What does a baby's stool smell like normally? When babies' stools return to normal. We begin to worry: stool retention in infants. Foamy stool with mucus

Infant stool is one of the problematic issues for many mothers. In the mid-20th century, as formula feeding became more common than breastfeeding, a new stereotype of “normal” bowel movements emerged. Formula-fed babies poop differently than infants: formula-fed stool is relatively infrequent, comes out formed and smells bad, reminiscent of adult stool. While stool from breast milk in the first 6 weeks of life is usually liquid and frequent, later, on the contrary, it can be of normal consistency, but with delays. At the same time, often people who do not know that this is quite normal for infants 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, little by little, with a yellow or mustard-colored mass without an unpleasant odor. In this case, the stool may well have a heterogeneous consistency, or cheesy inclusions, or - after some time, if the mother does not remove the diaper or diaper for a long time - you may notice that the yellow stool turns green; this is a completely natural oxidation process. All these are signs that are characteristic of a healthy infant! If you see white “pellets” in your child’s stool, don’t be alarmed. Most likely it's just intestinal immaturity. Therefore, if the child is gaining weight well and nothing bothers him, then there is no reason for your concern either.

Signs that may make a mother wary:

• Too frequent watery stools - 12 to 16 bowel movements per day, with a strong odor, indicate that the child actually has diarrhea (diarrhea). You should definitely consult a doctor, and it is very advisable to continue breastfeeding, because breast milk best fills the deficiency of the substances necessary for the baby.

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

Green, watery, foamy stools are usually a sign of something 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 completely before moving to the next. In this case, the baby will receive a large portion of fatty “hind” milk, which contains little lactose (unlike the “front” portion that is rich in lactose) and is therefore 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 “foremilk”, then there is not enough lactase for its normal absorption, so the baby suffers from gas, and the stool takes on a characteristic appearance. Another problem that often arises after 5-6 weeks of a child’s life is relatively rare bowel movements, which are often mistakenly considered constipation and the baby begins to be actively treated. At this age, milk finally becomes mature and the laxative colostrum component leaves it, and therefore most children begin to poop less often. Rare stool in itself is not a cause for concern; it’s just that the child’s body is figuring out how much it can accumulate in itself before pooping. If the process is not interfered with, the child may not poop even for up to 7 days once or twice, after which the normal frequency will be restored. If you constantly interfere, forcing the intestines to empty when they are not yet ready, constipation will become habitual. BUT: Indeed, the child may not poop for up to a week, and the mother does not have to worry under one essential condition: the child SAME don't worry! If this obviously bothers the child, the mother, of course, should not hope that everything will “work itself out.”

Constipation in a breastfed baby

Constipation in a breastfed baby is hard, dry, formed stool, the so-called “goat balls,” which are very painful for the baby.
The consistency of NORMAL feces, even with its relatively rare occurrence, cannot be considered constipation. These are only the physiological characteristics of this particular organism, such as the color of the eyes, the angle of the snub nose or the shape of the nails. We won’t treat the body because its eyes are blue and not brown, like most people?

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

For the urge to defecate, a little person 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 of relaxing the sphincters in response to tension, and not contracting them. A young intestine that is not fully formed is still just learning to respond to any external changes; at this stage of its formation, breast milk, the only native and adapted product, helps it in this, gently and without stress. Like any student, the intestines undergo a series of tests or even self-tests. Therefore, the stool of a baby in the first half of the year is heterogeneous - sometimes thick, sometimes thin, sometimes often, sometimes rarely. And our adult standards for such a young student are unacceptable; an adult’s intestines are very different from the intestines of a baby.

The main indicator with such rare stools is the child’s well-being and the passage of gases. The most dangerous sign of constipation is the absence of gases, then you can fear for intestinal patency, but if the baby “farts like a machine gun,” that means the patency is excellent. If the consistency of stool after defecation is normal, without “balls,” then the child does not have a problem.
The intestines are simply in a state of testing the degree of pressure of feces inside on the intestinal walls for optimal defecation; after completion of such a test, the body will select a certain period for defecation. This deadline will be set until... the next test, after which everything will change dramatically again.
That is, the main thing is to objectively assess the child’s condition, look at the passage of gases, and not at the calendar.
And yet it’s so strange and scary when bowel movements are not regular and young parents so want to preoccupy themselves with something. What can be done so that the body is “tested” faster, and parents see the coveted poop, without harming the child and without resorting to medications.

1. Give extra liquid.

But the problem is not the consistency of the stool!!! The feces inside are soft, the additional liquid makes it generally liquid and... delays the period of natural bowel movement. 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 stool has formed into a dense, hard “plug”, and the “higher” part is a very liquid, watery stool. Pooping out the “plug” is very painful and unpleasant for the baby.
That is, in the case of physiological rare stools, supplementing with any liquid can worsen the situation.

Here you need to take into account that juice is a very big irritant with a high acidity factor. A complete lack of fiber, but a killer carbohydrate environment due to sugars. The child’s intestines simply cannot digest this yet; digesting the juice requires additional enzymes that the child’s pancreas does not produce in infancy. And it turns out that there is an irritating product in the intestines - sugar from the juice. Until a certain age, the mucous membrane of an infant is very perceptive and sensitive, molecules penetrate through its walls into the blood, and sugars begin to greatly irritate the mucous membrane, the body receives a signal to get rid of the aggressors as quickly as possible, the pancreas tries to form enzymes to break down carbohydrates in the juice. The intestines collect additional fluid to partially neutralize aggressive sugars and begin to contract, removing the irritant. Externally, the child may have stool quite quickly after the juice is infused. But at the cost of enormous stress on the pancreas, mucous membrane and the body as a whole. At the same time, the necessary minerals and vitamins are washed out of the body, and the child loses a lot of fluid. The carbohydrate component creates an ideal environment in the intestines for the proliferation of pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic flora (candida, staphylococcus), which is why thrush in the child’s mouth is so common after copulation.
Juice is one of the most cruel methods of influencing the baby’s body.

3. Give an enema.

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

So what to do? Nothing. Wait. If the child behaves as usual and farts well, then this means this is another “test”.
But if the child strains, blushes, gases do not pass, the stomach is hard, and the child cries upon palpation - this is a completely different matter. We definitely need help here.

If the child does not walk for a long time and this bothers him

• The first step is to massage your tummy. Massage clockwise with full palm. Or exercises like "bicycle".
• A warm bath doesn’t help anyone relax. Mom and baby are immersed in warm 37 degree water, breastfed right in the water, then quickly get out, mom or dad rub their arms, legs and tummy with baby oil, then you can put the baby to lie on mom’s tummy relaxed, it’s worth remembering that it’s easier to poop lying down on the tummy or side than on the back, or the mother can feed in the dismounting position (so that the butt is sagging and the baby is almost vertical) and in 80% you can wait for the “coveted poop”.
• It is very good to hold a child who is complaining about his tummy over the sink under his knees, lubricating the anus area with baby oil... The position is the same as when disembarking.

Only when these methods do not help can you use the first step of mechanical stimulation. Take a sanitary stick, generously grease the tip with Vaseline or baby oil and insert it a little into the butt. No more than a centimeter! Just insert and twist a little. Put away. Put on a diaper and place it on mom’s stomach, tummy to tummy... Or press your knees to your stomach in a supine position...

And only if this does not help, then the next step is a glycerin suppository.
But as a rule, everything works out at the first step.

I would like to highlight the purpose of any treatment; parents should analyze - what are they treating - the child’s condition or the analysis? Does your doctor prescribe bifidobacteria? Is there a correlation with the start of use and the onset of stool retention? Have you been warned that bacterial preparations containing bifidocultures affect the stool and can cause chronic constipation, which will be constipation, and not physiological reactions?... Always monitor your child’s stool very carefully when using any medications.

Mistakes when breastfeeding

As practice shows, problems with stool in infants are often caused not by bacteria, but by improperly organized breastfeeding. Here are the most common mistakes in breastfeeding that interfere with the development of normal baby’s intestinal microflora:

• Late latching of the newborn to the breast.
• Rare feedings “by the hour”, limiting the duration of breastfeeding by the child.
• Adding water and tea to the baby.
• Early introduction of formula supplementation or gradual transition to full artificial feeding.
• Introducing complementary foods before 6 months.

Misconceptions associated with problematic bowel movements in infants

1. Everything rots inside there if he doesn’t walk for more than a day!!

We hear from many mothers. We hasten to dispel this myth!

Let's remember the school chemistry course. Oxidation, reaction with oxygen. Now we take the baby and examine the belly for holes. No? just the belly button? This means you are not in danger of oxidation. If someone says “rots”, also send him to a school chemistry course, where it is said that rotting is a slow combustion reaction in which access to oxygen is an indispensable condition. To do this, at a minimum, you need a hole in the stomach. But, as we have already found out from higher experience, it does not exist.

2. This is dysbacteriosis!!!
Dysbacteriosis is becoming more popular, as are the drugs aimed at treating it. In the minds of many parents, there is an incorrect opinion that every baby has dysbiosis, and biological products are no longer drugs that a doctor should prescribe - you can simply buy them and give them to your baby: maybe it will help? Let's look at some facts about this condition and speculate about them. After all, as we know, “who is forewarned is forearmed.”

The truth about dysbiosis:

1. 1. Dysbacteriosis- this is not a diagnosis according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), the generally accepted international diagnostic classification of the World Health Organization. This is a state of imbalance of the intestinal microflora that accompanies various diseases (for example, acute intestinal infection). Dysbacteriosis also develops after surgical operations on the gastrointestinal tract, treatment with antibiotics, cytostatics, and immune suppressants. Therefore, if a child was born healthy, gains weight well, grows and develops according to his age, you should not look for dysbiosis in him.
   2. In babies who have just been born, the period of colonization of the intestines with microbes is called transient dysbiosis and it belongs to the borderline conditions of newborns. The main protection and medicine for the baby during this period is mother’s breast milk. Colostrum contains a huge amount of antibodies, anti-infective proteins and secretory immunoglobulin A, which provide the baby with primary immunological protection. In addition, the bifidus factor in human breast milk is involved in the formation of normal intestinal microflora, and lactoferrin binds iron and prevents the proliferation of those bacteria that need iron. That is why it is extremely important that from birth nothing but mother’s milk gets into the baby’s mouth! Dysbacteriosis is not scary for a healthy baby.

1. Analysis for dysbiosis does not reflect the true state of the intestinal microflora. Let's remember that microflora is a dynamic environment, the number of microbial units is in the millions, and these units themselves multiply (and die) quite quickly. By the time parents receive the result of the microflora analysis (and this is at least 7 days from the date of delivery), the microbial “picture” in the intestines will change radically. In addition, microorganisms populate the intestines unevenly: there are more of them near the intestinal walls, and not in its lumen, and when taking a stool sample, only “luminal” colonies come into the “field of view”. That is why experienced and competent specialists do not trust this analysis and are in no hurry to treat children if it is changed and there are no clinical symptoms.

Based on the contents of a baby's diaper, one can judge the quality of the baby's digestive system; regular bowel movements (at least once a day) are considered the norm for a newborn baby. Analysis of the condition of the stool allows us to identify incorrect bowel function and promptly provide assistance to the fragile body.

What should a baby's stool look like at different ages?

The ideal stool for a newborn baby is a uniform yellow consistency without additional inclusions, however, such stool is observed exclusively in bottle-fed babies, since in this case the baby receives the same mixture, which, accordingly, is digested in the same way. It’s a completely different matter for babies who are breastfed. In this case, the stool may have additional lumps and mucous layers, it may be of different colors, since the condition of the stool is affected by the foods that the mother ate.

Examination of the baby's stool will help to promptly identify possible nutritional deficiencies, so every mother should know what her baby's stool should look like at different ages:

• In the first three days, the baby poops a black-green mass, such stool is called meconium. It consists mainly of amniotic fluid, which the baby fed on before birth;
• starting from the 3rd day until the end of the first week The stool may be gray or gray-green, with a liquid consistency of the mass being considered normal. Such feces indicate that the baby is receiving enough milk and it is being successfully digested by the body;
• from the second week of life to 3 months the child should poop up to 10 times a day (sometimes there will be as many bowel movements as there were feedings), the stool will be yellow or mustard in color, and has a sour smell. This indicates adequate nutrition and normal bowel function;
• from about 4-5 months The baby's feces should be brown or brown with inclusions; such a mass has an unpleasant, pungent odor. This is the norm for a baby starting to receive complementary foods; the main characteristic is that the stool should not be hard, with a consistency similar to putty;
• After six months, a newborn’s stool may have an unusual color, the reason being the vegetables and fruits used as complementary foods. For example, beets give the mass a bright red color, carrots turn the stool orange, and zucchini can cause greenish streaks to appear in the diaper.

Constantly monitoring the condition of bowel movements will prevent all kinds of stomach upsets and protect the child from unnecessary discomfort.

There is no single definition of how many times a baby should poop per day, but for newborns in the first month, the norm is considered to be from 4 to 12 bowel movements per day. Over time, they will become more rare, but up to a year the baby can walk “big” several times a day.

What does unusual stool mean in a baby?

An unusual color or structure of feces in a newborn baby may indicate the reasons for the baby’s discomfort:

• green stool with a sour milk odor will not necessarily be a harbinger of the disease, if the child is gaining weight well and does not experience discomfort, this state of feces may be a common reaction to foods eaten by the mother;
• if the stool is watery and has a foamy structure, while irritation is often noticed around the anus, the cause may be an excess of sweet anterior jelly in the mother. The way out of the situation would be to first express the initial fluid from the breast;
• bright yellow or green stool streaked with mucus could have three explanations:

1. the child received a viral infection as a result of contracting ARVI or other infectious diseases;
2. a common reaction to teething;
3. enzyme deficiency in an unformed body;

• if your baby poops a dark brown dense mass, this may be a consequence of taking iron supplements, but if additional medications were not prescribed, it is worth reviewing the diet and slightly reducing foods containing this mineral;
• bright green foam chair should alert you if the baby behaves restlessly and is not gaining weight well. Most often, this situation manifests itself as a result of;
• Hard stool in a newborn baby is an anomaly, and it doesn’t matter what color it is. Constipation occurs due to the introduction of inappropriate foods into the diet; to eliminate the discomfort, you should find out what exactly such a reaction occurs to, which can be done by eliminating the ingredients;
• if your baby poops with diarrhea for a long time, this may be a consequence of dysbiosis, the best option would be to consult a doctor to prescribe suitable medications;
• bloody stool- a very alarming symptom. The cause of this imbalance may be an allergy to milk, an infection, or intestinal bleeding. If you notice this type of stool, you should contact your doctor immediately.

Causes of bowel dysfunction in newborns

Most often, bowel dysfunction in infants is not due to a bacterial infection; in most cases, the cause of disruption of the digestive system is incorrect breastfeeding.
The main mistakes made in the first months of breastfeeding:

• late application– the baby should be attached to the breast in the initial minutes after birth, even if he does not eat immediately, this helps to get used to breastfeeding;
• should eat when he wants it, since each organism requires a different amount of nutrition, and is also adapted to an individual regime;
• early introduction of complementary foods– the parents themselves decide how many foods to introduce into the baby’s diet, but the optimal time to start using adult food is considered to be the first six months of life, before this time the stomach is simply not able to digest anything other than mother’s milk;
• excessive amount of fluid in the body- this happens in the case of “supplementing” the child with water, tea and juice.

Proper organization of breastfeeding will help to avoid possible problems, so under no circumstances give up the opportunity to feed your baby natural milk.

Depositphotos.com

50 shades of normal stool

When a child is born, he is abruptly transferred from feeding on blood ultrafiltrate to a “milk diet”. In the first few months, the gastrointestinal tract “ripens”. That's why the best food option for him now is. However, it is precisely because of this that a newborn’s stool can have 50 shades, and all of them are within the normal range.

In the first two days of a child's life, meconium comes out. This is a dark, sticky, viscous stool that formed in utero. Usually mothers know about it and the appearance of meconium is not a cause for concern.

With the start of feeding, the stool is replaced with a transitional one. It is usually greenish-brown and may contain cheesy inclusions. Only after a few days does milky stool appear (yellow-brown, quite light). And here mothers begin to look closely at him, almost under a microscope (and looking at him with a magnifying glass is a common thing). What can they see?

It's not scary if everything gets absorbed into the diaper

The very first thing you should pay attention to is the consistency of the stool. In children it can be quite liquid. It is not scary if the stool of exclusively breastfed children is almost completely absorbed into the diaper.

If the child has not pooped for several days, the first portion may be quite dense, while subsequent portions may be softer. In some infants, stool becomes less frequent and thicker over time, while in others it may remain quite liquid up to .

The color of stool is indirectly affected by the composition of breast milk. It depends on many factors (the appearance of stress hormones, etc.). In response to these fluctuations, bile may be released in a larger or smaller volume, so the stool may be either a little darker or a little lighter.

Since the composition of the mixture is always the same, the baby’s “final product” does not change color from day to day. The feces of infants on IV may contain cheesy inclusions and rarely mucus. In addition, the baby rarely absorbs the mixture in full, so bottle-fed babies poop more regularly(usually once every 1-2 days). These babies' stools are usually thicker and are not completely absorbed into the diaper.

Usually we don’t look at our stool, we flush it down the toilet and that’s it. The same should be done with the contents of the diaper. These are waste products of the body and are not intended to be examined under a magnifying glass or microscope.

With the appearance of a tiny, flashy treasure in the house, the life of the family changes radically: all loved ones try to create the best conditions for the proper growth and harmonious development of the baby. In the first year, a lot depends on the baby’s nutrition and the well-coordinated functioning of its digestive system. The mother is able to personally control the process of feeding an infant, and diapers will help her monitor how correctly and smoothly the gastrointestinal tract of the newborn functions. They will become an indispensable informant for a long time, regularly reporting on the health of the baby. The contents of the diaper can reassure the mother by its appearance or signal problems in the small tummy.

The ideal baby chair: what is it like?

Its consistency is quite uniform, smooth, yellow or similar shades without additional inclusions. Stool of this quality occurs only in newborns who are fed with artificial milk formulas. Long-term feeding of one type of formula that is ideal for a particular child gives truly excellent results.
A baby fed with mother's milk poops differently. His feces contain mucous layers and lumps, and their color can sometimes be completely unexpected for the mother. This is not a reason to worry too much, since most of the indicators in a newborn’s feces are directly influenced by the foods that predominate in his mother’s diet.

Appearance of feces of a healthy infant at different ages

If you want to see with your own eyes a photo of a used diaper with the waste products of a baby, then any Internet search engine will give you a lot of options with comments and a precise distinction between where the stool is normal and where it is a sign of a serious problem.
Each mother herself should have a correct idea of ​​the color and quality of the baby’s stool. Moreover, these indicators change significantly with the age of newborns.

1. 1-3 days of a baby's life. The feces look like this: the color is black and green, since the composition includes amniotic fluid, which the baby swallowed while in the mother’s tummy. A similar stool for a three-day-old baby is normal, scientific name is meconium.
2. 3–7 days of the baby’s life. The stool becomes a little lighter, the color periodically changes from gray-green to gray. The consistency itself is quite liquid, sometimes reminiscent of “gruel”, “puree” with air bubbles. This is not a serious pathology, disorder or diarrhea, but a norm indicating good digestion in the infant. It sucks out a sufficient amount of mother’s milk, and it is properly digested by the child’s body
3. From 8 days to 3 months, the baby can poop quite often. Sometimes such “surprises” can await a mother up to 10 times a day. In some cases, the number of bowel movements in children is equal to the number of feedings, and this is also the norm, and not a sign of disease. The color of stool is yellowish, mustard, and its smell is sour.
4. 4-5 months. The color of children's feces changes, it becomes brown, brown with patches, and the smell of feces becomes quite pungent and unpleasant. Such characteristics accompany the normal stool of a baby who begins to receive the first complementary foods; feces become soft, pasty, and resemble putty.
5. A 6-month-old baby's stool can come in a variety of colors. The reason for such changes lies in the products offered to the child as complementary foods: carrots offered by the mother will turn the stool orange, beets will color it a bright dark beet color, chopped apples and bananas will turn it yellow, and pears, zucchini, and broccoli will turn it green. After 6 months, the number of small intestinal bowel movements is significantly reduced; now the baby poops 1-2 times a day
6. Normal stool for a one-year-old baby is quite thick in consistency and well-formed. The color of feces directly depends on what the toddler eats. Typically, the color range of feces is brown, varying from light to dark. Sometimes small pieces of semi-digested vegetables are observed in the stool - this is also the norm.

How often should a baby poop during the day?

Most pediatricians believe that it is normal for a one-month-old baby to have bowel movements 12 times a day. Gradually, with age, the total number of daily bowel movements will decrease significantly - up to 1-3 times for a one-year-old toddler.

The video below will answer the question of how often a baby should have bowel movements during the day.

Normal stool of a sick baby

Most medications used to treat young children are available in the form of sweetened syrups or suspensions. When taking them, the baby's feces change significantly. Typically, the stool becomes liquid and smells “chemical.” There is no need to worry, this phenomenon is temporary, it will go away after the end of treatment. On the recommendation of a doctor, beneficial probiotics are added to the diet of the mother and her child.

Why is the quality of newborn stool constantly different?

If the baby is breastfed, then the consistency of his stool depends on his mother’s milk, and it cannot always be of the same composition, since its “production” is influenced by various factors:

1. mother's own nutrition
2. timing of lactation
3. newborn needs
4. quantitative ratio of essential microelements in it
5. mood and emotional state of a nursing mother

This is why the structure of the stool of an infant who has not yet been introduced to complementary foods is so different in appearance, consistency, color, and smell.

Features of the chair of artificial babies

Formula-fed or formula-fed newborns poop approximately three times a day, and their feces are thicker in consistency and dark brown in color. There are no mucous layers or greenish impurities in the feces.

Is a child's stool with mucus a cause for concern?

A moderate amount of mucus in children's feces is normal. A small number of small yellow, sometimes whitish lumps along with mucous veins, as well as a sour smell, green or brown color are absolutely normal.

Is green stool with a foamy consistency a sign of pathology or a normal variant?

Such bowel movements signal to the mother that the baby is suckling too quickly, therefore he eats only the “front” milk, and does not reach the fatty and truly nutritious “hind” milk. “Liquid” skim milk is quickly digested in a child’s stomach, and the result of such nutrition is green, foamy stool.

Algorithm of mother’s actions to normalize baby’s stool

1. Ensure early attachment. Try to place the newborn on the mother's breast immediately in the first minutes after birth. Even if he doesn’t want to eat right away, this technique will “indicate” his food source
2. Feed your infant only on demand. This recommendation is based on the individuality of the child’s body, which requires its own amount of the required volume of milk at certain “biological” hours
3. Avoid “supplementing” the baby with water, tea, or baby juice – this will cause the baby to lose his appetite, and an increased amount of fluid will accumulate in the child’s body.
4. Prevent early “feeding” of the baby: for the first 6 months, the baby’s body is able to digest exclusively mother’s milk

It must be remembered that the mother’s reasonable behavior in organizing proper feeding directly affects the quality of the newborn’s stool.
A baby's stool is the most important indicator of his health. By the consistency, color, smell and frequency of bowel movements, one can judge the perfect functioning of the little person’s digestive system, the state of the child’s intestinal microflora and the correctness of his nutrition. The quality of feces of a newborn, one-month-old and one-year-old child differs significantly, and what the mother takes for pathology is in fact a harmless variant of the norm.

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

The stool of children who are breastfed has its own characteristics.

1. The amount and frequency of stool changes frequently.
2. Having bowel movements up to 12 times a day is not considered a digestive disorder, and the absence of bowel movements for three days is not constipation.
3. After the introduction of complementary foods (not earlier than the sixth month), the baby’s stool depends on the foods eaten, but not on what the mother ate. The diet of a nursing woman does not affect feces.

What stool test result is considered normal?

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

Key Indicators: What You Need to Know

Stool standards may vary. This depends on the general condition of the baby, what kind of nutrition he receives (formula or breast milk), and whether complementary foods are included in the diet. If the child is breastfed, then the feces have the following norm.

Color can vary from light yellow to brown. For a baby who drinks breast milk, a greenish tint to the stool will be normal.

Feces can change color for several reasons:

Normal stool can have a different consistency, from thick to runny. It is important to distinguish the condition of diarrhea from the norm.

Worrying moments:

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

Parents need to know that if the body temperature rises, the baby’s behavior changes, loss of appetite and poor weight gain, they should immediately consult a doctor.

Baby's feces always contain various impurities

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

Changes from birth to one year

If the child is breastfed, the composition of the stool will depend on what the mother ate and on the development of the child’s digestive system. If the mother eats foods that weaken her, the stool will become thinner. And vice versa.

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

When a baby is breastfed, his stool takes on a greenish tint, liquefies and acquires a sour smell.

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

At 1 month, the baby defecates after almost every feeding. At 2 months, the frequency of stool decreases up to 4 times. The norm is yellow color, liquid consistency, milky smell.

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

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

It is very important to ensure that the baby sucks not only foremilk, which is a means of quenching thirst for the baby. Hind milk contains all the nutrients, which is more difficult for the baby to get to.

The appearance of green, loose stools indicates that the baby is fed only foremilk. The mother should hold the baby on one breast longer during feeding.

Important points: how to recognize the problem

Problems with stool during breastfeeding can occur for the following reasons:

• feeding the child according to the schedule;
• lack of milk;
• additional water;
• early feeding with formulas;
• early introduction of complementary foods.

If the following symptoms appear, you should seek help from a doctor:

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

How to fix the situation: tips for solving the problem

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

• the child has not pooped for more than three days;
• the baby’s behavior becomes capricious, constant crying is observed;
• the child has a hard stomach;
• stool becomes dry and very hard;
• suspicion of abdominal pain in the child (he often bends his legs towards his tummy).

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

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

Thick stools may occur due to medications that contain iron. They are usually prescribed to mothers in the first months after childbirth to increase hemoglobin.

Another reason that stool is thick is impaired intestinal motility.

The following will help you adjust your chair:

1. placing the baby on his stomach before feeding;
2. sufficient amount of liquid;
3. abdominal massage;
4. gymnastics.

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

It is better to exclude from the diet foods that cause increased gas formation and worsen the situation. What foods should you not eat? These are peas, grapes, cucumbers, cabbage. If there are white lumps in the stool, this indicates poor digestion of breast milk. Enzyme preparations, which should only be prescribed by a doctor, help normalize the situation.

Frequent loose stools may occur due to infection in the body.

Dangerous symptoms:

• temperature increase;
• stool becomes very liquid;
• the appearance of copious amounts of blood and mucus;
• lack of weight gain;
• regurgitation, vomiting.

In this case, only medications will help improve bowel movements: antibiotics, antiviral drugs, prebiotics. Mom should not eat foods that weaken her and lead to increased gas formation.

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