Stool newborn breastfed how many times. The value of the frequency of the stool of a newborn child. Possible qualitative changes in the child's stool

13.06.2019

Normal stools in infants can be described in different ways: liquid or mushy, yellow or green, with particles of undigested food or without them, with a sour-milk or pungent odor. The quality and frequency of stools depend on nutrition, the age of the child, previous diseases and genetic predisposition.

The concept of "normal stool in an infant" in pediatrics is interpreted ambiguously and has a wide range of norms. A general analysis of feces in newborns and infants includes the following indicators: color, texture, smell, the presence of various impurities. These figures may change for various reasons. As a rule, they do not talk about any serious diseases. Changes in feces are usually associated with the type of feeding of the child, the period of adaptation of his digestive system to new conditions. Still, the very first sign of health is not the baby's feces, but well-being.

Color

The color of feces in infants can be different: bright yellow, orange, light yellow, light green, dark green, light brown. And all these "colors of the rainbow" are within the normal range. What determines the color of feces?

Type of feeding. If the baby is breastfed, the stools will be greener.
Reaction to drugs. These can be antibiotics, drugs that contain dyes or iron, activated charcoal. After taking the drugs, the stool may become much darker than usual. A “frightening” black stool in a baby after medication should not worry if the baby feels good.
Lure. With the introduction of complementary foods, the feces become greener. This is due to the increased content of bile.
Poor absorption of breast milk. In this case, the baby's stool will be either green or orange.
Reaction to bilirubin. Bilirubin is a yellow-brown bile pigment that appears as a result of the breakdown of blood proteins. Physiological jaundice occurs in 70% of newborns and resolves without treatment. Bilirubin is excreted from the child's body with urine and feces. Therefore, yellow, brown, orange stools in infants are often observed in the first month of life.
Stool discoloration (white stool). It can be a dangerous symptom of hepatitis. This infectious disease in newborns and children of the first year of life is rare, but has an unfavorable prognosis.
Dysbacteriosis. With an imbalance of beneficial intestinal microflora, a child has a light stool. The stool also becomes lighter during teething.

If only the color of the feces changes in a child, but the consistency, smell, presence or absence of impurities remain the same, then most likely the problem is in the type of nutrition, and not in some serious digestive disorder.

Consistency

One often comes across pictorial metaphors: the consistency of “thick sour cream”, “pea soup”, “mustard”, “mushy”. All this is about normal stool in children under one year old. Often there is a description: liquid, watery stools. This consistency (unlike the feces of children after a year and adults) is also considered a variant of the norm. After all, children receive only liquid milk food for the first six months of life. How to distinguish loose stools from diarrhea in an infant? According to the following indications:

the stool becomes not only liquid, but also watery;
the frequency of bowel movements increases significantly;
the smell of feces is unpleasant;
expressive yellow, green color;
temperature increase;
vomit;
a lot of mucus, foam, streaks of blood;
weakness and lethargy.

If a child has liquid yellow or green stools, with an admixture of mucus or foam, you need to look at the condition of the baby. If the baby is gaining weight, sleeping and awake when it is supposed to, do not worry. Poor sleep and appetite, colic and gas, moodiness, fever are good reasons to see a doctor.

Impurities in the stool

The feces of the baby can be heterogeneous, with various impurities.

White lumps in baby stool. These are just pieces of curdled milk. If there are too many of them, the baby overeats, his digestive system cannot cope with the volume of food during feeding, does not secrete enough enzymes. Usually such a baby quickly gains weight, and sometimes overfulfills. Indigestible food in the feces of a child can also appear after the start of complementary foods. These may be particles of indigestible fiber.
Slime . The presence of a small amount of mucus in the feces is a physiological norm. It is present in the feces of all children and adults. But if the inflammatory process begins in the body, its amount can increase dramatically. The appearance of mucus can have various causes: improper breastfeeding, inappropriate formula, overfeeding, premature introduction of complementary foods, atopic dermatitis, runny nose, intestinal infections, drug reactions, lactase and gluten deficiency, dysbacteriosis.
Foam. Most often, foam in the feces is a functional disorder, not associated with any pathologies and serious diseases. Often diarrhea in infants occurs with foam. A common cause can also be gas and colic in an infant, a reaction to anti-colic drugs, food allergies. Abundant foam can be a symptom of intestinal infections, dysbacteriosis.
Blood in stool. This is a more serious symptom that requires monitoring and seeking medical attention. The reasons may be the following: rectal fissures, atopic dermatitis, cow's milk protein allergy, intestinal inflammation, lactase deficiency, intestinal pathologies, polyps, helminthiasis, lack of vitamin K. Streaks or scarlet blood clots in the feces can indicate bleeding from the lower digestive system.

When impurities appear, the general condition of the child should be monitored. If the temperature rises, the child loses appetite and weight, you should not postpone calling the doctor.

Newborn chair

A newborn should poop on the first day after birth. A baby's first stool is called meconium. It is a tar-like, sticky, viscous, black-green mass that has accumulated in the intestines during its stay in the womb. Meconium is difficult to wash off due to its consistency. It consists of amniotic fluid, mucus, bile, and digestive tract fluid. Meconium is a sign of a healthy digestive system. It will come out within a few days, after which the newborn will poop in the usual stool. If no meconium passes within 48 hours after birth, this may indicate intestinal pathology, in particular, Hirschsprung's disease. With this pathology, part of the intestine is not reduced, which makes it difficult for the movement of feces.

If the black feces in the child appeared later, this is no longer the original stool. The black color of stool (if it is not stained with food or drugs) may be associated with bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract. You need to consult a pediatric gastroenterologist.

Chair while breastfeeding

The baby's stool during breastfeeding will change depending on the nutrition of the nursing mother and the maturation of the baby's digestive system.

Peculiarities

Breast milk has a laxative effect. After the baby begins to suck on the breast, the feces soften, become greenish in color and much thinner than meconium. Around the fifth day of life, feces appear that have the consistency and color of mustard or thick pea soup. The sour smell of stool in infants indicates a milky type of nutrition. Sometimes it can be more pronounced, sometimes less. If frothy and watery stools are added to the sour smell, this may indicate dysbacteriosis or lactase deficiency. Green liquid stools during breastfeeding are also the norm. This stool is referred to by some pediatricians and breastfeeding specialists as "hungry". The baby sucks out only the front low-fat milk, not getting to the back - fatty and nutritious. To eliminate this problem, mothers are advised to keep the baby near one breast for a long time and not to rush to change breasts at one feeding.

Frequency

With natural feeding, the baby will empty the intestines at each meal. This may continue for the first month. The frequency of stool in a child at 2 months old can be reduced up to 4 times, the baby can generally begin to poop in a day or two. This is due to the enzymatic crisis in the digestive system of the baby. During the same period, mother's milk is renewed. The baby gradually develops new enzymes that help digest the more complex composition of milk. This may continue for several weeks. The baby can be naughty during this period, actively suck the breast or refuse it, colic and gaziki appear. If a child poops every three days, without help and discomfort, then these are his individual characteristics. Stool retention in this case is not considered constipation.

Chair with artificial feeding

The feces of an artificial baby can change when switching to another mixture and in the process of maturation of the digestive system.

Peculiarities

The color of the baby's feces depends on the composition of the mixture and is yellow, pale yellow and even brown. Green loose stools in an artificial baby may be associated with the introduction of complementary foods or the transition to another mixture. The consistency of the feces of the newborn will be denser. This is due to the fact that mixtures, unlike breast milk, do not have a laxative effect, they are digested much longer. The smell of feces is also different: it is sharper, more pronounced.

Frequency

The stool of an artificial baby is irregular due to the density. Fecal masses can stay in the intestines for a long time and harden. This leads to constipation. If the baby does not poop for a day, this is already a signal of stool retention, which cannot be said about breastfeeding babies. In general, an artificial baby poops less often, sometimes twice. Do not allow frequent switching to another mixture. This can cause either stool retention or, conversely, loose stools. The baby's body needs time to adapt to the new composition of the mixture, so the transition should be smooth, within a week.

What should be the chair of a newborn and baby? Regular and independent. The feces should be of a soft consistency so that a bowel movement is painless. If a lot of mucus, foam, streaks of blood appeared in the baby's stool, you should consult a doctor.

Newly-made parents look at the diaper of their beloved baby with interest and anxiety. Indeed, its contents can tell a lot about the digestive system of a newborn. It is important for every mother to know what a normal stool should be in a newborn in order to identify the pathology in time and take action.

Newborn stool: normal

While the baby is growing and developing in the mother's tummy, he receives all the necessary substances through the umbilical cord. At the same time, his gastrointestinal tract does not work. But the fetus makes swallowing movements, sucks its fingers, and amniotic fluid, villi, skin flakes enter its mouth, and then into the stomach and intestines. And the first stool of a newborn is dark green, almost black with the consistency of plasticine, a little slimy. It's called meconium and is normal.

Later, on the third or fourth day, after breastfeeding, the feces are of a transitional nature: they still contain the remains of meconium, partially digested colostrum and milk. The baby's stool has a mushy texture with a brown-green color.

With the advent of mature milk (after 7-10 days), a change in the feces of the child occurs. They become yellowish and have the consistency of cottage cheese. Even the smell of a newborn's stool is sour, like cottage cheese. In such feces there should be no lumps, mucus, greenery. Mom needs to pay attention to how many times a stool happens in a newborn per day. The frequency of bowel movements of the baby can vary from one to 6-8 times - almost during or after each feeding. The main thing is that the baby's stool should be daily. The absence of feces for at least a day is regarded as constipation.

The situation is slightly different with the stool of a newborn with artificial feeding. Sometimes the feces of an artificial baby are similar to the stool of a baby. But most often the stools have a thicker consistency, a slightly putrid smell and a dark brown color. In this case, bowel movements once a day are considered normal.

Newborn stool: possible problems

Often, the “correct stool” is not established in the newborn, and the stool has a greenish color. "Greens" can indicate several problems. Firstly, this color of the stool occurs when the baby is malnourished, when the mother does not have enough milk. Secondly, green feces occurs with inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, which can be caused by fetal hypoxia, malnutrition of a nursing mother, and dysbacteriosis. In this case, a stool in a newborn with mucus is possible. Mucus most often indicates the presence of pathogenic microbes in the intestines, and sometimes is present if the child has a runny nose or bronchitis.

The appearance of white lumps in the stool of a newborn does not in itself indicate pathology if the baby feels good and is steadily gaining weight. This suggests that the baby's body receives an excess of nutrients. This happens when a mother very often puts her baby to her breast. But if the baby lags behind in development, grows poorly and gains weight, white lumps in the feces indicate that the digestive glands do not produce enough enzymes to digest food.

Watery stools in a newborn indicate lactose deficiency. This is the name of the condition in which the digestion of milk sugar - lactose - is impaired. This phenomenon occurs if a woman's milk contains an excess amount of lactose. The cause of the baby's watery stool is also insufficient production of the lactase enzyme by the digestive glands, which breaks down milk sugar.

Quite often, mothers complain about thick stools in a newborn that occurs with constipation. Constipation is a consequence of impaired intestinal motility or malnutrition of a nursing mother. Too hard feces damage the walls of the rectum and lead to the appearance of blood in the stool in the newborn. In case of severe bleeding, an ambulance should be called immediately.

In case of any deviations in the baby's stool, the mother must be informed by the pediatrician.

A newborn baby has a thick stool. What do you need to know?

The stool of babies is one of the problematic moments for many mothers. In the middle of the 20th century, when formula feeding became more common than breastfeeding, a new stereotype of "normal" bowel movements emerged. Formula-fed babies poop differently than babies: artificial stools are relatively infrequent, come out formed, and smell bad, reminiscent of adult stools. While the stool from breast milk in the first 6 weeks of life is usually liquid and frequent, and in the future, on the contrary, it can be of a normal consistency, but with delays. At the same time, often people who do not know that this is quite normal for babies begin to treat the baby either for diarrhea or constipation ...

It is normal for a baby under 6 weeks of age to have bowel movements several times a day, in small, yellow or mustard-colored masses, without an unpleasant odor. At the same time, the stool may well have a heterogeneous consistency, or curdled inclusions, or - after a while, if the mother does not remove the diaper or diaper for a long time - you can notice that the yellow stool turns green, this is a completely natural oxidation process. All these are signs that are characteristic of a healthy baby!

Signs that may make a mother wary:

* too frequent watery stools - from 12 to 16 bowel movements per day, with a strong odor indicates that the child does have diarrhea (diarrhea). It is necessary to consult a doctor, and it is very desirable to continue breastfeeding, because mother's milk is the best way to make up for the deficiency of the substances necessary for the baby.

* frequent stools (8-12 times a day), which are green and watery, often caused by sensitivity to products or treatment of a child or mother; often such a reaction is caused by cow's milk protein.

Green, watery, foamy stools are usually a sign of a so-called anterior-hindmilk imbalance, which doctors like to call "lactase deficiency." True lactase deficiency is relatively rare, and in the vast majority of cases, this condition of the baby can be corrected by allowing each breast to be emptied to the end before shifting to the next. In this case, the baby will receive a large portion of fatty "hind" milk, which contains little lactose (in contrast to the "front" portion rich in lactose) and therefore is easier to digest. Clarification, so as not to get confused in terms: lactose is the milk sugar found in breast milk, and lactase is the enzyme that is required to break down lactose. The reserves of lactase in the baby's body are relatively small, and if he receives a lot of "forward" milk, then lactase is not enough for its normal absorption, so the baby is tormented by gaziki, and the stool takes on a characteristic appearance. Another problem that often occurs after 5-6 weeks of a child's life is a relatively rare bowel movement, which is often mistakenly considered constipation and the baby is actively treated. At this age, the milk finally becomes mature and the laxative colostrum component leaves it, and therefore most children begin to poop less often. In itself, a rare stool is not a cause for concern, it's just that the child's body finds out how much it can accumulate in itself before pooping. If the process is not interfered with, the child may not poop even up to 7 days once or twice, after which the normal frequency will be restored. If you constantly intervene, forcing the intestines to empty when it is not yet ready, constipation will become habitual. BUT: Indeed, the child may not poop for up to a week, and the mother may not worry under the essential condition: the child ALSO does not worry! If this obviously annoys the child, the mother, of course, should not hope that everything “forms on its own”.

Constipation in a breastfed baby. it is a hard dry formed stool, the so-called "goat balls", which are very painful for the child.

The consistency of NORMAL feces, even with its relatively rare occurrence, cannot be considered constipation. These are just the physiological characteristics of this particular organism, like eye color. the angle of the snub nose or the shape of the nails. We will not treat the body for the fact that the snub nose does not coincide with the "average angle".

Why does such a physiologically rare stool (“not constipation”) appear in the baby?

For the urge to defecate, the little man needs to experience a chain of certain sensations. The most important of which is the pressure of feces on the intestines. it is the degree of pressure that forms the skill to relax the sphincters in response to tension, and not to reduce them. The young, not fully formed intestine is still learning to respond to any external changes. gently and not stressfully at this stage of its formation, breast milk helps him in this - the only native and adapted product. Just like any student. the intestines undergo a series of tests or even self-tests. Therefore, the feces of the baby of the first half of the year are heterogeneous - sometimes thick, sometimes liquid, sometimes often, sometimes rarely. And our adult standards for such a young student are unacceptable. The adult intestine is very different from the intestine of a baby.

The main indicator with such a rare stool- this is the well-being of the child and the discharge of gases from him, The most dangerous symptom of constipation is the absence of gas.. then you can fear for the patency of the intestine. if the baby "farts like a machine gun" - then the patency is excellent. If the consistency of feces after defecation is normal, without “balls”, then the child has no problem.

The intestines are simply in a state of testing the degree of pressure of the feces inside on the walls of the intestines for optimal defecation, after the completion of such a test, the body will choose a certain period for defecation. This deadline will be set. the next test, after which everything will change dramatically again.

That is, the main thing is to objectively assess the condition of the child. watch for gas. not on a calendar.

And yet it is so strange and scary when the chair is not regular and young parents so want to take care of something. What can be done so that the body is “tested” faster, and parents would see the coveted poop and at the same time not harm the child and not resort to medicines.

Usually advised:

1. Give extra fluids.

But the problem is not the consistency of the feces. The feces inside are soft, the extra liquid makes it generally liquid and. delays natural bowel movements. As a result, additional mechanical stimulation is required (with a cotton swab in oil, a thermometer). but more often it turns out that due to the additional fluid and the extended period, the "front" part of the feces has formed into a dense hard "cork", and "above" a very liquid watery stool. Throwing out a "cork" is very painful and unpleasant for the baby.

That is, in the case of a rare physiological stool, supplementing with any liquid can worsen the situation.

2. More "experienced" may advise giving a drop of juice to a child .

Here it is necessary to take into account. what juice very big irritant with a high acidity factor. The complete absence of fiber, but a deadly carbohydrate environment, due to sugars. The child's intestines simply cannot digest this yet. for the digestion of juice, additional enzymes are needed that the pancreas of a child does not produce in infancy. And it turns out that an irritating product lies in the intestines - sugar from juice. Up to a certain age, the mucous membrane of the baby is very perceptive and sensitive. molecules penetrate into the blood through its walls, and sugars begin to strongly irritate the mucous membrane, the body receives a signal to get rid of the aggressors as soon as possible, the pancreas tries to form enzymes to break down juice carbohydrates. The intestine collects additional fluid to partially neutralize aggressive sugars and begins to contract, removing the irritant. Outwardly - quite quickly after the infusion of juice, the child may have a chair. But at the cost of a huge stress on the pancreas, mucous membranes and the body as a whole. At the same time, the necessary minerals and vitamins are washed out of the body, the child loses a lot of fluid. The carbohydrate component creates in the intestines an ideal environment for the reproduction of pathogenic and opportunistic flora (Candida, Staphylococcus aureus), therefore, after co-ovulation, thrush in the child's mouth is so frequent.

Juice is one of the most cruel methods of influencing the baby's body. .

3. Make an enema.

The liquid will create additional pressure, the very one that the intestines were waiting for and before the physiological readiness of the body there will be a chair. The "self-test" of the body is brought down. Defecation was caused by a mechanical stimulator, bowel contraction, but the child himself needs to learn how to relax. I think everyone has heard stories from two or three year olds who have problems with their stools. Often (not always) these are babies who were either bottle-fed, or the period of “learning” in a safe stool from breast milk passed against the background of defecation stimulation.

So what to do? Nothing. Wait. If the child behaves as usual and farts well. so this is another "test".

But if the child pushes, blushes, the gases do not go away, the stomach is hard, the child cries on palpation - this is a completely different matter. Help is definitely needed here.

The first step is to massage the tummy. Massage clockwise, full palm. Or cycling exercises.

A warm bath - to whom only it does not help to relax. Mom and baby are immersed in warm 37 degrees water, breastfeed right in the water, then quickly get out, mom or dad will rub their hands. legs and tummy with baby oil, then you can put the baby to lie down on the mother's tummy relaxed, it is worth remembering that it is easier to poop lying on the tummy or side than on the back, or the mother can feed in the landing position (so that the ass was sagging and the child would be almost vertical) and in 80% you can expect "desired poop".

Very hold the baby well. complaining about the tummy, over the sink under the knees, lubricating the anus with baby oil. Posture as when disembarking.

Only when these methods did not help, you can use the first step of mechanical stimulation. Take a hygienic stick, generously smear the tip with petroleum jelly or baby oil and insert a little into the ass. Not more than a centimeter! It is to enter and twist a little. Put away. Put on a diaper and put mom on her stomach, tummy to tummy. Or press your knees to your stomach in a pose on your back.

And only if that didn't work either. then the next step is glycerin suppository.

But as a rule, everything works out at the first step.

I would like to single out the appointment of any treatment, parents should analyze what they are treating, the child's condition or analysis? Does your doctor prescribe bifidobacteria? Is there a correlation with the start of taking and the onset of stool retention? You have been warned that bacteriological preparations containing bifidoculures affect the stool and can cause chronic constipation, which will already be constipation, and not physiological reactions. Always watch your child's stool very carefully while using any medication.

Smile with your child! 🙂

It takes several months from birth before the gastrointestinal tract of the baby adapts to the processing of food coming from outside. That is why the problems of colic, dysbacteriosis, and irregular stools are typical for newborns.

Features of the child's stool (normal)

For parents, these difficulties can be a serious cause for concern. Pediatricians again and again tell moms and dads about the children's body, give directions for tests, prescribe drugs.

The chair in the baby is determined by the quantity and quality of the food consumed, as well as the general state of health!

In the first weeks, it is considered normal if a bowel movement occurs after each feeding. Even if the stomach is cleared in two or three days, then this is not a reason for panic. Accordingly, no matter how people would like to standardize everything, there are no exact figures provided here, everything is individual.

Meconium in a newborn:

Immediately after birth, the contents of the stomach of the baby are characterized by a dark color, it is practically odorless, since it does not yet contain bacteria. Meconium leaves completely on the second day, sometimes the process takes longer. The nutrition in the womb was completely different, so the stool has an unusual shade and composition.

Meconium in a newborn always dark, but can vary in shades from yellow to green.

After, on the 3rd - 4th day, the stool takes the form of a yellowish slurry. Due to addiction to mother's milk, at first, a delay in emptying is natural. If after three days the newborn has not pooped, then it is best to seek help. The specialist will massage the tummy or apply an enema. After simple procedures, everything will be restored, and the newborn will feel better.

The feces of a breastfed baby are yellowish, do not contain impurities, and have a liquid consistency. On artificial nutrition, the child poops at regular intervals, the result is darker and denser.

Frequent stool in the chest. It is considered normal if emptying occurs up to 7 times a day or up to once every 3 days. If there are significant deviations from the above data, then it is advisable to resort to the help of a specialist.

Why does my stomach hurt?

The introduction of supplementary feeding with a mixture can cause constipation in infants. Additional food provokes the colonization of the baby's intestines with beneficial bacteria, as a result of which constipation and discomfort appear.

All this causes anxiety and crying. Even if it seems that the little one does not have enough food, it is advisable to wait a little with the mixture. It is better to use new food only on the recommendation of a pediatrician. If, nevertheless, the mixture cannot be dispensed with, then for several days the child may experience pain and discomfort in the tummy.

What will the color say?

The residual contents of the stomach come out in the first days of life. At this time, the stool in the baby resembles tar, it is dark green in color, almost does not smell.

Shades of feces in newborns from birth to complementary foods:

Further, from the fourth day, the appearance approaches a gray-green or yellowish tint. The more the baby consumes mother's milk, the faster the color returns to normal. Without deviations, babies poop about 4 times a day.

If the child is breastfed, then by the second week the marks on the diaper become yellow and remain unchanged for a long time.

Shades of feces in children with the introduction of complementary foods:

In the future, with the introduction of complementary foods, the feces of the baby acquire different shades. After the first portions of apple juice, the stool darkens, since the necessary enzymes are not enough yet, oxidation occurs. Carrots make the stool brighter, zucchini and broccoli give a green tint.

The appearance tends to change, it depends on the diet of the nursing mother and on what was additionally given to the baby to eat.

Frequency: rarely or often?

If the baby’s stool is of normal consistency, yellow, then frequent trips “for the most part” are not a reason to sound the alarm. The main thing is that the baby is active, has a good appetite. So he assimilates the nutrients received, frequent bowel movements - this is not diarrhea.

Regular watery toilet causes dehydration, so treatment should be started as soon as possible!

Anxiety should cause the appearance of foam, mucus and an unpleasant sour smell. In this case, you should consult a doctor. The cause may be an intestinal infection or an incorrectly chosen way of eating.

Rare emptying can cause anxiety in young parents. If there is no bowel movement for 2 days, then on the 3rd baby is able to empty himself. It is not recommended to stimulate the intestines of the baby. If the baby poops less than once every 3 to 4 days, then you should resort to the help of a doctor.

In an ordinary situation, a light massage of the tummy clockwise helps out, but you should not get carried away with enemas, they wash out the unformed intestinal flora.

If the stool contains blood or its slight traces, it is important to understand why this happens. Lack of vitamin K causes low clotting, blood enters the internal organs. Also, the reason sometimes lies in hemorrhagic disease. Seeing a doctor and taking a vitamin will improve the situation.

Feces with blood in a newborn:

Because of the cracks in the anus, traces of blood appear, this happens with numerous constipation. Many adults mistakenly think that blood has got in when the baby eats beets, tomatoes or watermelon.

loose stool most often occurs due to the peculiarities of the mother's diet. A large number of vegetables in the diet leads to liquefaction of the stool.

The introduction of infections is a much more serious cause of the appearance of watery results of vital activity.

Loose stools in a newborn:

The infection is accompanied by fever and irritability of the baby, the newborn refuses to eat. In this option, calling a health worker is mandatory, since frequent bowel movements lead to dehydration.

A common occurrence in newborns is foam stool . It occurs with a lack of nutrition, then it is advisable to supplement the baby with a mixture. A lack of lactase causes foamy stools.

Lactase is a special enzyme responsible for the digestion of milk. It should be added to the mother's daily menu so that it enters the baby's food.

Foamy stool in a newborn:

In addition, foam may be a reaction to a new complementary food. In such cases, it is recommended to postpone the addition of new foods for a while so that more enzymes are produced in the digestive system, which contribute to trouble-free absorption.

Slime in the feces appears due to the inability to cope with the volume of incoming food. Depending on the age, the specialist offers his own solution to the problem. The way out is to add foods like kefir or rice porridge to the diet.

Stool with mucus in a newborn:

The appearance of lumps indicates poorly processed food. Lumps indicate overeating. With the introduction of complementary foods, such particles are a sign of undigested fiber.

In any case, you should monitor the general well-being of the child, as well as the frequency of atypical bowel movements. An increase in temperature, a nervous state indicate trouble. Do not self-medicate, the baby needs to get timely medical care.

Characteristics in color and smell

Green chair in the early days - a common, natural phenomenon. Within a couple of weeks, the feces may be green, as a substance, bilirubin, is excreted from the body. In the future, green color is given by new products added with complementary foods: broccoli, zucchini. Most often, greenery is not an alarming signal. If color changes are accompanied by unpleasant putrefactive odors, temperature, nervous behavior of the baby, then you need to seek qualified help.

yellow stool characteristic of breastfeeding children. Shades depend on the fat content and density of mother's milk, on the functioning of enzymes.
The darkening of the secretions indicates oxidative processes. Complementary foods containing apples provoke dark stools. Iron-containing preparations also cause oxidation.

Slightly considered normal sour smell feces of a breastfed infant. With constipation, waste products darken and acquire an unpleasant rotten smell. Most often, dysbacteriosis manifests itself in this way. In this case, the doctor prescribes special bacteria to populate the microflora. With the help of a special analysis - a coprogram, an accurate diagnosis is made and an appropriate method for eliminating the problem is selected.

Often, parents inadequately assess the stool in the baby, referring to the criteria for artificial feeding. This leads to errors in the nutrition of mother and child, as well as to incorrect and unreasonable treatment.

Features of the chair in infants

The stool of a breastfed baby can be anything. Unlike a newborn who is on artificial mixtures, the quality and quantity of the baby's stool changes regularly. The decisive role in this case is played by the age and behavior of the kids.

In the first week, newborns have stools at least 3 times a day, sometimes the figure reaches 12. If there is no stool for more than a day, this indicates that the baby is receiving little milk.

After 6 weeks, the baby, as a rule, begins to empty the intestines less often. However, some continue to go “to the toilet” after each feed. There is nothing unusual about this. Much depends on the diet of the nursing mother, the number of feedings and even the psychological state of the baby.

During this period, the absence of stool for up to a week is allowed if the baby behaves calmly and gains weight normally. The consistency and color of the stool is different. At the same time, the smell is often sour-milk or there is no smell at all. White lumps and a small amount of mucus are also possible.

With the introduction of complementary foods after six months, stools occur less frequently and decrease to 1-2 times a day. Please note that color and texture are strongly influenced by complementary foods.

If before or during a bowel movement the baby cries and behaves restlessly. Changes in behavior and well-being, a change in the appearance of the newborn - a reason for increased attention to the digestion of the baby.

Color

Feces in infants can be of various shades: bright and light yellow, orange, light and dark green, light brown. What affects the color:

Type of feeding. When breastfeeding, feces will be green;
Medicines taken by the mother. Digestion reacts to antibiotics, activated charcoal, and drugs containing iron or dyes. The stool becomes much darker than usual, it can even become black. The black chair is nothing to worry about!;
Start feeding. The color is influenced by the products with which the mother begins to feed the baby. At the beginning of weaning, the stool turns green. There may be yellow, white or green blotches;
The baby does not absorb breast milk well, which causes green or orange stools;
Bilirubin is a bile pigment that appears due to the destruction of blood proteins. It gives stools a yellow-brown or orange tint. This reaction occurs in 70% of babies. It passes without treatment, since bilirubin is independently excreted from the body with urine and feces;
Dysbacteriosis. If an imbalance occurs in the intestinal microflora, then the stool becomes lighter. However, the stool acquires light shades during teething.

Pay special attention if the baby has white feces (discolored stools)! This is a symptom of hepatitis! This disease is rare in children of the first two years of life, but has an unfavorable prognosis. Therefore, with a discolored stool in an infant, consult a doctor immediately!

If only the color changes in a newborn, but the smell, texture and presence of impurities remain the same, then the problem is in the type of food.

Consistency

The consistency of the stool in infants is also different. Basically, it is liquid, because for the first six months of life, the baby receives milky liquid food. With artificial or mixed feeding, the stool is thicker and darker.

But how to understand if the baby has normal loose stools or diarrhea? A newborn has diarrhea if:

The stool is both loose and watery;
The frequency of bowel movements increases;
The stools have an unpleasant odor, expressive green or yellow color;
The temperature rises in the baby;
Vomiting begins;
There is a lot of foam and mucus in the diaper, there are streaks of blood;
The baby is lethargic and weak.

However, yellow or green stools with an admixture of foam or mucus do not always mean diarrhea. Always look at the condition of the baby. If there is weakness, temperature, increased gas formation, then it is worth sounding the alarm. If the baby sleeps well and feels cheerful, then there is no cause for concern.

impurities

The presence of impurities in the stool is the norm if the baby feels good. However, with fever, loss of appetite and weight, be sure to visit a doctor.

Types of impurities:

White lumps are particles of curdled milk that appear when a baby overeats. The digestive system simply cannot cope with the volume of food during feeding. In addition, indigestible food often appears after the start of complementary foods. This leads to a rapid increase in the weight of the baby .;
Mucus is present in the feces of every newborn in small quantities. An increase in mucus indicates the beginning of the inflammatory process. This is due to improper attachment to the breast, inappropriate formula milk, overfeeding, medication, early introduction of complementary foods and other reasons;
Foam is a functional disorder that does not indicate any disease or pathology. Foam appears due to colic or increased gas formation in an infant. However, abundant foam can be a symptom of dysbacteriosis or intestinal infection;
Blood is a serious symptom that requires a mandatory visit to the doctor. Often this is an indicator of dermatitis, rectal fissures, inflammation or intestinal pathology, protein allergies.

Frequency

In the first month of breastfeeding, stools occur after each meal. Then the frequency is reduced by 2-4 times, the baby can generally start going to the “toilet” once a day or two. This is due to the renewal of breast milk.

During this period, the baby is naughty, sometimes refuses to breastfeed. This is a temporary phenomenon, in which there is nothing to worry about. If the stool does not occur for 2-3 days, but there is no discomfort during bowel movements, the baby does not lose weight, then the delay is not constipation.

Signs of constipation in a newborn:

Difficulty emptying the bowels;
Stool retention for more than 1.5 days;
Significant discomfort during bowel movements.

By the way, constipation is rare during breastfeeding. They are typical for newborns on artificial mixtures. However, if constipation occurs in a baby, then pay attention to the nutrition of a nursing mother. With such a problem, plums, dried apricots and prunes will help perfectly if the newborn does not have allergies. And remember to measure!

Massage will also help. But with the use of drugs it is better to wait. Be sure to consult your doctor before taking medications!

Normal or time to see a doctor?

normal stool

Age and conditions	Characteristic
First three days after birth	Black or black-green, tarry, odorless
3-7 days	Grey-green or grey, semi-fluid or ointment
More than a week while breastfeeding	Color from yellow to brown or mustard, mild sour-milk smell. The consistency resembles liquid semolina porridge. There may be blotches of white grains, impurities of mucus or greenery
On artificial or mixed feeding, at the beginning of complementary foods	Dark brown or light brown shade, sometimes interspersed with greenery, mushy or thick consistency, sharp unpleasant odor
When eating colored fruits and vegetables	Unusual shade with color blotches

Needs attention

Characteristic	Causes	What to do
Yellow, brown or green stools of a liquidish or frothy appearance with a sharp sour-milk odor; often there is irritation around the anus	Mom has too much milk the baby receives a lot of front sweet milk.	Change breasts less frequently while feeding
Brown, green or yellow with a lot of mucus	The kid has recently been ill with ARVI or teeth are starting to cut	The stool returns to normal after a while, but if this condition continues for several days, consult a doctor.
Thick and soft or mushy dark brown	Taking medications that contain iron	If the stool has changed due to medication, there is nothing to worry about. Otherwise, see a doctor!

To the doctor!

Characteristic
Frequent yellow, green or brown stools with an unpleasant odor. Baby losing or not gaining weight	Disorder due to allergies, infection, or poisoning
Hard "cool" feces come out in portions with a tense stomach. In the process, the baby screams.	Constipation due to the introduction of new foods into the diet
Green color with a lot of foam, a sharp sour smell, appears with “cotton”. Around the anus - irritation. The baby is restless and slowly gaining weight.	Often indicates the development of primary or secondary lactose intolerance baby
With blood	Allergy to cow protein, symptom of intestinal bleeding, hemorrhoids or bacterial infection
Stool discoloration or white stools	Infectious disease, hepatitis

How to normalize stool

If there are minor violations in the baby's stool, and they do not require a visit to a doctor, then you can adjust the stool yourself. First of all, the nutrition of a nursing mother affects the feces of a baby.

How to set up a chair:

Include sour-milk products, dried fruits, vegetable dishes in the menu. If the baby has constipation, exclude the use of nuts, fatty cheeses, flour products, white bread, strong tea and coffee;
Drink more fluids. The minimum rate is 2.5 liters per day;
Keep breastfeeding as long as possible. As practice shows, children on artificial mixtures suffer more from indigestion, colic and constipation;
Introduce new foods into your diet gradually and in small doses. Carefully monitor the reaction of the baby, as such food can cause allergies, colic, stool disorders;
Give your baby a tummy massage regularly. Stroke your belly in circular motions clockwise;
Encourage your baby to be active and play. This will improve intestinal contractions.

These recommendations will help not only to improve the chair, but also to prevent many problems. Therefore, even if the newborn's stool is normal, the methods will be a good prevention.

A child's stool is one of the most important indicators of health. Already in the maternity hospital, doctors, when going around, always ask mothers if the baby pooped. How and how much a child poops, district pediatricians and nurses will be interested in the future - during patronage at home and when examined in a polyclinic. In this article, we will consider all about the stool of infants, since this is an extremely important component 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 important to pay attention to how a child poops? The frequency of defecation acts and the main characteristics of the stool (quantity, color, presence / absence of impurities, consistency, smell) make it possible to evaluate, first of all, the work of the child's gastrointestinal tract. In addition, they can be used to draw a conclusion about the nutrition of the baby (including whether he has enough breast milk); changes in stool characteristics may indicate the presence of diseases in other organs and systems. Of considerable importance is the fact that defecation in children occurs regularly (often daily), most of the properties of feces can be easily assessed visually (during examination), and therefore, for attentive parents, any changes in the stool do not go unnoticed.

But what to do when changing the regularity or quality of the stool: call a doctor, treat yourself or don’t worry at all - everything will go away on its own? In general, how should a baby normally poop, and how does the stool change at different periods of his life?

About the norm and its variations

The frequency of stools 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 should 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 anyone anything. Every baby is an individual from birth. How he will empty his intestines 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 the individual norm for your baby are the well-being of the child, 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 \u200b\u200bof the norm and its variants, depending on the influence of various factors.

Frequency of defecation

After the passage of meconium (the 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 movement is established in a newborn. The frequency of acts of defecation fluctuates within fairly significant limits: from 1 time in 1-2 days to 10-12 times a day. Most babies poop during or immediately after eating - after each feeding (or almost after each). 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 groans slightly, feces come off 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 already poops 3-6 times a day, at 6 months - 2-3 times, and by the year - 1-2 times a day. If, from the first days of life, the baby pooped once a day, then usually this frequency persists in the future, only the consistency changes (the mushy stool gradually becomes formalized).

Amount of feces

The amount of feces 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 even here, fluctuations within the normal range are quite acceptable - from liquid to a fairly thick slurry. Ideally, the stool is homogeneous, evenly spreading, but it can be liquid with lumps (if the child poops in the diaper, 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 slurry by six months, and by the year it becomes practically formed, but at the same time quite soft and plastic.

Color

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 completed, the stool becomes darker and gradually turns brown.

Green feces

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

It is also quite normal when the 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 oxidizes upon contact with air and gives the feces a green color.

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

Smell

In a breastfed baby, the stool has a peculiar, slightly sour smell. 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 neonatal period and infancy are exceptional periods, here even pathological impurities can turn out to be quite normal. We have already talked about greenery and found out why green can (though not always) be a variant of the norm. Let us now analyze other impurities in the child's stool.

Normally, the following impurities can be observed in the baby in the stool:

White lumps- due to the immaturity of the digestive system and enzymes in the baby, because of which the child does not fully absorb milk (especially when overfeeding). Provided that the child feels satisfactory and the weight gain is normal, 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 nature of the feces 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.

Slime- mucus in the intestines is constantly present and performs a protective function. The appearance of it in small quantities in children who are breastfed is a variant of the norm.

What impurities should not be in the stool of the baby:

pus;
blood.

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

Changes in stool depending on the nutrition of the child

Breastfeeding baby's stool

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

The nutrition of a breastfed baby, and how the mother eats, will depend on the baby's stool. If the mother follows the basic rules of nutrition for nursing women, restricting excessively fatty foods and sweets in the diet, the baby's stool usually meets all the criteria for the norm - yellowish, mushy, without impurities, regular, homogeneous. With an excess of fats in the woman’s menu, breast milk also becomes more fatty, its digestion is difficult, and therefore the baby may also have white lumps in the feces. A diet rich in easily digestible carbohydrates often leads to an increase in fermentation processes in the child's intestines, and is accompanied by rapid, liquid, sometimes even foamy stools, against the background of rumbling, bloating and intestinal colic. With severe bloating, constipation is possible instead of loose stools.

Certain foods in the diet of a nursing mother can cause a baby, which manifests itself not only in the form, 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 first viscous, thick, then dry, green or grayish-green in color, crumbling, leaving in small quantities, or persistent constipation occurs.

Chair of a child on mixed and artificial feeding

Compared to babies receiving breast milk, formula-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 stool is more dense, putty-like consistency, dark yellow in color, with an unpleasant putrefactive or sharply sour smell. With a sharp transition to artificial feeding, when changing the usual mixture, stool delays (constipation) are possible or, on the contrary, appears.

Feeding mixtures with a high iron content (for prophylaxis) may be accompanied by the release of dark green feces due to the presence of unabsorbed iron in it.

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

Changes in the stool against the background of 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 absorb the first complementary foods, and undigested particles come out with the stool, they can be easily seen in the baby's feces in the form of heterogeneous 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 the child's anxiety, vomiting, diarrhea and other painful symptoms, it is not necessary to cancel complementary foods - its introduction should be continued, very slowly increasing the single portion of the dish and carefully monitoring the well-being and nature of the baby's stool.

Separate complementary foods, such as vegetables with a high content of plant fibers, can have a laxative effect - stools become more frequent (usually 1-2 times compared to the norm for a given child), and stool is sometimes a little-changed dish. For example, mothers note that they gave the child boiled carrots, and after 2-3 hours he pooped the same carrots. When the goal was not initially set to stimulate the emptying of the intestines of the crumbs (the child did not suffer from constipation), it is better to temporarily postpone the administration of the product that caused such a reaction, moving on to more “tender” vegetables (zucchini, potatoes) or cereals.

Other dishes, on the contrary, have a fixing 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.

Pathological changes in the stool and methods of treatment

Now consider what changes in the regularity of defecation or in the quality characteristics of feces are abnormal and indicate a violation of digestion, diseases or other pathological conditions.

Defecation frequency disorders

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

Constipation

The concept of constipation includes one or more of the following symptoms:

delayed bowel movements - 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 infants:

mother's lack of milk;
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 (, pathology of the nervous system, etc.);
organic causes (intestinal obstruction, dolichosigma, Hirschsprung's disease, etc.).

Help with 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 is pushing, trying to poop, bring the legs bent at the knees to his tummy and lightly (!) Press on the tummy for about 10 seconds, then lightly massage the abdomen clockwise around the navel, repeat the pressure. In case of ineffectiveness of auxiliary measures, it is recommended to use children's glycerin suppositories or give the child a microclyster ("Mikrolaks"). If there are no baby 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 bowel movements reflexively, irritating the anus (by inserting a syringe tip or a gas tube into it).

Sometimes difficulties in defecation are due to a large number of gasses in the baby's intestines - this is easy enough 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 go away. In such situations, abdominal massage and adduction of the legs are also used; you can just try to put the baby on the tummy, vilify him in your arms, putting his stomach on your forearms. Facilitate the discharge of gas (and after them the stool) warming the tummy (mother can put the baby on her stomach, face to face; attach a warm diaper to her stomach). Of the medicines, simethicone preparations (Bobotik, Espumizan, Subsimplex) give a fairly quick effect on eliminating colic; herbal remedies (dill water, Plantex, fennel decoction, Baby Calm) are used to improve the discharge of gases.

With recurring constipation, it is not recommended to constantly use reflex irritation of the sphincter tube or 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, and, if necessary, drinking water. Less commonly prescribed drugs (Lactulose, etc.).

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is understood as rapid (by 2 or more times compared with the individual and age norm) bowel movements with the release of liquefied stools. Diarrhea does not include the constant release of small amounts of feces (slightly smearing the surface of the diaper) when passing gases - this is due to the physiological weakness of the anal sphincter, and as the child grows, the stool stops coming out when passing gases.

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

Cause	signs	Methods of treatment
Reaction to	Loose stools up to 10-12 times a day; feces without pathological impurities (maybe mucus in a small amount); 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 liquid; use, if necessary, antipyretics; the use of local remedies (teethers, dental gels).
Acute intestinal infection	Diarrhea of varying severity (from moderate diarrhea to profuse diarrhea); feces are liquid, may be watery, frothy, with flakes; pathological impurities are often determined - streaks of greenery, mucus, pus, streaks of blood, particles of undigested food; increase in 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, 1 tsp each. In 5 minutes.
Lactose deficiency	The chair is liquid, foamy, 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 indigestion (overfeeding, early introduction of complementary foods)	Explicit connection with food intake; loose, copious, yellow stools, possibly with a greasy sheen, white lumps; the chair is only slightly quickened or normal; possible single vomiting after eating or regurgitation.	Power mode correction: when breastfeeding, control the frequency of breastfeeding; with artificial - calculate the amount of feeding depending on the weight of the child (performed by a doctor); in the case of the introduction of complementary foods - temporarily refuse it.
Taking medications	Relationship with medication (antibiotics, sulfonamides, antipyretics). When treated with certain drugs (including antibiotics containing clavulanic acid - amoxiclav, augmentin), diarrhea develops immediately by stimulating intestinal motility. Prolonged antibiotic therapy can cause dysbacteriosis and already against this background diarrhea.	Consultation with a doctor. Cancellation (replacement) of the drug or additional administration of probiotics may be required.
Intestinal dysbacteriosis	Prolonged diarrhea or irregular stools without fever, possible other symptoms (lethargy, poor appetite, poor weight gain, etc.). It is confirmed in a laboratory study, but it should be borne in mind that the analysis of feces for dysbiosis is not indicative in infants under 3 months of age: during this period, the child's intestines are still being populated with normal microflora.	Treatment is carried out according to the doctor's prescription.

Irregular stool in the baby

An irregular stool is an alternation of constipation with diarrhea, or an alternation of a normal stool with constipation and (or) diarrhea. The most likely causes are irrational feeding, intestinal dysbacteriosis. Irregular stools can be a manifestation of chronic constipation, when a large amount of liquid stool appears after a long absence of stool.

With irregular stools, you should first of all pay attention to the nature of the child's nutrition. If errors in nutrition are excluded, there are no overfeeds, the baby receives food according to age, then you need to consult a doctor for further examination and 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 discharged, dark yellow or yellow-brown in color. Abundant stools are possible against the background of overfeeding. The constant excretion 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 deficiency, intestinal diseases, etc.).

Consistency changes

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

Color changes

As we have already discussed, the color of the feces of an infant 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 a warning sign that can be a sign of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and with black stools, bleeding should always be ruled out first. In addition to black stools (melena), bleeding may be accompanied by pallor, lethargy of the child, often there is vomiting with an admixture of scarlet blood. Also, black stools are noted when blood is swallowed in case of nosebleeds.

However, there are also quite harmless reasons for the discharge of black feces in a baby:

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

Pathological impurities

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

When to see a doctor immediately

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

Immediate seeking medical help (call an ambulance) is necessary if the baby has at least one of the following symptoms:

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

Not only those listed, but also any other “wrong” 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 reasons, require a pediatrician’s consultation. It is always better to play it safe and discuss with your doctor the signs that worry you.

Which doctor to contact

When changing the stool in a child, you must contact the pediatrician. After carrying out diagnostics and tests, the doctor can refer parents and the child to a consultation with a gastroenterologist, infectious disease specialist, allergist, endocrinologist, surgeon, hematologist.

Dr. Komarovsky about constipation in children:

(votes - 6 , average: 3,67 out of 5)