levomycetin. When choosing a medicine for newborns, do not self-medicate and do not prescribe dosages for yourself, all the more so - do not use drugs intended for adults, always consult a doctor in doubtful cases (if you do not call a doctor at home, take a diaper with a chair to the clinic ).
3. For feeding, prepare the mixture much more liquid than usual - you will return to a normal consistency only after recovery.

Green stool in bottle-fed babies

In addition to the usual diarrhea, parents are often frightened by its especially unpleasant variety - green feces in bottle-fed babies. During the neonatal period (that is, the first 5-7 days after birth), the baby, as we already know, can have a dark greenish feces - this is meconium, the original feces, which is absolutely normal: in this way the intestines are cleansed of the remnants of amniotic fluid, epithelial tissues and so on. But if a green tint appears in the stool of older children, this is a dangerous sign, but there can be many reasons for it:

• Lactose indigestibility (in this case, the stool will be not only green, but also with foam and a very unpleasant sour smell) is a dangerous condition in which a baby has severe toxicosis of the whole body. In this case, the use of any whole milk is excluded.
• Foamy green stools are also observed with another disease dangerous to the baby - staphylococcal enterocolitis, which requires immediate medical attention;
• Diarrhea with greens, accompanied by vomiting and high fever, is also dangerous - these are signs of rotavirus infection in infants, the doctor prescribes treatment.
• If the green stool has black blotches (thickened traces of blood) - we can talk about problems with the digestive system as a whole (congenital pathologies are possible), and this also requires prompt medical intervention.
• Green loose stools with mucus and sometimes grains of blood, which is accompanied by frequent regurgitation (not only after feeding), incessant anxiety and crying of the baby due to constant pain in the tummy, as well as rashes on the skin, is a symptom of dysbiosis.
• When the mixture of your choice is high in iron, a green diaper content is also possible. If the general condition of the baby is good, the consistency of the kakul is normal and there are no more complaints, there is nothing wrong with this color of the stool. But if any more warning signs appear, consult your pediatrician and change the mixture.
• If the stool is green and with mucus, this signals to us that the digestive system is immaturity - it has few enzymes to process and ensure the absorption of food. Green color (along with undigested pieces) can be observed after the introduction of complementary foods to which the body has not yet adapted. This means that you need to wait a little with complementary foods, or give the body time to reorganize to a new type of food.

How can I help my baby?

1. The first step will be the delivery of tests - guessing about the reasons and wasting time on selecting options in this case is impossible. You will need to take a diaper with a chair and bring it to the laboratory for testing, but inform your doctor first. If the baby has an infection in the body, the tests will reveal it and it will be possible to prescribe adequate treatment.
2. The second point is bacterial inoculation, which will determine the composition of the intestinal microflora, identifying pathogenic organisms and determining the balance of bacteria beneficial and harmful to the body. In case of dysbiosis (lack of useful natural microflora), the baby will be prescribed drugs that will help beneficial bacteria settle in the intestine (usually Linex, Lactobacterin, Acipol and other drugs).
3. Reduce portions of feedings and do them more often - so it will be easier for the baby to cope with the digestion and assimilation of food. For the future, also try not to overfeed the baby, so as not to disrupt the activity of the digestive system. "I ate well" and "ate a lot" are not synonyms!
4. One way or another, diarrhea, fever and the general poor condition of the child (lethargy, moodiness, constant crying) are the reason to consult a doctor without self-medication.

Be attentive to your children and take care of them. Good luck!

If a young mother, for some reason, is unable to provide a newborn baby with breast milk, then the way out of this situation is to switch to artificial milk formulas. Difficult childbirth, infectious diseases, and complete or partial absence of milk in the mammary glands can serve as an obstacle to breastfeeding.

The introduction of artificial milk formulas into the baby's diet is accompanied by a number of changes on the part of the newborn's digestive system. The baby's stool undergoes a change, which changes its color, consistency and frequency.

Features of artificial feeding

The assimilation of breast milk and artificial milk formula occurs differently in the infant's body. If the baby is artificially fed, then he is able to withstand longer intervals between feedings. This is due to the fact that the milk formula contains an increased amount of casein, which takes more time to break down.

However, children who eat formula milk are more at risk of developing an allergic reaction. The cause of the allergic reaction is a cow's milk protein, which is foreign to the child's body.

Chair characteristics

When changing a diaper, you should not rush to throw it in the trash can, as stool fragments are a valuable source of information regarding the health of the newborn.

When evaluating a child's stool, you should pay attention to the following criteria:

• frequency and regularity;
• Colour;
• consistency;
• smell.

The nature of the stool can undergo changes as the child grows and matures. Age, diet and the amount of complementary foods introduced can affect its characteristics. The frequency of emptying is individual for each newborn baby. With artificial feeding, the baby's stool has a dense consistency and a pronounced odor, which is associated with less thorough assimilation of the artificial milk mixture.

The normal frequency of bowel movements during artificial feeding is 1 to 6 times a day. The color of the stool of a infant feeding on formula varies from light yellow to brown. The chemical composition of baby food has a great influence on the color of feces.

Pathological changes in the nature of bowel movements

The liquid consistency and greenish tinge of the stool is an indicator of disorders of the digestive system. In this case, the young mother should show the child to the pediatrician and replace the milk mixture with another analogue.

If the baby's bowel movements have acquired a liquid, watery or foamy character, then this indicates the development of lactase deficiency. This condition is characterized by insufficient lactase activity. The main function of this enzyme is to break down lactose (milk sugar).

Other symptoms of lactase deficiency are bloating in the baby's tummy, tension and soreness of the anterior abdominal wall, rumbling, and constant crying of the baby. Changes are also observed in the color and odor of stool. With lactase deficiency, the child's feces acquire a characteristic sour smell and a greenish tint.

The solution to this problem is the timely consultation of a medical specialist, as well as the transfer of the newborn to another type of milk formula with a low milk sugar content. If this does not help, then the baby is transferred to lactose-free baby food.

Another reason for the appearance of foamy stools during artificial feeding is an allergic reaction to the components of baby food. In order to solve this problem, it is enough for the mother to transfer the baby to milk formula with a different composition. Dysbacteriosis is a potential cause of changes in the consistency and color of a child's stool. With a deficiency of beneficial bacteria, the child's stool becomes liquid, watery, or acquires a dense consistency. The color of feces with dysbiosis may remain the same.

If the baby eats an artificial mixture, then it is recommended to transfer it to acidophilic or fermented milk baby food. It is also recommended to take probiotics containing the required amount of beneficial bacteria.

Rotavirus and staphylococcal infections are serious causes of loose and frothy stools. With a rotaviru infection, the stool of a child acquires a pungent odor and a foamy consistency. The disease proceeds against the background of cramping abdominal pain and a sharp increase in body temperature.

Constipation with artificial feeding

With artificial feeding, constipation is not an uncommon problem. The reason for this phenomenon is the chemical composition of milk mixtures containing an increased amount of fatty acids.

Other reasons for the appearance of constipation in a child with artificial feeding include:

• insufficient intake of fluid in the child's body;
• a sharp change in the milk mixture;
• lack of beneficial bacteria in the large intestine (dysbiosis);
• feeding the child with several milk formulas at once.

Symptoms and signs of constipation in a newborn include:

• The child does not have a bowel movement for 2 days;
• The tummy of a newborn looks swollen, and at the slightest touch to it, the child begins to cry;
• Each attempt at emptying is accompanied by straining and crying. At the same time, the newborn grunts, and his face turns red.

Despite the variety of ways to eliminate constipation in a newborn, it is recommended to entrust the solution to this problem to a medical specialist. A young mother can independently help her child. For this, it is recommended to give the baby more drinking water and perform a tummy massage with gentle stroking. If constipation becomes permanent, then the child needs to undergo a detailed examination.

A child's stool is one of the most important indicators of health. Already in the maternity hospital, when making a round, doctors always ask mothers if the baby pooped. How and how much a child poops will be further interested in district pediatricians and nurses - during home visits and during examination in a polyclinic. In this article, we will consider everything about the stool of infants, since this is an extremely important part of the life of young children, and we will consider not only the stool of children who are breastfed, but also those who receive artificial nutrition.

Why is it so important to pay attention to how your baby poops? The frequency of bowel movements and the main characteristics of the stool (quantity, color, presence / absence of impurities, consistency, odor) make it possible to assess, first of all, the work of the child's gastrointestinal tract. In addition, according to them, you can make a conclusion about the baby's nutrition (including whether he has enough breast milk); changes in stool characteristics may indicate the presence of diseases in other organs and systems. Of no small importance is the fact that defecation in children occurs regularly (more often daily), most of the properties of feces can be easily assessed visually (during examination), and therefore, for attentive parents, any changes in stool do not go unnoticed.

But what to do if the regularity or quality of the stool changes: call a doctor, treat yourself, or don't worry at all - everything will go away by itself? How does a baby normally have to poop, and how does the chair change at different periods of his life?

About the norm and its variations

Stool frequency in infants varies from 10-12 times a day to 1 time in 4-5 days.

Norm is a relative concept. I am always surprised when I hear “a baby has to poop 3-4 times (2-5 or 1 or 10 times, it doesn't matter) a day with yellow gruel”. Remember, your child does not owe anything to anyone. Each baby is an individuality from birth. How he will have a bowel movement depends on many factors - and on the degree of maturity of his digestive system, and on the type of feeding, and even on the type of delivery, and on concomitant pathology, and on many other reasons. The main guidelines for determining an individual norm specifically for your baby are the child's well-being, regularity, painlessness of bowel movements and the absence of pathological impurities in the stool. Therefore, below I will give not only the average normal indicators, but also the extreme values ​​of the norm and its variants, depending on the influence of various factors.

Bowel frequency

After the discharge of meconium (original feces of a viscous consistency, brown or black-green), from 2-3 days the child has a transitional feces - dark green or yellow-green, semi-liquid. From 4-5 days of life, a certain rhythm of bowel emptying is established in a newborn. The frequency of acts of defecation varies within fairly significant limits: from 1 time in 1-2 days to 10-12 times a day. Most babies poop during or immediately after a meal - after every feed (or almost after every feed). But a stool every 2 days will also be a variant of the norm - provided that it is a regular stool (occurs every two days), and the act of defecation itself does not cause anxiety or pain to the child (the baby does not scream, but only grunts slightly, the stool leaves easily , there is no excessive straining).

With growth, the child begins to poop less often: if during the neonatal period he had an average of 8-10 stools, then by 2-3 months of life the baby poops 3-6 times a day, at 6 months - 2-3 times, and by year - 1-2 times a day. If, from the first days of life, the baby cocoa 1 time a day, then usually this frequency remains in the future, only the consistency changes (the mushy stool gradually becomes shaped).

Feces

The amount of stool is directly related to the amount of food consumed by the child. In the first month of life, the child poops quite a bit - about 5 g at a time (15-20 g per day), by 6 months - about 40-50 g, by the year - 100-200 g per day.

Stool consistency

The norm for newborns is a soft, mushy consistency. But here, too, fluctuations within the normal range are quite permissible - from a liquid to a fairly thick gruel. Ideally, the stool is homogeneous, evenly smeared, but it can be liquid with lumps (if the child pooped into the diaper, then the liquid component is absorbed, slightly staining the surface, and a small amount of small lumps may remain on top).

The older the child, the more dense his stool becomes, representing a thick gruel by six months, and by the year it becomes practically shaped, but at the same time quite soft and plastic.

Colour

Yellow, golden yellow, dark yellow, yellow-green, yellow with white lumps, yellow-brown, green - each of these colors will be normal for a newborn's stool. After breastfeeding is complete, the stool becomes darker and gradually turns brown.

Green feces

Please note that greenish, marsh-green, yellow-green colors are normal variants, and the green coloration of feces is due to the presence of bilirubin and (or) biliverdin in it. Bilirubin can be excreted in the feces for up to 6-9 months, that is, the greenish color of the stool during this age period is quite normal. In newborn babies, the transition from yellow to green stools and vice versa is especially noticeable during physiological jaundice, when maternal hemoglobin breaks down and bilirubin is actively secreted. But even in the following days and months of life, until the intestinal microflora fully matures, the presence of bilirubin in the stool, which gives the feces a green color, is permissible.

It is also quite normal for a phenomenon when feces are initially yellow in color, and after a while it "turns green" - this means that the feces contain a certain amount of bilirubin, which is invisible at first, but upon contact with air is oxidized and gives the feces a green color.

On the other hand, if a baby (excluding a child with jaundice) has never had a green stool before, and suddenly the stool becomes green or streaked with greenery, it is more likely that either a functional digestive disorder (against the background of overfeeding, the introduction of complementary foods, etc.) .), or a lack of milk in the mother, or some kind of disease in the child (intestinal infection, dysbiosis, etc.).

Smell

In a breastfed baby, the stool has a peculiar, slightly sour odor. In artificial children, feces acquire an unpleasant, putrid or rotten smell.

Impurities

In general, any impurities in the stool - undigested food particles and other inclusions, blood, greens, mucus, pus - are considered pathological. But the period of newborn and infancy are exceptional periods, here even pathological impurities may turn out to be quite normal. We have already talked about greens and found out why green can (although not always) be a variant of the norm. Let us now examine other impurities in the child's stool.

Normally, babies may have the following impurities in their stools:

White lumps are caused by the immaturity of the baby's digestive system and enzymes, which is why the baby does not fully absorb milk (especially when overfeeding). Subject to the child's satisfactory health and normal weight gain, these inclusions can be classified as normal.

Undigested food particles - appear after the introduction of complementary foods and are explained by the same physiological immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. Usually, the stool returns to normal within a week, if during this time the character of the stool in the crumbs does not return to normal, complementary foods are most likely introduced too early and the baby is not yet ready for it.

Mucus - mucus is constantly present in the intestines and has a protective function. Its appearance in small quantities in children who are breastfed is a variant of the norm.

What impurities should not be in the baby's stool:

• pus;
• blood.

Their presence is a dangerous symptom, and if even small amounts of pus or blood appear, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Stool changes depending on the child's diet

Breastfeeding baby chair

An excess of carbohydrates in the diet of a nursing mother will lead to an increase in fermentation processes in the baby's intestines, intestinal colic, rumbling, frequent, liquid, foamy stools.

The nutrition of a breastfed baby is determined by the mother's nutrition, and the baby's stool will depend on how the mother eats. If the mother observes the basic rules of nutrition for lactating women, restricting the diet of excessively fatty foods and sweets, the baby's stool usually meets all the criteria for the norm - yellowish, mushy, without impurities, regular, homogeneous. With an overabundance of fat in a woman's menu, breast milk also becomes more fatty, it becomes difficult to digest, and therefore the baby may experience constipation and the inclusion of white lumps in the feces. A diet rich in easily digestible carbohydrates often leads to an increase in fermentation processes in the intestines of the child, and is accompanied by frequent, liquid, sometimes even frothy stools, against the background of rumbling, bloating in the abdomen and intestinal colic. If you have severe bloating, constipation may occur instead of loose stools.

Certain foods in the diet of a nursing mother can cause allergies in the baby, which manifests itself not only in the form of rashes on the skin, but also in the form of changes in the stool - it becomes liquid, with mucus.

With a lack of milk in a nursing mother, the baby's stool becomes at first viscous, thick, then dry, green or grayish-green in color, crumbling, leaves in small quantities, or persistent constipation occurs.

Mixed and formula fed baby chair

Compared to babies receiving breast milk, bottle-fed babies poop less often (in the first months of life - 3-4 times a day, by six months - 1-2 times a day), their stools are denser, putty-like consistency, dark yellow, with an unpleasant putrid or sharply sour odor. With a sharp transition to artificial feeding, when changing the usual mixture, stool delays (constipation) are possible, or, on the contrary, loose stools appear.

Feeding with formulas with a high iron content (for the prevention of anemia) may be accompanied by the release of dark green stool due to the presence of unabsorbed iron in it.

When feeding babies not with artificial adapted formulas, but with natural cow's milk, various problems with stool are even more often observed: chronic constipation or diarrhea. The feces of such children are usually bright yellow, sometimes with a greasy sheen, with a "cheesy" smell.

Stool changes during the introduction of complementary foods

By themselves, complementary foods, which are a completely new type of food for a child, require the active work of all parts of the digestive tract and enzymes. In most cases, children do not fully assimilate the first complementary foods, and undigested particles come out with the stool, they can easily be seen in the baby's feces in the form of dissimilar inclusions, grains, lumps, etc. At the same time, a small amount of mucus may appear in the stool. If such changes are not accompanied by anxiety of the child, vomiting, diarrhea and other painful symptoms, it is not necessary to cancel complementary foods - its introduction should be continued, very slowly increasing a single serving of the dish and carefully observing the well-being and character of the baby's stool.

Certain complementary foods, for example, vegetables with a high content of plant fibers, can have a laxative effect - the stool becomes more frequent (usually by 1-2 times compared to the norm for a given child), and the feces are sometimes a slightly modified dish. For example, mothers note that they gave the child boiled carrots, and after 2-3 hours he pooped the same carrots. When the initial goal was not to stimulate the emptying of the intestines of the crumbs (the child did not suffer from constipation), it is better to temporarily postpone the maintenance of the product that caused such a reaction, moving on to more "tender" vegetables (zucchini, potatoes) or cereals.

Other dishes, on the other hand, have a strengthening effect and increase the viscosity of the stool (rice porridge).

All this should be taken into account and correlated with the peculiarities of the child's digestion when introducing complementary foods to him.

In general, the introduction of any complementary foods in healthy children is accompanied by an increase in the amount of stool, its heterogeneity, changes in smell and color.

Stool pathological changes and methods of treatment

Now let's consider what changes in the regularity of bowel movements or in the qualitative characteristics of feces are abnormal and indicate a violation of digestion, diseases or other pathological conditions.

Violation of the frequency of bowel movements

Three options are possible here: constipation, diarrhea, or irregular bowel movements.

Constipation

Constipation includes one or more of the following symptoms:

• delay in bowel movement - for 2 days or more; for a newborn child, constipation can be considered the absence of stool during the day, if earlier he pooped several times a day;
• painful or difficult bowel movements, accompanied by screaming, straining the child; frequent ineffective straining (the child tries to poop, but cannot);
• dense consistency of feces, "sheep" stool.

The main causes of constipation in babies:

• lack of milk in mom;
• irrational feeding (overfeeding, improper selection of mixtures, feeding with cow's milk, early introduction of complementary foods, lack of fluid);
• low physical activity;
• immaturity or pathology of the digestive system;
• concomitant diseases (hypothyroidism, pathology of the nervous system, rickets, etc.);
• organic causes (intestinal obstruction, dolichosigma, Hirschsprung's disease, etc.).

Relief for constipation

In case of acute constipation in infants, regardless of the reasons for stool retention, defecation should be established. First, you can try to help the baby in this way: when he pushes, trying to poop, bring the legs bent at the knees to his tummy and lightly (!) Press on the tummy for about 10 seconds, then do a gentle massage of the belly clockwise around the navel, repeat the pressure ... In case of ineffectiveness of auxiliary measures, it is recommended to use children's glycerin suppositories or to give the child a micro enema ("Microlax"). In the absence of children's laxatives in the home medicine cabinet, you can perform a cleansing enema with boiled water at room temperature (within 19-22 ° C) - for a child in the first months of life, use a sterile (boiled) syringe of the smallest volume. You can also try to stimulate a reflexive bowel movement by irritating the anus (by inserting a syringe tip or vent tube).

Sometimes difficulties during bowel movements are caused by a large number of gas in the baby's intestines - this is quite easy to understand by how the baby cries when trying to poop, his tummy is swollen, rumbling can be heard, but gases and feces do not leave. In such situations, abdominal massage and adduction of the legs are also used; you can just try to put the baby on your tummy, wear it in your arms, putting your belly on your forearms. Warming the tummy (mother can put the baby on her belly, face to face; apply a heated diaper to the belly) facilitate the passage of gaziks (and after them the chair). Of the medicines, simethicone preparations (Bobotik, Espumizan, Subsimplex) give a fairly quick effect on eliminating colic; herbal remedies are used to improve the discharge of gas drinks (dill water, Plantex, fennel decoction, Baby Kalm).

In case of recurrent constipation, it is not recommended to constantly use reflex stimulation of the sphincter with a tube or to use cleansing enemas - it is highly likely that the child will "get used" to poop not on his own, but with additional help. In the case of chronic constipation, it is necessary, first of all, to establish their cause and, if possible, eliminate it. Treatment of chronic constipation in infants should be comprehensive, including correction of the mother's nutrition or the selection of artificial mixtures, competent timely introduction of complementary foods, daily walks, gymnastics, massage, if necessary - drinking water. Less commonly, drugs are prescribed (Lactulose, etc.).

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is understood as frequent (2 or more times compared to the individual and age norm) emptying of the intestines with the release of liquefied stools. Diarrhea does not include the constant secretion of small amounts of feces (slightly smearing the surface of the diaper) when passing gas - this is due to the physiological weakness of the anal sphincter, and with the growth of the child, when the gas passes, the stool stops coming out.

The table below lists the most likely causes of diarrhea in infants.

Cause	Signs	Treatment methods
Teething reaction	Loose stools up to 10-12 times a day; feces without pathological impurities (there may be a small amount of mucus); moderate increase in body temperature (up to 38-38.5 ° C); swelling and redness of the gums; salivation.	Feeding on demand; a sufficient amount of fluid; use of antipyretic drugs, if necessary; the use of local remedies (teethers, dental gels).
Acute intestinal infection	Diarrhea of ​​varying severity (from mild diarrhea to profuse diarrhea); the feces are liquid, may be watery, foamy, with flakes; pathological impurities are often determined - streaks of greenery, mucus, pus, streaks of blood, particles of undigested food; increased body temperature; frequent vomiting; symptoms of intoxication (lethargy, pallor, refusal to eat).	Doctor's call; treatment with drugs such as Smecta or Polysorb; soldering the baby with boiled water for 1 tsp. In 5 minutes.
Lactose deficiency	The stool is liquid, frothy, yellow; sour smell; frequent colic.	If symptoms are moderate, no help is needed. In case of obvious violations, consult a doctor, enzymes are prescribed, less often a transfer to lactose-free mixtures is required.
Functional digestive disorders (overfeeding, early introduction of complementary foods)	A clear connection with food intake; loose, copious, yellow stools, possibly with a greasy sheen, white lumps; the stool is only slightly quickened or normal; possible single vomiting after eating or regurgitation.	Correction of the diet: during breastfeeding, control the frequency of attachments to the breast; with artificial - calculate the amount of feeding depending on the weight of the child (carried out by a doctor); in the case of the introduction of complementary foods - temporarily refuse it.
Taking medications	Connection with medication (antibiotics, sulfonamides, antipyretics). In the treatment of certain drugs (including antibiotics containing clavulanic acid - amoxiclav, augmentin), diarrhea develops immediately by stimulating intestinal motility. Long-term antibiotic therapy can cause dysbiosis and diarrhea against this background.	Consultation with a doctor. Cancellation (replacement) of the drug or additional prescription of probiotics may be required.
Intestinal dysbiosis	Prolonged diarrhea or irregular bowel movements without fever, other symptoms are possible (lethargy, poor appetite, poor weight gain, dry skin, etc.). It is confirmed by laboratory research, but it should be borne in mind that the analysis of feces for dysbiosis is not indicative in infants up to 3 months of age: during this period, the child's intestines are still colonized by normal microflora.	Treatment is carried out according to the doctor's prescription.

Irregular bowel movements in babies

Irregular stool is an alternation of constipation with diarrhea, or alternation of normal stool with constipation and / or diarrhea. The most likely reasons are irrational feeding, intestinal dysbiosis. Irregular stool can be a manifestation of chronic constipation, when a large amount of liquid stool appears after a long absence of stool.

In case of irregular bowel movements, one should first of all pay attention to the nature of the child's diet. If errors in nutrition are excluded, there is no overfeeding, the baby receives food according to age, then you need to consult a doctor for further examination and prescription of treatment.

Changes in the amount of stool

A decrease in the daily amount of feces in infants is observed, mainly, with constipation and starvation - in both cases, the feces are dense, poorly flowing, dark yellow or yellow-brown in color. Abundant stool is possible against the background of overfeeding. The constant release of large amounts of feces, especially of an unusual color, with a sharp unpleasant odor, requires a mandatory examination of the child (to exclude enzymatic insufficiency, intestinal diseases, etc.).

Consistency changes

Feces become denser with constipation, dehydration and lack of food; liquid - against the background of diarrhea for any of the reasons.

Color changes

As we have already discussed, the color of an infant's feces is very variable, and most often color changes do not pose a danger - with a few exceptions - the baby's feces should not be colorless or black.

Black color is an alarming symptom that can be a sign of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and bleeding should always be ruled out first in black stools. In addition to black stools (melena), bleeding may be accompanied by pallor, lethargy of the child, and vomiting often mixed with scarlet blood. Also, black stools are noted when blood is swallowed in case of nosebleeds.

However, there are quite harmless reasons for the baby's black stool:

• taking iron supplements;
• swallowing of blood by the baby while sucking with cracked nipples in the mother.

Pathological impurities

There should never be any impurities of pus or scarlet blood (even streaks of blood) in the baby's stool - if they are found, you should immediately seek medical help. Pus can appear in inflammatory (infectious and non-infectious) bowel diseases, blood - in the case of bleeding from the lower digestive tract, with severe infectious diarrhea, with blood clotting disorders, with cracks in the anus, etc.

When to see a doctor immediately

An admixture of blood in the baby's stool is a reason to immediately consult a doctor.

An urgent appeal for medical help (calling an ambulance) is necessary if the baby has at least one of the following symptoms:

1. Black stools (not associated with iron supplementation).
2. Scarlet blood or streaks of blood in the stool.
3. Diarrhea with high fever, vomiting.
4. Stool in the form of "raspberry jelly" - instead of feces, pink mucus comes out - a sign of intestinal intussusception.
5. Discolored stools with yellow skin and eyes.
6. A sharp deterioration in the child's well-being: lethargy, pallor, monotonous cry, incessant crying, etc.

Not only the listed, but also any other "incorrect" changes in the baby's stool, for which you are not able to find an explanation on your own or are not sure of their causes, require the consultation of a pediatrician. It's always best to play it safe and talk to your doctor about your warning signs.

Which doctor to contact

When changing the stool in a child, you should consult a pediatrician. After carrying out diagnostics and analyzes, the doctor can refer the parents and the child for a consultation with a gastroenterologist, infectious disease specialist, allergist, endocrinologist, surgeon, hematologist.

Diet for constipation in children from 1 to 7 years

Dr. Komarovsky on constipation in children:

What if the child does not poop every day? - Doctor Komarovsky

Why doesn't one child poop, while the other poops a lot? How many times should a newborn have stool? one or ten per day?

There are many questions and in this article you will find answers to them.

I'm sure that you are chatting with your girlfriends or reading the Internet. And one mother writes: "And my baby poops after every feeding." And the second writes: “And I only have three times a day. Maybe my constipation? "

Let's see where this norm is and what to do in general.

There is a very common myth that babies should have stools every day, or even more often - several times a day.

A newborn up to one and a half months only adapts, learns to live in this world and, naturally, he cries a lot. He can cry for a thousand and one reasons. But if the baby does not poop, then the idea arises that his anxiety is due to the lack of a chair.

An idea arises to get these poop. Get it, otherwise the child will yell all day until it is pumped. Where this myth came from is difficult to say, nevertheless, even doctors emphasize this.

Watch my video tutorial on baby chair:

What are the norms of a baby's stool?

• A child from 2-3 days to 1.5 months can poop more than 4 times a day in the volume of a tablespoon or a little more.

For some, after each feeding, the baby can poop, while for others 2-3 times a day.

In some babies up to one and a half months, there is a phenomenon called priests leakage: weak sphincter muscles and a little loose stools are released. From this priest quickly turns red, irritation appears, diaper rash appears. This does not need to be treated, it goes away by itself as the child grows up.

The main task of the mother is to protect the child's ass from diaper rash.

• Child over 1.5 months and before the introduction of complementary foods: the same child can poop up to 10 times a day or poop 1 time in 10 days.

And it's not constipation. This is a variant of the norm. Stool color can range from light green to bright yellow. Loose stools typical of a newborn are normal and do not require treatment.

In artificial children, stools are thicker and thinner than in infants.

• After the introduction of complementary foods stool can be changed from 1 time per day to 1 time in 2 days.

But, more often than not, a child with a normal diet, with good intestinal microflora, with good health, poops 1-2 times a day. Depending, of course, on the amount eaten. If the amount of complementary foods is small and the child receives the main food by the year from breast milk, he can poop 1 time in 2 days and this will be the norm for him. Liquid food is well absorbed and stool is sparse.

• From 6 months to 12 months is an intermediate stage.

The intestine adapts to new foods, new volumes, new consistency and density of foods. There will be days when the chair will be 4 times a day. There will be when it does not poop for 3 days.

If you still have anxiety and anxiety about your baby's stool,

Ludmila Sharova, breastfeeding consultant.

Very often, the condition of a small child is assessed by the nature of the stool. Many problems can be solved at the initial stage. To do this, you need to know the norm and deviations for the main indicators: stool frequency, color, consistency. All these characteristics may differ depending on what kind of feeding the baby is.

The stool of children who are on breast milk has its own characteristics.

1. The amount and frequency of stool changes frequently.
2. Stool up to 12 times a day is not considered a digestive upset, and having no stool for three days is not constipation.
3. After the introduction of complementary foods (no earlier than the sixth month), the baby's stool depends on the foods eaten, but not in any way on what the mother ate. The diet of a nursing woman does not affect feces.

What is the normal fecal test result?

• Feces from yellow to green.
• The presence of bilirubin can be traced up to the 8th month.
• Sour smell.
• White blood cells, blood streaks, mucus, and milk lumps may be present.
• Unformed intestinal microflora.

Key metrics: what you need to know

Stool norms may vary. It depends on the general condition of the baby, what kind of food is received (formula or breast milk), whether complementary foods are introduced into the diet. If the child is breastfed, then the feces are at the following rate.

The color can range from light yellow to brown. For a baby who eats breast milk, a greenish stool will be the norm.

Feces can change color for several reasons:

Normal stools can vary in consistency, from thick to thin. It is important to distinguish the condition of diarrhea from the norm.

Troubled moments:

• the stool becomes watery;
• bowel movements are frequent;
• an unpleasant odor appears;
• pronounced green color;
• high body temperature;
• the appearance of vomiting;
• in the feces, mucus, blood, foam can be observed;
• the child looks lethargic, sleepy, lethargic.

Parents need to be aware that if the body temperature rises, the baby's behavior changes, the loss of appetite and poor weight gain, an urgent need to consult a doctor.

Baby feces always have various impurities

1. A large number of white lumps may indicate an overeating baby. There are not enough enzymes to digest all the milk.
2. There is always a small amount of mucus in the stool. In the case when it becomes more, we can talk about the beginning of the inflammatory process. There are several more reasons for the appearance of mucus in the stool of a breastfed baby: improper attachment to the breast, early introduction of complementary foods, infections.
3. Foam may indicate dysbiosis, food allergies, abdominal cramps. The appearance of copious foam indicates an intestinal infection.
4. The appearance of blood in the feces may be the result of cracks in the anus, inflammation in various parts of the gastrointestinal tract, lack of vitamin K, helminthiasis.

Changes from birth to one year

If the baby is breastfed, the composition of the feces will depend on what the mother ate and on the developmental characteristics of the baby's digestive system. If mom eats foods that lax, then the stool will liquefy. And vice versa.

As soon as the child is born, within three days he has a first-born stool - meconium comes out. It is black and viscous. After that, the baby will begin to poop with ordinary feces, which have a mustard color and a medium liquid consistency. There may be no stool for several days, since the child has completely emptied the intestines from the contents.

When breastfeeding a child, his feces acquire a greenish tint, liquefy and acquire a sour smell.

Around the second week of life, transitional milk changes to mature milk. The baby's digestive organs begin to get used to these changes. Colic and regurgitation are often observed. By the end of the first month, the milk has reached its final composition.

At 1 month old, the baby defecates almost after every feeding. At 2 months, stool frequency decreases up to 4 times. Yellow color, liquid consistency, milky smell are considered the norm.

The third month is characterized by the fact that the child can poop every other day. During this period, there is a change in the composition of breast milk and enzymes in the intestines of the child. If the child rarely poops, but does not feel discomfort, you just need to wait out this period.

After the 6th month, changes in the stool can be observed. It acquires a more pronounced pungent odor, the consistency becomes denser. These changes can occur even if complementary foods have not been introduced. This is due to the fact that the child's body is preparing for new food and began to produce more enzymes.

It is very important to make sure that the baby sucks out not only the front milk, which is for the baby a means of quenching his thirst. Rear milk has all the nutrients, which is more difficult for a baby to get to.

The appearance of a green, liquid stool indicates that the baby is feeding only on front milk. The mother should hold the baby to one breast for longer while breastfeeding.

Important points: how to recognize the problem

Stool problems while breastfeeding can occur for the following reasons:

• feeding the child according to the regimen;
• lack of milk;
• supplementing with water;
• early feeding with mixtures;
• early introduction of complementary foods.

If the following symptoms appear, you need to seek medical help:

1. Stool more than 12 times a day.
2. Rare urination.
3. Profuse, frequent regurgitation.
4. Stomach ache.
5. Bad breath.

How to fix the situation: tips to solve the problem

Constipation in a child can be suspected in the following cases:

• the child has not pooped for more than three days;
• the baby's behavior becomes moody, there is constant crying;
• the child has a hard stomach;
• feces become dry and very hard;
• suspicion of abdominal pain in a child (he often bends his legs to the tummy).

You can not resort to self-treatment and the use of folk advice (thermometer, soap). All these methods can lead to disruption of the intestinal microflora and inflammatory processes. Constipation is rare in babies who are breastfed. The symptom may be not only a long absence of feces. It becomes hard and dry.

What foods are weakening? The following products will help to change the situation: cereals, fruits, boiled vegetables, kefir. Prunes will help to improve the digestion process. To do this, a woman should eat about 4 pieces of this dried fruit on an empty stomach in the morning.

Thick stools can be caused by medications that contain iron. They are usually prescribed to mothers in the first months after childbirth to raise hemoglobin.

Another reason that the stool is thick is the violation of intestinal motility.

To fix the chair will help:

1. laying the baby on his stomach before feeding;
2. a sufficient amount of fluid;
3. abdominal massage;
4. gymnastics.

If all these methods do not help, they resort to laxative drugs. What medications are allowed for infants for constipation? Glycerin suppositories or Microlax immediately weaken and lead to the desired result.

It is better to exclude from the diet foods that cause increased gas formation and worsen the situation. What foods should you avoid? These are peas, grapes, cucumbers, cabbage. If there are white lumps in the stool, then this indicates poor digestion of breast milk. Enzyme preparations, which should only be prescribed by a doctor, help to normalize the situation.

Frequent loose stools can occur due to infection.

Dangerous symptoms:

• temperature increase;
• the stool becomes very runny;
• the appearance of an abundant amount of blood, mucus;
• no weight gain;
• regurgitation, vomiting.

In this case, only medicines will help to establish a chair: antibiotics, antiviral drugs, prebiotics. Mom should not eat foods that weaken and lead to increased gas production.

Don't worry about giving up breastfeeding. The main thing is to recognize the problem in time and consult a doctor. Self-medication can lead to serious health problems for your baby.

Situations when emptying the baby should not cause any concerns:

Feces of black, dark green color in infants

The consistency of tar, does not have a characteristic odor. The so-called meconium, is the first emptying of the newborn, it contains amniotic fluid, swallowed by the child in the womb, cells of the intestinal mucosa. The baby should poop on the first or second day after birth. How many times he does this depends on the food. Basically, emptying occurs two to three times a day.

Feces of green, gray in infants

Liquid consistency, the smell is barely perceptible. "Transitional" stool, which confirms that the baby's body is working properly, and the mother's milk is absorbed properly. Emptying occurs on the second day, this characteristic accompanies the description of feces throughout the week. At best, the baby poops after each feeding, the number of times can reach 12, at least 4.

Feces brightens

It acquires a yellowish-brownish tint, liquid consistency, fermented milk smell. The number of evacuations is reduced to 2 - 4 times a day. Such feces predominate in a baby from two to six months.

Feces darken

It becomes more brownish, the consistency resembles a gruel, from time to time you can observe the appearance of inclusions, has a characteristic smell. This stool characterizes a good assimilation of the mother's milk. So the baby should poop mainly after six months of life. Emptying occurs up to 4 times a day.

There are times when the mother's milk is absorbed very well, and practically no undigested substance remains in the baby's body. The baby poops only one to a couple of times a week.... Only when the baby's intestines are filled with feces in the required amount, emptying occurs.

When complementary foods are included in a newborn's diet, stools can change dramatically in color. There is also no need to worry about this, since this change may be caused by the body's reaction to food that is new to it.

What should be the stool in a baby

When feces should bother parents

Almost all parents, until the child grows up to a conscious age, carefully examine the feces of their child. This is not caused by special interest, but by the desire to control the correct development of the baby, his state of health. They do it right, as a child's chair can tell a lot.

The absence of feces can arouse suspicion only in the case of a firm tummy in a newborn, when the child does not farts - then it is worth calling a doctor. Basically, the baby may not poop because of the good perception of the mother's milk by the body.

The opposite negative factor can be diarrhea. It is a very loose stool that, in some embodiments, may even leak out of a poorly fitting diaper. Such a chair is fraught with dehydration of the baby, it can be caused by an infection, an allergy to any component of the diet.

Green, frothy stools indicate that the baby is underfeeding. Either the baby is lazy and makes little effort to get to nutritious milk, or the mother picks up the breast early. Also, the reasons for the frothiness in the stool include the diet of the mother herself. Perhaps a breastfeeding woman uses a lot of synthetic substances that should be excluded.

Hard stools are not typical for babies, but for older children. If such a stool is found in a newborn, it is necessary to monitor the next emptying. If the next time the child has difficulty pushing, pooping heavily, you need to see a doctor. These symptoms belong to. Constipation is dangerous by damage to the intestinal walls, and in the future the formation of feces with blood. Feces in such cases can not only be with red blotches, but also have a black color (digested blood). Constipation is not uncommon in babies who are just starting to eat anything other than breast milk. Complementary foods may contain elements that are indigestible to the baby.

The baby's stool can cause fears of parents after ARVI vaccinations, as well as while waiting. In these cases, we mean a temporary disturbance in the digestive system. You should not be afraid of this.

When observing any changes in feces, you must remember these important rules:

1. You do not need to stop breastfeeding, even if the baby is diagnosed -. Breast milk strengthens the baby's immune system. No matter how many different substitutes and mixtures there are, none of them will replace the maternal contribution to the health of the baby.
2. Do not prescribe medications, dietary supplements to yourself or your child. It is much easier to worsen the condition of a small organism than that of an adult. Complications can be irreversible.

Having a baggage of knowledge about a newborn's stool, its amount per day, any parents will be prepared for certain changes in the body of their baby. No matter how much this knowledge is, moms and dads will still worry about looking into a diaper in the first month of a baby's life.