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What to do if the baby has constipation? Tips and recommendations of a gastroenterologist. Prognosis of treatment and possible complications. Consequences. Signs of impaired bowel movements in newborns

In the first year of a child's life, almost every 5 or 4 children suffer from constipation, as many parents and doctors believe. When there is a stagnation of feces in the rectum, their exit is difficult, the child groans and strains, and emptying does not occur - parents worry and sometimes do not know what to do with constipation in the baby?

In this article we will talk about the possible causes of constipation in infants, about ways to solve the problem of difficult, slow, systematically insufficient defecation in babies.

The most common, easily eliminated causes of constipation in babies are - lack of water entering the baby's body, lack of milk in the mother, a sharp change in the child's diet (switching from breastfeeding to artificial feeding, changing the mother's diet, introducing complementary foods) and more serious ones, such as allergic reactions, developmental defects or disorders of the digestive organs and other diseases.

What is considered constipation in a newborn, a child under 1 year old?

In order to determine whether a child has constipation or just an individual feature, there are criteria by which changes in the baby's stool can be classified:

  • Stool frequency - stool retention for 1-2 days can be considered constipation if it is systematic and the child shows anxiety, is naughty, cries, strains, grunts during bowel movements
  • Stool consistency - from the table below, only types 1 and 2 should be considered constipation (the rest with 3-6 normal options). If the feces are lumpy (sheep feces), excessively dense and hard, lumpy feces even in the form of a sausage - this should also be interpreted as constipation.
  • If a child shows anxiety during defecation, groans, experiences obvious difficulties in the act of defecation - this is not always a sign of constipation.

Click on the picture to enlarge

To determine constipation in infants, a combination of several factors should be considered. If a child has type 1-2 stool consistency, he poops with a delay of 1-2 days, while crying and groaning - this is constipation.

If the baby empties every day, but 1 time, the consistency of feces is within the normal range, but the child groans, strains, then this does not mean that he needs to put an enema, glycerin suppositories, fight constipation in other non-natural ways.

During the act of defecation, most infants groan strongly, push, twist their legs, show other signs of difficulty in pushing feces out - this is normal for children of the first year of life. In infants, intestinal functions are just being formed, and babies cannot yet properly control the work of the intestines, so strenuous attempts to defecate can be a variant of the norm. If the child has a normal appetite, he looks healthy, rarely defecates, but the consistency of the feces is normal and behaves uneasily only during the act of defecation - do not worry too much.

In all other cases, with anxiety during bowel movements and rare emptying, provoking factors should first be excluded, such as taking any medications, allergic reactions, changing the diet of a nursing mother or complementary foods for a child, which can contribute to constipation in a baby. What to do if a child has problems with daily emptying? Parents should definitely consult a doctor for a diagnosis of dysbacteriosis, allergies or other digestive disorders, in order to exclude more serious pathologies.

Possible causes of constipation in infants

Children with episodic cases of constipation, not caused by any disease, always look healthy, develop correctly, put on weight well, and the change in bowel habits can be caused by reasons that are quite easy to eliminate:

  • If a child rarely poops, he may be experiencing a lack of fluid, this is especially true for infants who are bottle-fed. To change the situation, be sure to give the baby water to drink. The well-known pediatrician Komarovsky, with constipation in infants, strongly recommends giving water to children, even when breastfeeding, given the dry air in heated rooms and the heat in the summer.
  • Improper nutrition of a nursing mother, which consists in the abuse of flour bakery products, rice, rich thick broths, refined foods, semi-finished meats and other foods that provoke constipation in both adults and children. As well as the use of milk formulas with iron for feeding.
  • The intake of certain medicines by the mother or child is antibiotics, antispasmodics, NSAIDs, anticonvulsants, iron preparations, muscle relaxants, bismuth preparations, etc.
  • Lack of milk in the mother can also cause congestion in the baby.
  • The introduction of complementary foods usually normalizes bowel function, but this does not always happen, sometimes new foods, on the contrary, can contribute to the development of constipation. Each newly introduced product should be analyzed, the reaction of the baby (see).

In rare cases, when the baby’s stool remains soft, but the child is lethargic, apathetic, lags behind in development, every time he has difficulty defecation, while there are necessarily other signs of diseases, one of the symptoms of which may be constipation in an infant or newborn:

  • Hereditary predisposition, congenital diseases (tumors, megacolon), intestinal developmental defects (intestinal diverticula, duplication of the colon, anal atresia), Hirschsprung disease.
  • Disorders of the digestive system - pancreas (enzyme deficiency), biliary dyskinesia, gallbladder kink, liver disease.
  • Lactose deficiency, food allergic reactions - while constipation can alternate with diarrhea and profuse regurgitation.
  • Hyperparathyroidism, hypokalemia, hypercalcemia
  • Dolichocolon, dolichosigma

Management of an infant with constipation

  • Pediatrician examination
  • Frequent breastfeeding while breastfeeding
  • To supplement the artificial man in the amount of one feeding, divided into a day (between feedings)
  • Give a child older than six months apples and vegetables (see)
  • After a year, be sure to feed the child with soup (see)

How to treat constipation in an infant?

To begin with, the most obvious and easily eliminated possible causes should be excluded - this is to adjust the mother's diet, observe the drinking regimen, it is possible to use a humidifier during the heated period, replace the milk formula with another one, or change the nature of complementary foods. If this does not lead to a result, a thorough diagnosis should be carried out by an endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, neurologist, serious pathologies and diseases should be excluded. If any violations are found, all the recommendations of doctors should be taken into account and the underlying disease causing constipation should be treated.

Do not rush to use enemas, especially (except for Lactulose, you can not use any laxatives for babies), they weaken the natural reflex of bowel movement, reduce the absorption of nutrients, lead to loss of potassium, trace elements, vitamins, protein, and also reduce intestinal muscle tone. Before treating constipation in an infant, first try to help the child in other harmless, natural ways, it is necessary to give the child time to practice on his own:

If you love your baby, give him a little more time, do not buy store-bought juices and purees for your child, make it yourself, a baby does not need much at all. Many independent experts have long exposed manufacturers claiming that these are healthy drinks and purees. There is no benefit in such juices, moreover, very often they are the strongest allergens for babies, especially the Agusha juice series. It is better to take a fresh apple, pear, plum, peach, carrot and squeeze the juice out of them yourself (then dilute with water) or make a puree using a blender or a micromill.

Intestinal dysbacteriosis

Some experts believe that dysbacteriosis is a far-fetched diagnosis for a more profitable commercial sale of drugs to treat it or maintain laboratories by definition.

But, very often, against the background of taking certain eubiotics, prebiotics, probiotics in children, the stool and symptoms of dysbiosis, constipation and go away. So, if the gastroenterologist sees the problem of constipation in violation of the intestinal microflora, the use of such agents is advisable (see the whole).

Medicines and other methods of emergency elimination of constipation in children of the first year of life

The fight against constipation in babies should be aimed at eliminating the cause of its occurrence, and not be included in the system of mechanical assistance, some kind of struggle with a symptom, a manifestation of any disease or indigestion. Stool retention for more than a day, with anxiety, crying baby, should be a reason to call the local doctor. With constipation in infants, what should parents do, how to help the baby in facilitating emptying? Before the examination and establishment, the following methods of stimulating emptying are acceptable as an emergency:

Anal irritation

This can be done by simply stroking the skin around the anus. You can also do this with the tip of the gas outlet tube, previously lubricated with petroleum jelly. Another way of such mechanical irritation is the following manipulation - gently insert a cotton swab lubricated with glycerin into the anus and twist it a little. Among the methods used by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, when there were no other means and methods, is the gentle introduction of a thin bar of soap into the baby's anus. However, recent studies and observations of doctors state that neither soap, nor soap solutions for microclysters, nor saline (hypertonic) microclysters for children, especially for infants, can be used.

Glycerin suppositories or Microlax

Although glycerin suppositories are considered the safest of all and are indicated for young children, most pediatricians do not recommend their use for infants. Their use is justified only in emergency cases, when other means do not work, and only after consulting a doctor. Candles with glycerin or Glycelax can cause itching, burning of the skin, and allergic reactions in the baby.

It should be remembered that you can not put more than 1 candle per day, if 1 hour after the candle with glycerin there is no effect, you should call a doctor. You need to purchase only glycerin candles for children or use 1/4 of an adult candle, cutting it lengthwise. After a glycerin suppository, the baby may have multiple plentiful stools.

One of the modern local laxatives is Microlax for newborns - this is a ready-made viscous solution for administration as a micro enema. The instructions for this drug indicate that it can be used for newborns and infants, while the solution should be injected only half the length, there is a mark on the tip.

Enemas and microclysters

It is also considered to be an unnatural way to induce bowel movements and should be avoided, especially the systematic administration of enemas. Before deciding on this method, you should also consult a pediatrician. For babies, water at room temperature is used - for newborns 30 ml. and up to 120 ml. for children under one year old. To make such an enema, the tip of the pear is smeared with cream or petroleum jelly, the child is placed on the barrels and water is carefully injected into the intestines.

Lactulose

This popular prebiotic can be recommended by a doctor in the presence of intestinal dysbiosis or as a prophylaxis for constipation. To date, this is the safest remedy that can be used for constipation in infants. Lactulose (Normaze 200 rubles, Lactulose Shtada, Prelaks 150-200 rubles, Portalak syrup 300 rubles, Goodluck 220 rubles, Romfalak, 300-400 rubles, Lactulose Poly, Livoluk-PB) is a mild laxative that does not cause intestinal addiction and it, with prolonged use, has the ability to restore the disturbed intestinal microflora.

Constipation is a problem that requires an immediate solution. After all, with a long stay in the body of feces, the process of absorption of toxins from them occurs, which can greatly affect the state of health.

And besides, constipation causes pain in children in the tummy, as there is an accumulation of gases, and also causes discomfort during emptying. Therefore, the participation of adults in solving this problem is simply necessary. And in order to solve it, it is necessary to establish the cause of constipation.

Normally, a healthy newborn baby should empty up to 4 times a day, closer to a year - 2 times. If the baby, who is breastfed, did not “go to the toilet in a big way” for one day, this is not a reason to worry and start looking for a reliable remedy for constipation in the first aid kit. It is worth saying that a newborn child has constipation when he cannot defecate, while he begins to pout and try to poop, constantly cries with a piercing cry, sleeps restlessly and refuses to eat.

Oddly enough, constipation in a baby can be the result of too tight swaddling: a lack of physical activity affects the work of the intestines

When breastfeeding, constipation in a newborn can be triggered by a number of factors, which we will talk about now.

The formation of constipation is often influenced by the physiology of the child, that is, his digestive system, which we have already mentioned above. The thing is that it is still imperfect and is not able to fully digest food, as a result of which unsold products and toxins are not excreted from the body. This leads to the slow movement of food through the intestines, due to which an accumulation of feces is formed, which leads to the formation of constipation.

When breastfeeding, the formation of constipation is quite normal, because the baby daily eats through milk those foods that the mother ate all day. Therefore, often the formation of constipation in children becomes the wrong diet of a woman.

Perhaps you should reconsider your diet and try to eat more dairy and sour-milk products, vegetables and fruits. By the way, you need to be careful with vegetables and fruits. For example, potatoes and persimmons lead to constipation, while apricots, pears and plums, on the contrary, lead to diarrhea.

Provoking constipation in a newborn during breastfeeding can also be fed to the child with dry milk mixtures, when mother's milk becomes insufficient for the full nutrition of the baby.

Firstly, the restructuring of the body begins, because there is a change in the diet of the baby, which even in an adult can cause problems with emptying. Secondly, such mixtures do not contain beneficial bacteria that “help” the body digest food. Therefore, you should consult with a pediatrician and try to introduce fermented milk mixtures into the child's diet.

The cause of constipation in a newborn during breastfeeding may be the immobility of the child. Try to put the baby on the tummy more often, play with his legs, doing the “bike” exercise. Before eating, give him a tummy massage, this will improve the digestive system and prepare the child's body for eating. However, you need to do it in about 10-15 minutes.

Another reason that can provoke constipation during breastfeeding in infants is a lack of fluid in the body. Give the baby plenty of water, and if he refuses it (which happens very often), try to drink more liquid yourself.

If the baby has become restless, crying often and hysterically, this may be a sign of constipation.

When children are worried about something, they try to show it with all their appearance. Constipation in the baby is manifested as follows:

  • the appearance of a small amount of blood on the diaper, caused by the formation of wounds during the passage of stool through the anus;
  • feces not characteristic of a newborn baby - hard and mixed with blood;
  • emptying occurs once a day or is absent at all;
  • the baby often arches its back, and its tummy becomes hard;
  • the baby constantly pushes and pulls the legs to the tummy;
  • the child becomes restless, constantly whimpering, naughty and refuses to eat.

Giving your baby a gentle tummy massage can help your baby deal with constipation.

There are not so many reasons for the formation of constipation during breastfeeding in children. To eliminate it, it will be enough to increase the mobility of the child, as well as change the diet of a young mother.

However, this is sometimes not enough, and then you have to take some measures to eliminate constipation. Firstly, you can give your child a massage in a warm bath (water relaxes the muscles), putting your hand on his tummy and, lightly pressing on him, make circular movements. Then you should bend the legs of the crumbs at the knees and press them to the tummy, then straighten and press again.

If the massage did not help the baby to empty, you can help him using a cotton swab. The anus must be lubricated with petroleum jelly or vegetable oil, and then inserted into it with a cotton swab, but not more than half a centimeter. Next, you need to carefully make circular movements for 10 - 20 seconds, after which it must be removed. After such procedures, the baby should empty.

You can also give the baby an enema or put a glycerin suppository. These funds are the most effective, but they are often not worth using, as the intestines will get used to this method of emptying, as a result of which they will cease to perform their functions in full.

If you have tried all the measures to eliminate constipation and nothing has helped, you can use laxatives. However, they can be used only after consulting a doctor.

A doctor's consultation is necessary in any case, especially if children are very often worried about constipation. Perhaps the reasons for their formation lie much deeper and a complete examination of the body will be required.

Approximately 20-25% of infants experience constipation. Such a violation of the intestines gives them severe discomfort, causes periodic pain and a feeling of tension in the abdomen, which leads to a bad mood, capriciousness and a deterioration in the baby's well-being.

What to do with constipation in the baby and how to help the child? These questions immediately arise from parents who notice similar ones. First of all, with a long delay in defecation in a child, you need to consult a doctor to conduct an examination and find out the cause of this phenomenon. In the absence of serious congenital pathologies on the part of the intestine, conservative treatment is carried out.

First of all, nutrition correction and stimulation of the intestines with the help of massage and simple exercises are prescribed. These safe methods not only eliminate the problem of irregular stools, but are also a measure to prevent its occurrence in the future. Medicines, enemas and mechanical stimulation of the act of defecation for constipation in children are used only in extreme cases.

Nutrition for constipation in infants

Treatment of constipation in an infant should be comprehensive and necessarily include certain changes in nutrition. They are assigned taking into account the age of the baby and what type of food he consumes during this period. For babies under six months, the only food is mother's milk or formula milk. After reaching the age of six months, new foods are gradually introduced into the child's diet, which can cause him to fix or loosen his stool.

Maternal nutrition for constipation in breastfed babies

For constipation in children who are exclusively breastfed, treatment should begin with the correction of the nutrition of the nursing mother. The composition of breast milk depends on the products that a woman consumes during lactation.

With a delay in defecation in infants, a nursing mother should adhere to the following recommendations in food:

  • eat more foods rich in coarse dietary fiber (vegetables, fruits, cereals);
  • exclude foods that can cause constipation (rice, semolina, white bread and sweet pastries, fatty meat, black tea, etc.);
  • drink more fluids;
  • include products with a laxative effect (melon, prunes, dried apricots, figs, beets, pumpkin);
  • consume fermented milk products (kefir and yogurt), which contribute to regular bowel movements.

Important: Sometimes a lack of breast milk in the mother can lead to constipation in the baby, which makes it necessary to introduce supplementary feeding to eliminate this problem.

Frequent attachment to the breast provides an increase in the amount of fluid entering the baby's body, which is one of the ways to treat constipation.

Nutrition for formula-fed babies

Formula-fed or mixed-fed babies are much more likely to suffer from constipation than breastfed babies. This is due to the fact that even despite the high degree of adaptation of modern milk formulas, they differ too much in composition from breast milk and do not take into account the individual needs of each child in a certain period.

If constipation occurs in newborns in this case, the first thing to do is to seek the advice of a pediatrician. He will most likely recommend giving the child more water, and if the desired result is still not there, then replace the milk formula with another one. To normalize bowel function and regular stools, sour-milk mixtures containing beneficial lactic acid bacteria and enhancing intestinal motility are well suited.

Important: Changing the milk formula for feeding the baby should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor.

Nutrition for babies after six months

After 6 months, new adult foods begin to be introduced into the baby's diet. For children prone to constipation, complementary foods are recommended to start with vegetables and fruits rich in coarse dietary fiber, which contribute to the strengthening and formation of soft feces. Purees and freshly squeezed juices diluted with water are prepared from vegetables and fruits for babies.

Helps with constipation:

  • carrot juice;
  • puree from prunes, apricot, peach, apples;
  • decoctions and compotes from dried fruits;
  • cereals from cereals rich in fiber (oatmeal, corn, buckwheat);
  • fermented milk products adapted for a certain age of the baby.

Prunes for babies with constipation can be consumed in the form of decoctions, mashed potatoes or added to porridge

Important: If constipation in a baby is caused or accompanied by increased gas formation, then it is recommended to give him tea with fennel, which can be bought at a pharmacy or made independently from dill seeds.

Massage in the treatment of constipation in babies up to a year

The cause of constipation in many newborns is the underdevelopment of the nerve endings in the wall of the large intestine, which leads to a temporary inability to properly contract and move the intestinal contents to the anus. This condition is a physiological feature of the development of children and does not require any special treatment, as it resolves on its own by the age of two months. However, you can help your child to improve bowel function by massaging the tummy and exercising. These methods are safe and easy to perform, not requiring any special knowledge and skills from parents.

How to help a newborn with constipation with the help of exercise and massage? The following exercises are recommended:

  1. Clockwise stroking the baby with a warm palm on the tummy, avoiding sudden movements. It is enough to make only 5-10 such circular movements.
  2. Alternate flexion and extension (5 times) of the baby's legs in the knee joints in the supine position. When performing this exercise, the front surface of the child's thigh should be pressed against the tummy when flexed.
  3. In the position of the baby lying on his back, pull his legs to the tummy, bending them at the knees and alternately straighten one or the other leg. Repeat 5 times for each leg.
  4. In the supine position, do the “bicycle” exercise for the baby.
  5. Laying the baby on the tummy from 2 to 15 minutes, depending on his age.
  6. In the position of the baby lying on his stomach, make stroking movements with the palm of his hand along the back in the direction from the shoulder blades to the coccyx. Do 5 repetitions.

The exercises listed above help improve intestinal motility and facilitate its emptying.

Important: Warming up has a positive effect on bowel function. They relieve spasm and help to relax the muscles of the colon, which is especially important for spastic constipation. To do this, a warm diaper is applied to the child's tummy, they are lowered into a warm bath, or they are simply applied with their tummy to the stomach of mom or dad.

Medications for constipation in infants

Treatment of constipation in newborns and children of one year with the help of drugs is undesirable and is carried out strictly according to the doctor's prescription if changes in nutrition and massage have not led to the expected positive result. Laxatives used to treat infants should have a mild effect, not cause spasms in the intestines and not disturb its microflora.

Drugs approved for use in constipation in infants include:

  • , soften the accumulated feces and contribute to the rapid emptying of the baby's intestines soon after the introduction of the suppository;
  • preparations based on lactulose, which have a mild laxative effect, are not addictive and contribute to the normalization of the intestinal microflora;
  • espumisan, plantex, are prescribed for the treatment of constipation, accompanied by increased gas formation in the intestine;
  • microclysters Microlax, which are a ready-made solution of a viscous consistency for introduction into the cavity of the child's rectum;
  • Hilak forte, Linex, Bifidum bacterin, are used in the treatment of constipation caused by a violation of the intestinal microflora.

Duphalac contains lactulose as an active ingredient and can be used to treat constipation in children of any age.

Breast milk is the most suitable food for newborns. It contains many useful substances, trace elements necessary for the full development of the child. Usually, breastfed babies get sick less often and more easily than babies who are formula fed. But even if a child in the first months of its existence feeds only on breast milk, it is impossible to avoid various problems that accompany the adaptation of the child's body to the outside world. Many parents face the problem of constipation in an infant. The most important thing in this situation is not to treat the baby on your own, on the advice of a relative, girlfriend, so you can only do harm. Only a pediatrician can determine whether a given problem is a norm or a pathology, and, if necessary, prescribe the correct treatment.

It must be understood that the work of the baby's body differs from the functioning of the body of an adult, therefore, the identification of the fact of constipation in a child should not be carried out according to the criteria for its detection in an adult.

Features of the work of the intestines of a child up to a year

The first few days of life, the stool has a dark (sometimes black) color, thick, viscous texture. It is called meconium, it accumulates in the womb and is a product of the processing of swallowed amniotic fluid. Meconium passes out of the baby's intestines after the start of breastfeeding. It doesn't smell like anything and is thick like toothpaste. In the first days of a baby's life, its intestines are emptied on average from 1 to 3 times a day.

After the release of meconium (after 3 days), already processed mother's milk leaves the body. The stool becomes softer, thinner, lighter. It has a smell of sour milk, which does not cause disgust. When breastfeeding, a newborn's stool should be yellow, yellow-green or yellow-brown. Its consistency is similar to liquid cottage cheese. There may be small lumps in the feces, similar to grains. These are undigested particles of curdled milk.

For the first 2 months of a baby's life, he can defecate 2-5 times a day. If the child empties the intestines less than 2 times a day, this is also within the normal range, but only if he is in good health, he regularly gains weight, pisses a lot. The child should urinate about 6 times a day. In diapers, the frequency of urination of the baby is difficult to notice, so it is recommended to abandon them for a while and count the number of diapers soiled per day. At one time, 30-60 ml (2 to 4 tablespoons) of urine should be excreted.

Over time, the frequency of bowel movements decreases, but all this is individual. Babies 2-6 months old, who are fully breastfed, cleanse the intestines 1-5 times a day. If a bowel movement occurs after each feeding, there is nothing to worry about. It is not considered a deviation, even when the baby empties the intestines once every few days. But only on condition that he is cheerful, cheerful, pisses a lot and his weight corresponds to age norms. If a child defecates only once a week, eats only breast milk and feels well, then his mother can contact a pediatrician, but in no case should you panic and treat the baby on your own. Fruit juices, laxatives, enemas without a doctor's recommendation can do harm. At this age, the bladder is able to hold more fluid, so urination occurs less often, and the amount of fluid released increases to 120 ml (8 tablespoons).

At the age of 5-6 months complementary foods are introduced. Breastfeeding is recommended until 6 months of age. Complementary foods change the color, smell and density of the stool. It becomes darker, denser, an unpleasant odor appears. Sometimes it contains whole pieces of food. There is nothing to worry about: at first, it is difficult for the child’s stomach to digest even boiled food. A child on complementary foods should defecate 1-2 times a day.

Symptoms of constipation in newborns

To understand why a child who is fully breastfed has trouble with emptying, you need to look not at the frequency of bowel movements (it is individual), but at the general condition of the baby.

Symptoms of constipation in infants:

  1. The baby behaves restlessly, does not eat well.
  2. The baby is pushing hard, trying to empty the intestines.
  3. During feeding, the child cries, presses his legs to himself, his face turns red.
  4. Unpleasant smell of feces and intestinal gases, which are often released.
  5. Small weight gain, inconsistency of body weight with age norms.

Causes of constipation

The main causes of constipation in newborns who are breastfed are:

  1. Wrong diet of a nursing mother. The food that a mother eats directly affects the activity of the baby's gastrointestinal tract. Some foods provoke constipation in a child, for example: white bread, fatty meat, cheese, rich bakery products, any kind of nuts, milk, coffee, rice, strong tea. It can cause constipation and the mother may take some medicines allowed during lactation (drugs for heartburn, to raise the level of hemoglobin in the blood, etc.).
  2. Lack of breast milk. When the baby does not eat enough, he has a "hungry" constipation. Milk is completely absorbed by the body and the intestines have nothing to excrete. The problem of lack of milk can arise due to improperly organized breastfeeding. Perhaps the baby is incorrectly or rarely applied to the breast. If this cause of constipation occurs, you should consult a lactation consultant.
  3. The use of antibiotics. If the baby is being treated for any serious illness, then the result of the use of drugs is dysbacteriosis, which leads to constipation.
  4. Immature nervous system. In some newborns, the intestinal wall cannot fully contract and squeeze out the stool mass outward due to immature nerve endings. Within 2 months after birth, the problem resolves itself.
  5. Congenital bowel diseases: narrowing of the anus, Hirschsprung's disease, dolichosigma.
  6. Diseases of rickets, organs of the endocrine, nervous system.


Treatment of constipation in a newborn

If the baby has problems with the gastrointestinal tract, the pediatrician can give directions for a blood test, coprogram, ultrasound, x-ray. There are several methods of dealing with the difficult process of emptying the intestines in a baby:

  1. Massage. You can put the child on the back and stroke his tummy clockwise, bend and unbend his legs. Before each feeding, lay the baby on the tummy.
  2. Changing the diet of a nursing mother. To improve the process of digestion in infants, to cope with constipation, the mother needs to exclude fixing foods and increase consumption of vegetable broths, yogurt (without dyes and flavors), fresh kefir, cereals (buckwheat, pearl barley, oatmeal), dried fruits (prunes, dried apricots), boiled vegetables (especially pumpkins and beets).
  3. Medications (Sab Simplex, Espumizan, Bobotik, Dufalac, Plantex, etc.).
  4. Mechanical intervention (enema, gas tube, candles with glycerin).

In case of constipation, you can put a warm sheet on the child’s tummy, wear it with the tummy down, press it to yourself so that the child feels warmth, the closeness of a loving mother, calms down and relaxes.

An enema should be used only as a last resort, when other methods have not had any effect. Its use can cause an imbalance in the intestinal microflora. For a newborn, you need to buy the smallest enema with a soft tip, rinse it with boiling water, lubricate it with petroleum jelly and pour boiled water at room temperature into it.

In no case should you put laundry soap in the anus. Such advice can be heard from grandmothers. Soap causes irritation of the mucous membrane, which is fraught with the appearance of allergic reactions, inflammation, bleeding.

Parents need to remember that the frequency of bowel movements during breastfeeding is individual, therefore, if constipation is suspected, it is impossible to self-treat, you need to contact a pediatrician. He will determine if the baby has constipation, determine its causes and prescribe treatment.

Constipation in a breastfed baby has recently become a fairly common occurrence. The norm is the coincidence of the frequency of feeding the baby and the act of defecation. At the same time, consistency, color and design are important. In breastfed babies, the stool should be mushy, yellowish in color, free of mucus and blood. If the feces take the form of "sausages", then this indicates a tendency to constipation. For formula-fed babies, there are slightly different norms. The intestines should be emptied at least once every 2 days.

Constipation is considered to be a decrease in bowel emptying with concomitant unpleasant subjective sensations in a child. These include:

  • Incomplete bowel movement.
  • Forced strain.
  • Pain during bowel movements.

Causes

Sooner or later, any mother faces problems in the digestive system of a newborn. The culprits of constipation can be:

  • violation of the diet;
  • artificial feeding;
  • improperly selected mixture;
  • irrational introduction of complementary foods;
  • anomalies in the development of the intestine;
  • banal violation of microflora;
  • some pathologies of the nervous system;
  • allergic predisposition;
  • severe metabolic disorders.

Sometimes constipation during breastfeeding in infants can occur from the banal high fat content of mother's milk. The enzymatic activity of the newborn is not enough, and the intestines cannot cope with the load. Constipation can also appear due to a rare meal and during breastfeeding (the child sluggishly sucks the breast and falls asleep). This is because the contents of the intestines of the baby are almost completely absorbed, the liquid part is not enough, and the stool masses are formed more dense. Often the reason may be an early transition to artificial nutrition. Infant formula should always be selected individually. It is best to use adapted options that are closest to the composition of breast milk. Frequent change in the type of nutrient mixture is also a source of illness.

Sometimes the elementary abuse of goat and cow milk products by the mother can lead to constipation in newborns during breastfeeding. This occurs if the child has an individual intolerance to casein (a protein of animal origin). Such children are usually allergic, the mucous membranes of the digestive tube are edematous, it produces a large amount of mucus, which causes difficulty in the passage of feces and irritation of the anus. Therefore, due to discomfort, the child reflexively compresses the sphincter and prevents the regular act of defecation.

Insufficiency of the lactase enzyme in the body in children leads to an increase in the acidity of the chyme, and the intestines respond with spasms. The promotion of fecal masses is difficult and the newborn has constipation. With regular constipation in infants, microcracks in the anus often appear. This phenomenon can also be the culprit of difficult defecation. Due to anatomical reasons due to the peculiarity of the growth of the intestine, children sometimes experience kinks, pathological mobility, and insufficient fixation of its loops. Digested food moves slowly, which contributes to constipation.

A large group of causes are anomalies in the development of the digestive tube. These include:

  • Congenital gigantism of the colon.
  • Atresia of the rectum.
  • Various doublings of the narrowing of the rectum.
  • Congenital displacement of the anus.
  • Congenital sacrococcygeal tumor.

All congenital anomalies lead to mechanical constipation both during breastfeeding and in formula-fed infants.

Symptoms of constipation

Constipation in newborns, depending on the cause, is accompanied by:

  • flatulence.
  • Pain in the abdomen.
  • Anxiety and crying baby.
  • Spitting up and vomiting.
  • Refusal to eat due to lack of appetite.

Usually acute constipation in children is characterized by incomplete emptying of the intestine, while the child cries and twists his legs. Then he loses his appetite, he refuses to breastfeed. In the future, bloating and pain join. If the cause is enzyme deficiency, then children experience irritation of the rectal mucosa, the child cries immediately after defecation. The stool is pea-shaped, dense, sometimes with an admixture of blood.

With neurological disorders, the act of defecation is disturbed due to reflex disorders. In such children, disorders of nervous activity and developmental delay often come to the fore. With the wrong transition to artificial nutrition or the introduction of complementary foods that are inappropriate for age, appetite worsens in the first place. The child often has a tummy ache and the nature of the feces changes. The stool becomes poorly digested, the remnants of the food introduced for feeding are determined.

Constipation due to congenital anomalies is diagnosed already on the 2nd day of a newborn's life. The absence of meconium discharge, followed by the addition of vomiting, indicates atresia of the rectum and esophagus. Sacrococcygeal teratoma is characterized by rapid growth and slowly increasing symptoms of constipation. In this case, a painless tumor of uneven consistency is determined in the coccyx area. Reaching large sizes, it delays the anus and becomes a mechanical obstacle to feces. Elementary dysbacteriosis may appear after antibiotic treatment of the mother and the newborn. Then the baby develops constipation, alternating with diarrhea, abdominal pain and flatulence.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis is made only when the prolonged absence of stool is accompanied by the full range of the above clinical manifestations. It is on them that the method of further examination of the baby depends. Often, a general examination and symptoms are sufficient, but if a developmental anomaly is suspected, additional studies are indispensable.

For constipation in infants, the pediatrician may prescribe the following:

  • General laboratory tests.
  • Coprogram (feces for the presence of undigested fibers).
  • Feces for dysbacteriosis.
  • Ultrasound of the abdominal cavity.
  • contrast radiography.
  • Consultation of a neurologist.

Features of therapy

In the case when the baby is breastfed, you need to adjust the mother's diet. What to eat for mom so that the baby does not have constipation, only a pediatrician will advise. Knowing how a nursing woman ate, you can establish the cause and achieve a positive result of therapy.

A properly selected mixture with the presence of bifidobacteria is suitable for newborns on artificial nutrition. This can also avoid constipation in infants, which has developed as a result of dysbacteriosis. With constipation of a neurological nature, in addition to the main treatment, it is necessary to prescribe lactulose preparations. They contribute to the improvement of peristalsis and easy removal of feces to the outside. This drug is absolutely harmless and is allowed for children even from 0 months.

1. If constipation occurs against the background of introduced complementary foods, carbohydrate foods should be avoided. It is better not to give rice, potato, pear and banana purees to babies. Some types of mashed potatoes for feeding a young mother need to be made by herself.

2. The district pediatrician individually selects the components for the baby's first complementary foods. Complementary foods should be easily digestible and age appropriate.

3. Sometimes it is enough for a baby to simply drink water or children's tea. A large amount of liquid helps to soften the stool and easy to remove it.

4. When there is a lactase deficiency, formula-fed children are given special low-lactose foods or soy formulas.

5. Often, pre- and probiotics are sufficient as a treatment for newborns. Normalization of the microflora helps to get rid of the habitual constipation in infants.

If acute constipation occurs, the baby can be given glycerin microclysters or glycerin suppositories. After the act of defecation, a component of mandatory treatment is an external toilet and the use of warm baths with a solution of chamomile.

Spastic constipation is treated with antispasmodics and baby massage. Every time before a bowel movement, the newborn needs to massage the abdomen in a clockwise direction. This helps to improve bowel function and release accumulated gases. In complex cases of development of anomalies of the digestive system, surgical intervention is resorted to.